Quick question for college students

[imagirliegirl]

I emailed my professors because I'm going to miss the first week of class for my honeymoon. One emailed me back and said he'll email me the syllabus (good) and that I need to buy a clicker. What the hell is a clicker?! I've never heard of that and when I searched the bookstore website there were no results for clicker.

Anyone know what that is and where I'd buy one? :o

I've been to 2 different universities and never heard of it.

[shopaholic]

a clicker? Is this a class on dog obedience, lol. That is the only "clicker" that I know of.

[AHammer]

uh, what class is it for? that's odd. maybe it's explained in the syllabus?

[Anna]

I have never used one myself, but I have heard of them being used to gauge student understanding and encourage participation in class. The "clicker" is some sort of electronic device through which you can give "answers" in class.

[petdoc08]

I have used them and find they are a big ol' time suck. They are exactly like Anna described. They are a remote device that lets the student immediately provide feedback to the prof. We would have pop quizzes using them. It always took 10 minutes to get the software up and running and then someone inevitably had dead batteries/couldn't get it to register on the computer/forgot their clicker etc.

I wouldn't think they cost that much. Ours were loaned to us as only one classroom in our college was equipped to use them. This also contributed to the time suck factor as the prof had to pass them out everyday and make sure he got them all back in order.

[cynder]

A 'clicker' is for a personal response system or PRS. It looks like a little TV remote with a few buttons on it. It is used in classes to assessment student comprehension during the class or to do other things like pop quizzes. They are usually $20-30 and univerisities are using them more and more that instead of loaning them, they make it part of the class supply list. They might not have it on the bookstore website, but I would call or visit the bookstore to see if you can buy it. If you don't get a response there, email the prof and tell him the issue.

I work with PRS and I have seen badly implemented ones but the good systems actually are quite effective for certain classes.

[Niobe]

Another curious student here who's never heard of these. Are they like the devices used to "poll the audience" on TV game shows?

[jajacobsen]

Yes they are. After you buy one, you'l have to follow the directions enclosed and go online and register yourself as a user and for that specific class.

[imagirliegirl]

Well that sounds sucky! Thanks for the replies. I'll check with the bookstore next week.

[cynder]

Are they like the devices used to "poll the audience" on TV game shows?

Yep. Professors can use it quickly to see if students are grasping a concept during class. If a big % of students don't get the answer right, then the professor can quickly see that they need to go over that material again or go over it in a different way. It is also good for those students who are shy about participating to give feedback if the polls are set anonymously.

[artist]

How strange! My first thought was "remote control".

[AHammer]

Ohh, I see. The school I teach at has a few sets of those, but I've only used them once. It was too much of a hassel. But I could see how they could be useful in a very large class where everyone owns theirs.