TECHNOLOGY GUIDE EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
CLICKERS
WHAT ARE CLICKERS?
Clickers, also known as classroom response systems, are devices:
1. That allow you to obtain real-time feedback from students
during lectures in an engaging way;
2. A wireless remote control like device that allows students to respond to questions featured on an
interactive PowerPoint presentation, or other types of presentation software;
3. A way to take attendance, enhance discussion, evaluate course content or concept
comprehension, and understand classroom dynamics.
WAYS TO USE CLICKERS
1. Class Discussion
The anonymity of responses facilitated by the clicker technology allows faculty to initiate class
discussion and debate on sensitive topics that might otherwise be difficult to explore. Faculty can
start the class lecture or discussion by posing controversial questions and offering “commonsense” multiple-choice responses. Students’ responses, and their questions about their peers'
responses, can provide an opening for class discussion. As a result, the class discussion will not
be the opinions of the most vocal students in the class but a more accurate overview of opinions
from the entire class.
2. Retention of Reading Material
Clicker technology makes it easy for an instructor to check students’ mastery of lecture content or
of assigned reading material. The immediate display of student responses enables faculty and
students to see how well students understand the lecture or concept. As a result, faculty can
decide whether there is a need for further instruction or supplementary materials. By seeing their
peers’ responses, students can gauge how well they are doing in relation to others in the class
and determine which topics they need to review or bring to office hours.
3. Contingent Teaching
Instructors can redirect their lectures based on the immediate feedback gained from multiplechoice assessments of students' knowledge. Instructors can find out whether students understand
key concepts during lecture and tailor the remainder of their lecture accordingly. This targeted
lecturing will help to strengthen the students’ weakness and deal with serious misunderstandings.
For example, instructors can offer feedback to students on a specific calculation or example that
can then be worked through and mastered in detail.
4. Course Feedback
Instructors can gain immediate feedback from students on how the course is going in order to
make adjustments as needed. By running a real-time survey, faculty can gather immediate
anonymous student feedback on their own teaching by asking students to respond to questions
regarding the lecture, class discussion, homework assignments, group activities, or the overall
learning experience in the course. If used early in the term, faculty can make changes to the
course and to the learning outside the lecture that will benefit students before the end of the term.
5. Participation and Attendance
Taking attendance in a large lecture course is usually daunting, if not impossible. Using the
Clicker system to recognize each student as they respond, it is feasible and convenient for faculty
to take student attendance in a large class. For example, the students’ responses to questions
asked at the beginning of the lecture often serve as a record of their attendance. The instructor
can easily run reports on student responses and find out who is participating in the class.
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Admittedly, professors hold different views on student class attendance. Some firmly believe that
being in class and listening to a lecture is an integral part of learning, making class attendance a
must; others think it is not essential for learning and it can be left to the students to decide.
Similarly, student opinions about mandatory class attendance also vary. One problem other
universities have reported with taking attendance is that students will bring multiple clickers to
class for their friends.
6. Course Quiz
The relative ease of managing students’ responses has made the clicker system a helpful device
for testing and grading during lectures. Clickers have many features such as automatic scoring
and record-keeping for each student enable faculty to administer all sorts of tests and quizzes in
large lecture halls. There are different types of questions that can be used in a quiz, such as true
and false, multiple-choice, or matching. One problem that some instructors have encountered is
that if too many marks are allocated to a clicker quiz it can increase the likelihood of cheating.
BEST PRACTICES
1.
Simplify sentences, reduce word count, and paraphrase
When a question is displayed, it should be easy to read and easy to understand in no more than
10 to 15 seconds (aim for 25 to 30 words). Questions that have too many unnecessary words
only confuse the audience and produce unreliable results.
2.
Add ‘Not Sure’ Choice
Adding a "Not Sure" answer to the end of your question stops students from guessing if they don’t
know, increases the percent who will respond and will create a more reliable outcome.
3.
Survey for opinions and feelings
Not every question should be a test question with a right and wrong answer. Using a scale provides
an important outlet for an audience to express opinions about important topics. Participants want
to see how their opinions compare to the rest of the audience.
4.
Interweave questions throughout presentations
Audiences enjoy having the opportunity to provide input and test their new knowledge, and
therefore, questions should be strategically placed and interspersed throughout a presentation,
rather than batched one after another. A good rule of thumb is to ask a keypad question for
audience response at least once every 10 minutes to keep the audience engaged and interested.
5.
Avoid jumping to show the correct answer
Show the response distribution, and then ask questions that lead students to asses their choice.
This will create discussion and help to solidify the lesson.
6.
