clicker

So we have discussed a lot of things about clickers but I had an idea to ask what people think could be a better alternative to clickers...something that alows you to be able to have this technology that can help aid a teacher, bring students together, help with attendance. What would your ideal clicker be able to do? Maybe if teachers had clickers that did more things??

Clickers convo

Thanks for all the feedback on clickers and the article. I think a lot of people had some really good points. Steven brings up a good point where the article talks about how personal response. With clickers and all the technolgy we use we do not have to activley particpate in a traditional way. Now instead of answering a question by raising our hands and talk out loud, we can click  a number and no one knows what we pressed or think. We may not even be in a class, we could be on a computer like we are in this class and do all of our discussions through blackboard. Instead of handing in projects in class, now many times we just email or submit a project. I think that there is something to say about the traditional way and i think that being able to do that in certain settings is important but i also think learning different ways is critical. Our future is changing and i think that being able to be successful in different leanring environments will be those that will have the easiest time adapting. Things like clickers, online classes, discussion boards are just other ways in which we now can learn, the traditional way is important as well but i think both will help overall.

7 things about clickers

I was looking for different articles that talked about both the pros and cons of clickers and I came across this article that says the 7 things you should know about clickers. In the article they agree that it can help enhance the learning expereince. One of the biggest cons to this technology would of course be the cost of each individual clicker. Each student would have to purchase one, and if the teachers used it for attendance as well, there is no way around having to buy one. The price ranges but I would say that the average cost that I found for the clickers would be about 50-60 dollars. Another part of the article that I agree with and think is important to bring up is that asking the rigth questions makes it more efficent. Teachers should ask questions that are talking about the main concepts and make sure they are helping their students learn. Random questions would hurt the students becasue they might remember the question because it was a clicker question, and not focus on the key points of the lecture or education.
Here is the link to the article if you want to look at it.

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7002.pdf