Janet:

If I remember correctly, Tom Horvath did a presentation at a Celebration
of Teaching a few years ago about his use of clickers. I remember being
impressed at how interactive and involving such a simple "multiple
choice" input and graph reporting could be.

Rick Jagels


Rick Jagels 
Education Specialist 
College Assistance Migrant Program 
111 Wilsbach Hall 
State University of NY College at Oneonta 
(607)436-2297 
[log in to unmask] 



-----Original Message-----
From: Teaching Breakfast List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Janet Nepkie
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 4:56 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Clickers - Posted by Jim Greenberg to TB list.

Jim, 
During the past few years, I've heard strong praise and equally strong
criticism of clickers.
Do you have any words of wisdom and/or advice?
Any words of caution?
Are there specific classrooms on campus for clicker use?
Thanks
Janet


Dr. J. Nepkie
SUNY Distinguished Service Professor
Professor of Music and Music Industry
State University College
Oneonta, NY 13820
tele: (607) 436 3425
fax:   607 436 2718
[log in to unmask]



> From: Jim Greenberg <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 08:03:08 -0400
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Clickers - Posted by Jim Greenberg to TB list.
> 
> TBers, 
> 
> If you would like to use clickers in your classroom please contact me
> ([log in to unmask]) and I can get you going. I also have a copy of
the
> Bruff book (noted below) in the TLTC if you want to look it over.
> 
> 
> The posting below looks at the impact of an important new technology
on
> faculty lecturing and student learning.   It is by James Rhem,
executive
> director of the National Teaching & Learning Forum and is #45 in a
series of
> selected excerpts from the NT&LF newsletter reproduced here as part of
our
> "Shared Mission Partnership." NT&LF has a wealth of information on all
> aspects of teaching and learning. If you are not already a subscriber,
you
> can check it out at [http://www.ntlf.com/] The on-line edition of the
> Forum--like the printed version - offers subscribers insight from
colleagues
> eager to share new ways of helping students reach the highest levels
of
> learning. National Teaching and Learning Forum Newsletter, Volume 18,
Number
> 3, March 2009.(c) Copyright 1996-2009. Published by James Rhem &
Associates,
> Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Reprinted with permission.
> 
> 
> 
>      Clickers
> 
> Clickers have been quietly marching over the horizon of attention for
> several years. Only early adopters, however, and schools with enough
money
> and vision to try them have come to understand that, far from being
simply
> the latest new gadget, they offer students a pedagogically powerful
blend of
> intimacy and anonymity that can move them from passive to active
learning
> with the click of a button (and a battery of well-crafted questions).
> 
> Rapid improvements in the technology and especially the publication of
Derek
> Bruff's Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creative Active
Learning
> Environments (Jossey-Bass, 2009) seem poised to place clickers in
faculty
> consciousness across the board. The attention the book has already
received
> offers some index of the growing interest in clickers. Bruff has
already
> been profiled by the on- line newsletter Inside Higher Education and
the
> Chronicle of Higher Education.
> 
>                        How They Work
> 
> For those who don't know, clickers are hand-held devices similar to
the
> remote controls for televisions and other media devices. They can send
a
> specific electronic signal to a central receiving station connected to
a
> computer equipped with software that tabulates the responses and can
then
> display the distribution of answers on a bar graph.
> 
> In operation-especially in quantitative fields with concrete correct
and
> incorrect answers-a professor presents a multiple choice or true/false
> question. Students respond by pushing buttons for answers (a), (b),
(c), and
> so on. Then, normally, the professor shows the bar graph of how the
class
> answered. Quickly, students can see where they stand in terms of how
well
> they understand the material, and (just as importantly) where their
> classmates stand, and where they stand in relation to these peers. And
> students get all of this very specific feedback on their learning
without
> risking a moment of embarrassment. The anonymity of the system allows
> students to confront little important truths about their progress (or
lack
> of it) without risking a thing.
> 
> Faculty schooled a few generations back when shame and guilt were felt
to
> have at least some pedagogical value-that is to say, in a time when
students
> felt ashamed to make a poor grade or come to class unprepared-the
ascendance