Explain to students the link between the use of clickers and course goals
Clarify how clickers can help students achieve the learning objective(s), and explain to students
why clickers are being used in the course. This will encourage them to use the clickers correctly
and will help to make sure they are clear on if they are being graded or not.
7.
Know how the clicker system works before bringing it to the classroom
If you are not well prepared technologically or pedagogically for using a clicker system, it is
recommended that you postpone using it until you are ready. You can contact the EDC to get help
in understanding how to use clickers and some best practices.
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CLICKERS AT CARLETON
The University has standardized on TurningPoint ResponseCard RF LCD clickers. By having only
one brand of clickers on campus, we can ensure that students will only need to purchase one clicker
during their studies at Carleton. It will also create the opportunity for students to resell their clicker to
other students and participate in the Carleton University Bookstore buyback program.
OPTIONS FOR USING CLICKERS AT CARLETON
For those instructors who wish to use clickers in their courses, the following options are available:
1. Buy Direct From Bookstore
When completing a textbook order with the Carleton University Bookstore or Haven Books, note in
your order that you require students to purchase TurningPoint ResponseCard RF LCD clickers.
Either bookstore will arrange to order and stock an appropriate number of clickers.
2. Bundle With Textbook
When selecting a textbook for a course, you may be able to request that the publisher bundle a
TurningPoint ResponseCard RF LCD clicker with the book.
Note: Some publishers will offer to bundle other brands of clickers, and we ask that you
specifically request TurningPoint ResponseCard RF LCD.
3. EDC Clicker Pilot Program
For those instructors who would first like to experiment with clickers in one of their courses before
requiring students to purchase a clicker, the EDC maintains a pool of 600 TurningPoint clickers.
This pool of clickers is specifically reserved for instructors who have yet to use clickers in any of
the courses. For more information about the EDC clicker loan program, or clickers in general,
please contact the EDC (edc@carleton.ca).
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HOW TO USE TURNINGPOINT
TurningPoint is an extension to PowerPoint, meaning you will be creating and running
clicker interactions from the TurningPoint Tab (seen and explained below) in PowerPoint.
You must always start TurningPoint first, which will in turn open PowerPoint with the
additional clicker features.
The TurningPoint tab will allow you to create clicker question slides and control other various clicker
functions associated with the presentation. You will still be able to use powerpoint as normal in the
other tabs, however anything clicker related must be done in the TurningPoint tab.
GETTING THE SOFTWARE
The software is installed on every classroom computer at Carleton. It is free to install the
software on your home, office, or laptop computers. To download the software go to
http://tinyurl.com/yfln273 and fill out the form provided.
Please note: Windows Only
MAKING SLIDES AND CREATING INTERACTIONS
What you need: A Computer with TurningPoint 2008 and PowerPoint Installed.
1. Launch TurningPoint (it will open PowerPoint).
2. Use the blank presentation or open an existing presentation you want to add a clicker
interaction to.
3. From the TurningPoint Tab, select Insert Slide. This will give you a menu of slides.
4. Select the type of slide you want to match your question.
The most common slide is the ‘vertical slide’,
which will insert a vertical bar-graph-type
question slide into your presentation.
5. Enter the question text in region and the
answers in the region . You can enter up
to nine possible answers. The responses will
appear in region .
6. Save your presentation.
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FIRST CLASS - INSERTING A STUDENT RESPONSE SLIDE
To ensure all the student’s clickers work, you will want to take 2 min at the
beginning of the first class to have students set the channel on their clickers.
Note: The light on the students clickers not flashing green indicates that the
students clickers are not synced to the same channel as the receiver.
1. Launch TurningPoint (it will open PowerPoint).
2. Connect the receiver to the presentation computer.
3. Open your presentation.
4. Go to the TurningPoint Menu or Tab and click the Insert Slide button
5. Choose ResponseCard RF Channel Slide
6. Run the presentation and have the students follow the instructions on
resetting the channel.
RUNNING A CLICKER INTERACTION IN CLASS
What you need:
 A computer with TurningPoint 2008 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
 The TurningPoint USB Receiver
Clicker
1. Launch TurningPoint (it will open PowerPoint).
2. Connect the receiver to the presentation computer.
3. Open your presentation.
Receiver
4. From within the TurningPoint Tab, select Reset > Session. This
command clears any active sessions from memory and allows
polling to take place.
5. From the PowerPoint menu, select Slide Show.
6. When you advance the presentation to a new slide that has a
clicker interaction on it, the polling will automatically open.
a. Click once to close the polling and display results.
b. Click again to advance to the next slide.
c. When you are at the end of your slide, advance one more slide to exit.
7. Save the presentation and this will save the results in the PowerPoint file for future
review.
DON’T FORGET – When Running TurningPoint In Class
1.
2.
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3. Open Presentation
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5.
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