Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Clickers Redefining Classrooms

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the talking-without-talking dept.

markmcb writes "It seems that teachers may have a new way to boost classroom participation using a device called a clicker. A clicker is a small handheld device that allows its user to wirelessly respond to various prompts selected by a teacher. So when a teacher wants opinions on topics that people tend to shy away from like sex, religion, and politics, the question can be asked and the students can answer anonymously via the clicker. Everything from a simple poll to a graded quiz can be conducted using the device. In the age of cell phones and wireless computers such a technology is likely to be well-received by students, but one can't help but wonder if such a device will breed less assertive graduates who lack the will to stand up and voice their opinion on sensitive issues."

5 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. I hope this doesn't come to my school by djkoolaide · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One of the best parts about class for me is actually speaking my mind and not being afraid to do it. This would just make people more shy if you ask me. Not a very good way to prepare kids for the real world! There won't be clickers at the office.

  2. Yeah, these will work real well.... by thewldisntenuff · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In a physics course I took at Univ of Arizona, we had these in class. They were supposed to be used as a daily quiz to see if we had actually read. Instead, the system was never properly setup, and there was a fight between the department (which, IMHO, has problems of its own) and the company who made the clickers. The damned things (which cost like $30, IIRC) didn't work til sometime around November, when the course was about to end anyway. And when they "worked", they never recorded student answers properly NOR did they actually record student input. A big waste of time and money - we may as well have used paper and pen. Besides - you run into issues with people bringing two or three clickers for friends.

    -thewldisntenuff

    --
    My MythTV HowTo
  3. Re:on the other hand... by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, I'd expect the opposite. It will give voice the the normally less assertive. People who are already assertive aren't going to start shutting up because of a clicker.

    --
    http://www.rootstrikers.org/
  4. Re:Luddites.. by ericdano · · Score: 4, Insightful
    How is it going to make them more assertive? Why not, instead of spending the $30 per student on clickers, and then however much on the software and other crap for it, try to REDUCE the class size, and have a better student/teacher ratio?

    Gee, think about it. A class where you could like know everyone in it? Where the teacher could remember your name. Where you might even have daily social interactions?

    Did Socrates lecture to huge groups? No. He engaged people in small groups in CONVERSATION. This little clicker thing is not engaging people in conversation.

    Lower the number of students per class, and teach these non-assertive people to socialize and converse like normal people, and we'd have a better educational system and society.

    --
    It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
    I moderate therefore I rule!
    --
  5. Re:Luddites.. by Frodo+Crockett · · Score: 4, Insightful

    These "clickers" sound like bullshit, and I'll tell you why. I think this will encourage students to pick someone else's ready-made answer instead of synthesizing their own. It's troubling to see our nation's fast food culture* worming its way into the education system. Life isn't a multiple-choice quiz, and education shouldn't be, either.

    * I'm not referring to the book Fast Food Nation, but to our tendency to pick the easiest, fastest, least-thought-required solution to problems.

    --
    "The newly born animals are then whisked off for a quick run through a giant baking oven." --heard on Food Network