> of this new teaching environment may seem strange. However, as the
emphasis
> in education has shifted over the centuries from building character to
> simply learning, it all makes sense. (And, of course, whether shame
and
> guilt actually built character remains an open question.)
> 
>                                              Anonymity's Advantages
> 
> The anonymity is "pretty important," says Derek Bruff, who teaches
> mathematics and serves as assistant director of the Vanderbilt Center
for
> Teaching. "Students are often hesitant to speak up in front of their
peers,"
> he says. "A key element in that is the desire not to be wrong or
foolish in
> front of their peers, especially in a class where there are right/
wrong
> answers. In other classes, they don't want to stand out or be the one
with
> the strange opinion."
> 
> Peer pressure, says Bruff, "dampens conversation." The anonymity that
> clickers provide is one way of dealing with that. "It's not the only
way,"
> Bruff concedes. "There are professors that are able to create a safe
> environment where that's not a problem."
> 
> If escaping peer pressure and taking refuge in anonymity prove such
positive
> elements in teaching
> and learning, a question that comes immediately to mind is, where do
> cooperative learning and other small group activities fit in? The
answer? On
> the next click, so to speak.
> 
> Offering an answer via the clicker establishes a "buy-in," says Bruff,
a
> commitment not simply to an answer but to the learning process. With
this
> threshold crossed, passivity has begun to be left behind. The
anonymity
> allows cumbersome emotional baggage to be left behind as well, lending
both
> a purity and a more animated sense of mission to the next step, the
familiar
> "think-pair-share."
> 
>                                    The "Think Moment"
> 
> "We use the think-pair-share method a lot here," says Bruff, "think,
talk
> with one, talk in the larger group. There's more risk at each stage,
but
> giving students a warm-up experience is important because many need
that
> moment. If a hand in the first row goes up to answer a question, their
> thinking is stopped. The class is then moving on. Maybe they needed 30
more
> seconds. Giving the 'think moment' is helpful. Then, in the pair, they
get
> to practice saying what they think, and they get to hear other
thinking
> which then sharpens theirs."
> 
> The silent, private "think moment" operates like moving from warm
water to
> hotter and hotter baths in a hot spring, for example, and finally into
> strong currents where one may have to swim against the tide
intellectually.
> 
> Just as this technologically enhanced learning environment intensifies
the
> focus on learning and recognizing where everyone stands in the process
> moment to moment, it also intensifies the burden on faculty to become
"agile
> teachers." For example, when clickers first began to be used, showing
the
> bar chart of student responses immediately was expected. As their use
has
> grown and influenced faculty understanding
> of group behavior and learning patterns, whether to show or not to
show the
> graph has become an important "thinking-on-your-feet" decision. Even
if most
> students agree on a correct answer, how deeply do they understand the
> reasoning behind it? Sometimes, to make sure their learning goes more
> deeply, faculty withhold the results and ask students to turn to their
> neighbor and talk out the reasons for their answer, especially if
their
> neighbor gave a different answer.
> 
> "When I have that happen," says Bruff, "I tell my groups, 'Even if you
> agree, talk it out because you could both be wrong.' I want them to
test
> themselves a little bit."
> 
> It's the "thinking-on-your-feet" challenge that burdens faculty.
"That's a
> roadblock for some faculty," says Bruff. "They want 'ballistic
teaching,'"
> he says with a laugh. "Launch lecture, and once it's off, it's off on
its
> way." Clickers offer lots of chances for mid-course corrections, but
their
> use also demands something of a chess player's mentality of knowing
not only
> how the pieces move, but which move to make next for maximum
advantage.
> Sometimes, the best move does turn out to be "creating times for
telling,"
> says Bruff (using a phrase coined by Schwartz and Bransford), time for
a
> little lecture students need and which skillful use of clicker
questions can
> lead them to want. For example, anticipating a common misconception,
faculty
> may ask a
> question experience has shown them most students will answer
incorrectly.
> 
> "The instructor then reveals the correct answer," says Bruff, "often
through
> a demonstration. The students are surprised most of them got the
answer
> wrong and it makes them want to hear why the right answer is right and
the
> answer they gave is wrong."
> 
>                                    Making Good Questions
> 
