A few years back I expanded my section of Intro Biology from 90 to 180 students. At the time I didn’t think there would be much difference between 90 and 180 – both are large lecture classes—but I soon realized that with 180 students, it’s easy for some to melt into the background and become invisible. Some students might like that, but it certainly isn’t the best way to keep them engaged with the lecture! After a few failed experiments with ways to engage the class, I discovered the i>Clicker. It has revolutionized not only my large lecture class but also my smaller classes.
When I first began using the i>Clicker, it was mostly to poll the class about topics related to the lecture that might be relevant or interesting to them. It was meant to be a way to keep them interested and paying attention, and it worked. I wanted to find a way to encourage all of the students to participate, so I made a small portion of their grade (5%) clicker participation. The software that came with i>Clicker made it very easy to track their usage and give them points for responding. I required them to answer at least 75% of the questions in order to get credit for participating – that prevented students from simply answering one question and getting full credit.
At the time I first began using i>Clickers, I was still passing out paper quizzes at the start of each lecture. You can imagine how involved that process was with 180 students! i>Clicker was such a success that the following semester I decided to take it to the next level. I stopped giving paper quizzes at the start of lecture and instead used i>Clicker for both participation credit and quiz credit.
This was not something I did lightly – I was not naive about students’ ability to cheat. So I changed the way I assessed them. Instead of asking a series of questions all together at the start of lecture, I interspersed clicker questions throughout the lecture. In addition to the quiz questions, I mixed in simple opinion/participation questions. This served two purposes. First, it kept students engaged the entire time because they never knew when I might ask a question. Second, it seemed to cut down on cheating because students didn’t know whether the clicker questions counted toward their participation or as part of their quiz, so they just answered each question as if I had called on them in class – not as if it were a high stakes quiz.
One of the nice things about the i>Clicker software is that it is powerful, yet simple to use. This makes it easy to change what you do because you know it isn’t going to require a steep learning curve or significant data entry changes. I appreciate this, because I try new things all the time. Most recently, I wanted to encourage my students to talk with each other to work out problems or answer questions collaboratively. Again, I use i>Clickers to do this. When I ask a question that a large percentage of the class gets incorrect, I show them the results with a simple push of a button. Then I ask them to discuss the question with their neighbors and I will ask them the question again. Invariably, the problems resolve themselves and most of the class gets the question right. This doesn’t work for everything; sometimes you want to assess individuals, but it is a powerful way for students to learn because they acquire the knowledge not from me, but through their neighbor.
I have used i>Clickers in various ways through the years, which is testimony to their flexibility and ease of use. I am impressed with the thoughtfulness of i>Clicker’s design. For example, the instructor i>Clicker serves as both my PowerPoint advancer and a laser pointer so I never have to set it down during lecture. This makes it feasible for me to ask questions “on-the-fly” even when I have not created a dedicated slide for a clicker question. Also, the software used to collect the information has proven to be very dependable. I have used this for 4 years now and the only errors were ones made by me or by one of my students. The software is even able to work effortlessly between Mac and PC. I use a PC in the lecture hall where I gather the clicker data, but I use a Mac in my office to analyze the data and create grades. Never have I had a problem or conflict between the two systems. I am excited to see how i>Clicker evolves in the future because I am always looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge of technology in my classroom. i>Clicker has made it possible for me to say with confidence that I engage my large lecture classes effectively and give the students an experience more akin to what they would receive in a smaller class. Thanks i>Clicker!
This article was written by Michael Sawey, PhD, Biology, for the Spring 2013 Issue of Insights Magazine.