What can I do with clickers?

• The Student Response System (SRS), or "clickers," allows instructors to guage how well students understand course concepts. Instructors may also use clickers to conduct in-class surveys. In one graduate course, the instructor uses clickers for a needs assessment inventory. The results quickly alert her to unprepared students and, more importantly, she notes, "the SRS provides a wake-up call to these students."
• One instructor states that he is "most excited about the pretest/posttest applications":
  
  "The pretest can help students assess their entry knowledge of course topics and motivate them to resolve any deficiencies it identifies. It also helps the instructor adjust where to place emphasis or additional examples. The posttest can reinforce that students effectively mastered course content or alert the instructor that additional work may be required."
  
  
• During discussions of either controversial social topics or difficult concepts, students may be especially reluctant to openly voice individual opinions. Clickers can allow students to voice opinions publicly while remaining anonymous.
• One instructor uses clickers to compose questions on-the-fly at any point during the lecture. In this way, he can poll the class and see immediate results, which can be tabulated and graphed to show the number or percentage of students who selected each choice.
• TurningPoint software can capture "demographic" information about students and will allow instructors to show responses from different sub-groups. A political science professor may use a clickers to pose a multiple-choice question about a controversial topic. After students enter a choice on their keypads, the instructor can categorize class responses by political affiliation. By highlighting and discussing these differences in opinion, each student learns from the knowledge and experience of others.