Teaching with i>clicker
U of A i>clicker Policy
If instructors wish to use i>clickers to allocate participation marks, the Office of the Vice Provost (IT) recommends that they do not use the company’s web registration site located in the United States. For this reason, CTL has developed a local web registration system so that no student information is stored in the US. The service is located at https://iclick.ctl.ualberta.ca - where students can login using their CCID and password to enter their i>clicker remote serial number (from the back of their clicker.)
Including the web registration, there are a number of methods for registering i>clicker remotes to specific students that can be used in combination. All the methods require instructors to create roster files of the students in their class and add these to the 'iclicker Win' software folder. This process is somewhat complicated so we have prepared a detailed tutorial for Instructors to link i>clicker responses to specific students.
Best Practices
The following are links to some best practices for using clickers in the classroom as identified by various educational institutions:
- Teaching with Clickers from the Centre for Research on Teaching and Learning, University of Michigan
- 7 things you should know about clickers is a no-jargon, quick overview from EDUCAUSE.
- Ohio University provides a number of ideas for getting started with using an SRS.
- University of Wisconsin provide tips on effectively integrating and using clickers in the classroom.
- Columbia University, Center for Education Research and Evaluation provides a primer for effective use of audience response systems, including defining a clear purpose and designing effective questions.
- Iowa State University provides recommendations for using Turning Point SRS.
- Vanderbilt Center for Teaching provides an overview of classroom response systems and how to use them, including examples of activities and questions.
- York University provides a number of teaching strategies for using clickers.
- University of California discusses important considerations and provides classroom tips.
Question Design Resources
- 5 things to consider before thinking of questions
- How to design effective questions for student response systems (.doc)
- In-depth how to design effective questions for student response systems (.ppt)
- 76 sample questions including: conceptual, factual, opinion, discussion, icebreakers, clicker pedagogy, and learning preferences
Question Design Articles
- 'Designing Effective Questions for Classroom Response System Teaching' by Ian D. Beatty et al (2005) from University of Massachusetts identify several tactics and show how these tactics can be used to convert traditional (Physics) questions into SRS questions.
- 'Clickers in the Large Classroom: Current Research and Best Practice Tips' by Jane E. Caldwell (2007) from West Virginia University provides a set of guidelines for writing good questions and a list of best practice tips.