Clickers in the ECC Classroom

1. Clickers in the ECC Classroom David Vakil – dvakil@elcamino.edu – 310-660-3134 November 1, 2007

2. Highlights • What are clickers? What can you do with them? • Who can use them? • When are they available to you and your students? • Why should you use clickers? • Where do you get the equipment? • How do you get started? Clickers enable you to do student-centered learning. Let’s start with a “student”-centered activity, rather than with me lecturing. This is what clickers are about.

3. Some examples of how clickers can be usedin classes

4. By show of hands…Who believes:“Not enough students answer questions that I ask during class.”

5. Not enough students answer questions that I ask during class. • True • False See how much the vote participation increases with clickers?

6. Which one of these words does NOT contain a diphthong? • Join • Boy • Mouse • Cow • Zoology

7. 0 PRE-TEST & POST-TEST STUDENTS TO ASSESS LEARNING: A light year is a measure of • Time • Distance Dave: Timed question!

8. Checking current understanding during class A miniature astronomy lecture • The universe is 13.7 billion years old. • A light year is ____________________________.

9. IN-CLASS (next class?) FACT CHECK: A light year is a measure of • Time • Distance As seen here, you can also visually compare to questions, or, in this case, pre- and post-lecture answers. Purple = previous. Blue = current.

10. Think-Pair-Share • Ask the question • If results are between 50-90% correct, consult with your neighbor and vote again • Usually results improve noticeably • Students understand and remember concept better • Takes only 1 minute or less

11. MORE CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING:It is possible for astronomers to detect an object 15 billion light years away from Earth. • True • False Dave: Think-pair-share?

12. How many people are in this room? • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7

13. Old version New version What are clickers? • Clickers send signals using Radio frequency (RF) light to a computer. Computer processes the data. • Radio light doesn’t require line-of-sight • Receiver is small and portable. • NEW clickers have a screen for direct feedback to student; allows for clicker-tests! (They use AAA batteries.)

14. What can you do with clickers? • Taking attendance(automatically calculated if any question is asked) • Classroom demographics – who are your students? • Ice-breakers • Gathering feedback about class or getting opinions • like/dislike activity, useful/useless, etc. • Discussion starters • Quick assessment of recently covered material • Ask about facts or conceptual understanding. • No question is too easy to ask students. You’ll be amazed. • Build their confidence or shake yours! • Pre- andpost-instruction questions. (Did they learn?)

15. Uses, continued • Data gathering – very useful for SLOs, Accreditation • Cooperative learning: Think-pair-share • Quizzes • End of class summary • Beginning of class review • Determine if students did reading/homework • Full-length tests • Ranking choices • On-the-fly questions to suit whatever comes to mind during class. • Fastest responses • Team questions/answers

16. Information gathered by clicker • Which clickers responded to the question • What answer each clicker gave to each question • If multiple answers given, order is saved • Can be used for entering multi-digit numbers/decimals or ranking. • How long it took each clicker (student) to answer • When a question is re-polled, both answers sets are saved • Results are easily exported to Excel

17. Who can use clickers? • Anybody with basic knowledge of computers • Knowledge of PowerPoint helpful, but not required. • New version of TurningPoint software (called “TurningPoint Anywhere”) can be used outside of PowerPoint. Also available for Macs. • Data stored. • Screenshots saved.

18. When are they available to you and your students? • Right now! • If you’re interested in using them in your classes or even just trying them out, stay tuned and let’s talk after this presentation. • Hoping to purchase classroom sets of clickers • Having students buy the clickers doesn’t work very well for teacher or student. Also, can’t sell back.

19. Why you should use clickers…Effects clickers have had on my classes • Physics 2A: summer 2007/2006 vs. summer 2003 • Success: 29/35 = 83%; 31/44 = 70% 28/49 = 57% • Retention: 31/35 = 89%; 42/44 = 95% 30/49 = 61% • Success (percent who passed) in Astr 25 went up by 9%. • Success in Astronomy 20 increased 15% • Data were compiled from my spreadsheets. Therefore numbers aren’t exact. • I estimate attendance is 60% w/o clickers & 75% with, Note: clicker participation counts little towards grades. • Research at 4-year schools shows attendance at 85%. • Similar research shows students read the text more, are more interested in the course, and have a more positive attitude towards the course. • When I don’t use clickers during class, I get complaints! Students like clickers and learn from using them.

20. More reasons why you should consider using clickers in your classes • Interactive • Student-centered, minds-on • Just-in-time teaching is available with pre-tests (clicker? Do you know?) • Immediate feedback – to you AND your students • Fun • Gets everyone actively (not passively) involved (anonymous) • Especially shy students! • Early and frequent assessment • Diagnose and fix bad lectures/activities • Catch poor students quickly, start troubleshooting early • Scantron forms are obsolete. Clickers provide more data, helps you write better tests. Also faster grading. • Attendance increases (in my class, research) • Retention increases (in my class, research) • Success increases (in my class, according to lots of research) • We can use clickers to gather data for SLOs, as needed

21. Clicker capabilities • The following slides show some other things you can do with clickers.

22. MULTI-ANSWER: Which of the following are NOT types of electromagnetic radiation? Select all that apply. • Gamma rays • X-rays • Infrared • Ultraviolet • Ultrasound • Sound waves • Microwaves • Radio waves

23. Improve in-class demonstrations • Explain the demo set-up • Have students predict the outcome • Do the demonstration • Specifically ask students “Was your prediction correct?” (De-isolate, recognize intuition can be wrong)

24. I will drop a pen and a crumpled piece of paper. Which will hit the ground first? • The pen will hit the ground first. • They will hit the ground at the same time. • The paper will hit the ground first. I will now perform the demonstration

25. Quizzes & Tests • These clickers can handle tests & quizzes • The software is different, not as user-friendly (yet) • Requires some student training of the clickers, so I won’t demonstrate that now.

26. Where do you get the equipment? • Clickers – cost $45 + Shipping & Handling. Need classroom sets. Class set of 45 costs ~$2500. 40 = $2200. • Receiver – needed to get the signals from the clickers. You get this from me. • Natural Science received I-grant from ECC Foundation to purchase receivers for entire division. We decided to share. • I have 31 receivers to distribute. • Have your dean ask me to send __(how many?)___ receivers to your division office. [Accounting] • Software to interpret the signals. • Download from web site: www.turningtechnologies.com. • I will be setting up a local web page with more info soon.

27. How do I get started? • Get the receiver (and purchase a clicker) • Staff Development has a set to use in their training room. • Train yourself for the software • Self-exploration • Web-based demonstrations • Read the manual • Staff Development classes coming soon • Start small in your classes

28. 6 of 15 Mean = 9.8333 On a scale of 1-10, how useful was this presentation? 1=bad, 10=good • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10

29. CONCLUSION • There are a LOT of things you can do with clickers in your class • Method of student-centered learning • They dramatically increase learning • Particularly well-suited for lecture classes • Now available campus-wide • Questions? Comments? • PLEASE FILL OUT THE FLEX EVALUATION FORMS!