> Successful use of clickers turns on the skillful use of good
questions.
> "Writing good questions I would have to say is the hardest part" of
teaching
> with clickers, says Bruff. But it's also the most exciting part
because it
> causes faculty to become intensely intentional about their teaching
moment
> to moment, not just lecture to lecture. "That's why I like to talk
about
> clickers with faculty," says Bruff, "because it generates this kind of
> conversation: 'What are my learning goals for my students?'"
> 
> There are content questions asking for recall of information,
conceptual
> questions seeking evidence of understanding, application questions,
critical
> thinking questions, and free-response questions. When and how
> to ask the right kind of question in response to where the students
actually
> sitting before the faculty
> member are becomes the proof of good teaching in that moment.
> 
> One of the most interesting aspects to emerge from the use of clickers
has
> to do with the flexibility of the multiple choice question to
stimulate
> thinking and learning. "Many people think of the multiple choice
question as
> being only about factual recall," says Bruff, but the one-best-answer
> variation probes much deeper. "A really good teacher can write really
good
> wrong answers to a question," says Bruff, ones that key into common
student
> difficulties with material. "When I really like 40-60% of my students
to get
> it wrong. And I'd like them to be split between a right choice and
several
> wrong choices, because then that means I have tapped into some
> misconceptions that are fairly common and need to be addressed and the
> question is hard enough to be worth talking about."
> 
>                                     Metacognition and Confidence
> 
> Some of the problems that have emerged in using clickers have also
turned
> out to reveal opportunities for increasing student learning or rather
> student learning about their own learning. Bruff, a mathematician,
began to
> ponder how much confidence he could have in student learning reported
via
> true/ false questions or even some multiple choice questions. In a
true/
> false situation, for example, students might guess and have a 50%
chance of
> lodging a correct answer. Multiple choice questions might be
constructed to
> include an "I don't know" option, but then the matter of discouraging
> student engagement becomes an issue. Students might retreat to the
safety of
> an "I don't know" answer rather than commit to a response they felt
> uncertain about. Pondering this problem has led a number of pioneers
in
> clicker use, like Dennis Jacobs at Notre Dame, to marry
self-assessments of
> confidence levels with decisions about right or wrong answers. So, for
> example, in Jacobs' system (where clicker responses are graded) a
correct
> answer in which a student indicated high confidence would receive five
> points. An incorrect answer that a student had expressed high
confidence in
> would receive no points. On the other hand, an incorrect answer in
which a
> student indicated low confidence would receive two points.
> 
> "If a student gives a right answer," says Bruff, "but realizes they
aren't
> confident in it, they have a little metacognitive moment thrust upon
them:
> they have to ask themselves 'Why wasn't I more confident in my
> answer? What are the standards of evidence in this field that would
allow me
> to be confident in my
> answer?'" By the same token, a student aware enough of his own
learning to
> express low confidence in an incorrect answer receives partial credit
for
> sensing that he didn't know, thus encouraging him as a learner rather
than
> thumping him for getting something wrong. With this system, he gets
both the
> positive and negative points to be made through the question.
> 
>                                    Creative Options Everywhere
> 
> One of the strengths of Bruff's book on clicker use lies in the wide
range
> of faculty examples he includes. That range evinces impressive
imagination
> and commitment among faculty to improving student learning, itself a
> pleasure in reading the book. And, while the dominant use of clickers
falls
> in scientific fields, the book includes rich examples of skillful use
of
> clickers in humanities courses as well. Moreover, while clickers offer
the
> most efficient means of collecting student responses, the overall
emphasis
> falls on collecting those responses and on the dimensions of
psychology,
> motivation, and cognition involved in their use. Hence, Bruff includes
> discussion of some low-tech means of collecting student responses as
well.
> 
> With clickers, as with so many other new technologies, the greatest
benefit
> seems to lie in the way they uncover new means of improving one of the
most
> ancient of transactions-teaching and learning. Socrates would be
proud.
> 
> Contact Derek Bruff at: [log in to unmask]
> 
>