Introduction to Clickers
Facilitators: Greg Maier (gmmaier)
What are Clickers?
Clickers are devices used in the classroom that allow teachers to engage students, help teachers gain
maximum feedback potential, and voice students’ opinions (anonymously and publicly). There are many
uses that have been proven to benefit both teachers and students with clickers.
What Clickers can be used for
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Pre-assessment
Measure student attitudes
Check if students have done the reading
Get students to confront common misconceptions
Transform the way you do demonstrations
Increase student retention of what you teach
Test students’ understanding
Facilitate testing of conceptual understanding
Facilitate discussion and peer instruction
What Clickers should NOT be used for
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Just taking attendance once per class period
Less than 4 times per class period
For lock-step quizzes or exams
Without reaction (meaning if the majority does not get it, do not continue. Instead, react with
discussion, a demo, or something else. Then, ask the question again or add a question on the fly to make
sure they get it.)
Resources for more Training and Information
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Sign up for the Classroom-Clickers listserv
Check out ISU workshops via CTLT
Full manual, Web-Ex training sessions, demo videos, etc. via Turning Technologies
Tech support in the classroom: CTLT@IllinoisState.edu
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What you need to get started
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The software is free! (contact your IT support person to make sure you get the correct version )
If you add clickers to your textbook request form for a class (see website for ISBN number)
A classroom that has a clicker receiver installed (see clicker website for more info)
A working knowledge of PowerPoint
A “life-guard” session where a training looks over your presentation
If you attend a clicker workshop, then LSAVT will provide you with 2 free clickers! (see clicker
website for more info)
Practice with the Clicker
This is what the clicker looks like:
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Click on MENU button
Use the arrow down to go to CHANGE CHANNEL
Click the ENTER button
Enter the name of the channel of the room
Click the ENTER button
You will now be in PRESENTATION mode and able to answer
questions
Note: If you ever accidentally get out of PRESENTATION mode, you
can click the MENU button and arrow up to it and hit the ENTER
button to get back
Hands on Creation of a Presentation
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You have to launch TurningPoint and then open your presentation
If you double-click on the file it will just open in PowerPoint without the
TurningPoint plug-in
Go ahead and save the presentation as “Practice”
You will want to save this to a networked location that is backed up
(preferably)
You can also save a copy to your thumb drive but it is not recommended
for you to RUN a presentation off of a thumb drive
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What the Screen looks like
You will click on PowerPoint Polling
Click on PREFERENCES at the top
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Settings – You need to do BEFORE making Presentations
ONLY ONCE PER LOCATION – Office, classroom, etc.
On the left click on SOFTWARE
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Uncheck ALLOW USER MESSAGING
Change the default save location to go to your networked
drive or datastore so that you can access this from any
classroom or home
On the left click on CONNECTIONS
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Check the box for FORCE CHANNEL CHANGE
Check the box for ENFORCE PARTICPANT LIST
(Leave Invalid response notification checked)
On the left click on POWERPOINT
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Scroll down to POINT VALUES
Put in the values you want for Correct and Incorrect
answers
o I generally do 1 for correct
o I generally do .25 for incorrect just for participating
(or for opinion type questions)
Click APPLY ALL after changing the values
Optionally you might also want to check the box to show
response grid (we prefer to show device ids)
Click CLOSE
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The Presentation
Creating Slide One: The Icebreaker Slide
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On the TurningPoint (TP) toolbar click on NEW
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Select MULTIPLE CHOICE
Type in the following question:
Creating Slide Two: The Correct Answer Slide
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On the TurningPoint (TP) toolbar click on NEW
Select MULTIPLE CHOICE
Type in the following question:
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Click off of the bulleted list and you will see your slide preferences
Make answer C correct
All of the other options will now show up as incorrect
Creating Slide Three: An Opinion Slide
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On the TurningPoint (TP) toolbar click on NEW
Select LIKERT
Delete the values you do not want
Type in the following question:
You can also insert a picture if you like!
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Creating Slide Four: A Team Assignment Slide
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On the TurningPoint (TP) toolbar click on COMPETE
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Click on Team Assignment
Creating Slide Five: A Correct Answer Slide
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On the TurningPoint (TP) toolbar click on NEW
MULTIPLE CHOICE
Type in the following question:
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Creating Slide Six: A Competition Slide
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On the TurningPoint (TP) toolbar click on COMPETE
Fastest Responder
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Creating Slide Seven: A Competition Slide
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On the TurningPoint (TP) toolbar click on COMPETE
TEAM LEADER BOARD
Creating Slide Eight: A Competition Slide
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On the TurningPoint (TP) toolbar click on COMPETE
TEAM MVP BOARD
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Adding a Visual Reminder to Answer Now
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We are also going to include a visual reminder object into this slide for “Answer Now”
On the TP menu, click on OBJECTS and select ANSWER NOW and select CHECKMARK (or one of
your choice)
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Save your presentation
Changing the Chart Type
Sometimes your chart doesn’t fit well as a vertical bar chart. Other times you may just want to have a
different layout. Let’s explore some different looks.
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On the TP menu, click on OBJECTS and select CHARTS
You can select any different type of chart you want
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Creating Slide Nine: A Moment to Moment Slide
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On the TurningPoint (TP) toolbar click on NEW
Select Moment to Moment
The scale corresponds to 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 on the clicker
You can double click on the scale to change the numbers if you want
This is great for making them actively rate a video or speech
DON’T FORGET TO SAVE YOUR PRESENTATION
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Running the Presentation
Make sure the
3 crucial steps are taken
1. Session is reset (save any data left from a previous class just in case)
o Select Reset > Session
2. Participant list is selected or set to AUTO (NOT anonymous)
3. Input is set to LIVE POLLING (instead of simulated…for this training class you are going to be
running in SIMULATED since you are not at the instructor station)
Run the presentation like you would a PowerPoint presentation
1. Go to your first slide
2. Launch the presentation
( I usually hit F5 or the Slide Show icon aka “the wine glass” )
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Viewing the Info Bar
In the upper right of your screen you will see the info bar (F9 will make it show or disappear)
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While polling is open there is a green Polling: open square on the right
After you are done receiving responses, click on your slide to end polling
You will see the green: polling open has changed to red: polling closed
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You will now also see your chart generated to show you the responses
Click your slide to go to the next slide
Response Grids
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While polling is open, click on the response grid
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This is useful if you are using a participant list
Click an answer on your clicker to my slide (instructor) for an example
Re-polling
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Let’s assume that you want to re-ask the same question after some peer discussion or a demo
After you close a slide, click on the repolling icon
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Questions on the fly
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Let’s assume that this discussion has created a new topic or question. There are two ways to
add a question on the fly
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Pre-fab question on the fly
 Click on the Drop down arrow next to the icon
Writing a custom question on the fly (custom)
 Write in your questions and answers
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Click Done
Go ahead and click through your presentation and click done to return to TP.
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After the Presentation
SAVE YOUR SESSION !
If you do not save your session, it is GONE!!!
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This is your Session Data NOT your TP presentation
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It will default to saving this to the local computer under Documents and Settings in a
TurningPoint folder.
You will want to save
the data to a
networked drive that is
backed up
You might also want to
save a second copy to
your thumbdrive
The session file name
will automatically
include the date and
time
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That’s it for the hands-on Workshop – thanks for coming!
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