What are clickers?
Clickers are small handheld devices, which students can use to vote in class. Similarly to the “Who wants to be a Millionaire show”, lecturers can ask questions in class, students vote and results are displayed immediately on the screen. All you need is a laptop, the TurningPoint software and a data projector. Clickers are a great tool to add interactivity to your lecture, help students understanding of difficult concepts and reveal common misconceptions.
TurningPoint handset and receiver
Where can I get clickers?
At the moment we have have 100 TurningPoint clickers and 2 receivers for lecturers to use in their teaching and learning at CPUT. 50 belong to the Faculty of Applied Sciences and 50 to Engineering. If you are interested in using them contact Daniela Gachago (gachagod@cput.ac.za).
Where can I get more information on clickers?
There is a lot of literature available around clickers, e.g.
- What are clickers and how can we effectively use them (2 page handout by the Carnegie Mellon University)
-
Clickers in the Large Classroom: Current Research and Best-Practice Tips (excellent overview of current research on clickers by Jane E. Caldwell)
- Electronic voting systems for lectures then and now: A comparison of research and practice (UK based overview by Simpson and Oliver – interesting comparison between pre and post 2002 studies).
- From questions to concepts: Interactive Teaching in Physics (Video on Prof. Eric Mazur’s interactive classes)
- JISC Video on the use of clickers at the University of Strathclyde (including Steve Draper and Jim Boyle)
Presentations at CPUT
- Clickers at the University of Edinburgh – research in the field and personal experiences. Presentation for the Fundani research seminar series.
[slideshare id=3547438&doc=20100318clickerpresfundaniv0-2withdata-100325025748-phpapp01]
Where do I get technical information and support on TurningPoint clickers?
TurningTechnologies has lots of information on their website:
- Quickstart guide (2 pages)
- Software download (free)
We are also offering training sessions for interested staff (see our workshop programme). If you cant make it to our workshops, you can book an individual training session with Daniela Gachago.
Web-based polling services (most of them free):
12 tools for quickly gathering feedback (blogpost)