Assessment and Interactive Teaching with Clickers

Timothy Herzog, Ph.D.Assistant Professor

Weber State University Chemistry Department

Teaching and Learning Symposium March 3, 2012

Thanks to Andrei Straumanis (University of Washington) for some of the content of this presentation.

Set the channel on your clickers to 41.

1. Push the “GO” or "CH" button on ResponseCard. – The LED on the card will begin flashing red and green.

2. Enter the two digit channel. We will use 41– Turning Point ResponseCards are set to Channel 41 by

default. – The LED light on the ResponseCard should turn Solid Amber.

3. Push “GO” button again on ResponseCard. – The LED light on the ResponseCard should turn Solid Green.

4. The card is now set.

If two professors are using the same channel in adjacent rooms, at least one of them should switch to a different channel.

Q1: Starting class with a question.

Press the number on your clicker for the answer that best

represents your experience with clickers

1. I have never heard of clickers before2. I have heard of clickers, but never

tried them.3. I have tried clickers in the past. 4. I have used clickers extensively.

If your answer was accepted, the LED on your clicker will flash green 6 times.

If you enter an invalid number (like 5-9 on this question) it will flash red 6 times.

If your clicker is not working or I am not yet accepting answers, it will blink red once.

Q2: Outline (you tell me)Please click on one or two topics that you REALLY want to learn more about today:1.General strategies for using clickers in a lecture course.2.General strategies for using clickers in a course that uses small groups. 3.Nuts and bolts of using clickers- software, hardware, participant lists, etc. 4.The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics

1General strategies for

using clickers in a lecture course.

Clickers help you shape your teaching around the needs of your class:

Q3: Which of the following best describes your typical

classroom?

1.Lecture hall with more than 100 students2.Lecture hall with more than 50 students3.Less than 50 students in a lecture environment.4.Less than 50 students mostly working in groups or on more individual projects. 5.Teaching online6.None of these represent my classroom.

A beginning of class clicker quiz can help you assess:

•Homework completion•Skill and concept mastery•Areas that need to be addressed.•How you will spend your precious time in class.•If you have a major misconception about something.

Clickers allow for assessment of content goals.

• Individually: solve for x

• Don’t share your answers with each other.

Clickers can help with pacing

Q4: Individually select the best answer below:1.I need 5 more minutes2.I need 3 more minutes3.I need 1 more minute4.I am ready to move on.5.I don’t know enough to do this task.

By asking pacing questions, you can:•Gather feedback about student progress.•Decide when it is best to move on.•Slower students or groups can see if they are behind.•You can realize if there are a lot of bored people out there who need an additional task (challenge question)

Pre assessment:Q5: What is x? Select all that apply. Answer individually.

1 point

1 point

0.6 point

0.6 point

0.6 point

0.6 point

0.6 point

0.6 point

0.8 point

An informed decision:Does the class already know this

material??

NO:Start here

Yes:Start here and move on quickly to more challenging material

Optional Slide:The quadratic formula

Evaluate the “+” and “-” solutions

Problem wrapup

Post assessment:Individually solve this problem

and give your individual answer.

What is x? Select all that apply

• Process– Monitor answers– Assess if more work is needed:

• More class time• Additional homework problems• Additional reading

Lecture Lecture

One strategy for clickers in a lecture based classroom.

CQ

LectureCQ

LCQ

CQ

Quiz

Quiz over previous classAnd/or

prequiz on today’s material

Summary

Clicker Questions (CQ) reinforce ideas, introduce topics, help pace class, and make class more interactive. They can be graded or ungraded

Asking a clicker question before a lecture topic.

• Students “buy in” to the topic since they want to know if they are right.

• Don’t tell them the answer right away.

• Ask the same question again at the end of that lecture section.

Using grades to encourage participation.

• Student ownership model:– Students purchase clickers at bookstore

with other course materials.– Clickers are registered in first week of

class.– Results are saved at the end of each

class and exported to grade book.

Using grades to encourage participation.

• Department or faculty ownership model:– Departments purchase clickers and

faculty bring them to each class.– Clickers are registered at the beginning

of each class. – Results are saved at the end of each

class and exported to grade book.

Using grades to encourage participation.

• Different kinds of questions get different weights in my classes.

• Quizzes: – Based on reading, homework, or previous class.– Largest percentage of grade.

• Participation– Get credit for any answer to a question. Mostly

an attendance measure. – Small percentage, but students don’t seem to

figure that part out.

One strategy to avoid one form of cheating.

• Tell your class that you will count the number of students in the class.

• If the number of responses is greater than the number of students, everyone will get a zero for that day.

• Never had a problem, but I only check occasionally.

Other things clickers can do:

• Take attendance- each clicker is registered to the blackboard gradebook.

• Play games: I play “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and use clickers for “ask the audience” questions.

• Grade homework: Pick 3-5 homework questions at random and ask them at the beginning of class.

Other things clickers can do:

• Play games: I play “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and use clickers for “ask the audience” questions.

• Grade homework: Pick 3-5 homework questions at random and ask them at the beginning of class.

• Pre-class thought provoking question (ask something controversial)

Other things clickers can do:

• Pre-class thought provoking question (ask something controversial)

• Start a good discussion.– Ask a clicker question with controversial

answers.– Tell students come to some sort of

agreement and ask the question again. – Sometimes it is fun to show the response

graph in real time as they discuss.

Limitations or common pitfalls of clickers

• Mostly limited to multiple choice– Often tough to come up with good distractors– Need to know common misconceptions.

• Need to be creative to avoid repetitive flow.– Don’t use the same question types over and

over.

• Can get in the way of actually listening to students.– Use as a springboard for discussion.

• Know what you are trying to do.

2General strategies for

using clickers in a course that uses small groups.

Clickers can help moderate and assess group work.

Quickly break up into groups of 3-5 people! Select a group manager (the person with the least experience at WSU).Your task:

Develop a group average for the number of years you’ve been teaching.

Group Manager will be the only one who uses their clicker on the next question (one answer per group)!

Q6: Manager only: Use your clicker to enter your group

average for teaching experience.

Asking a clicker questions of just one person in the group forces the group to work together to form a

consensus answer.

LGroupWork

GroupWork

LGroupWork

A strategy for timing group work.

Clicker questions (CQ) pace work, check for understanding, and encourage participation.

CQ

LCQ

LCQ

CQ

Quiz

Quiz over previous classFollowed by review of previous classdepending on results of quiz.

Bulk of learning occurs in groups. Mini lectures (L) are used to reinforce key points

and to sum up after a section of the activity.

National Training Laboratories (NTL) for Applied Behavioral Science

Think about how to get students to spend more

time near the bottom of the

pyramid.

Clickers can help you gather data in an anonymous way:

Q7: This session will have a positive impact on my teaching:

1.Strongly agree2.Agree3.Neither agree or disagree4.Disagree5.Strongly disagree

3Nuts and bolts of using

clickers- software, hardware, participant lists,

etc.

If you want to save grades.• You can import a class list from blackboard to

make a participant list- Instructure is “working” on connections to Canvas.

• You need to load a participant list for that class before you start.

• At the end of the class, you need to save the session file.

• If you forget the participant list at the beginning of class, you can reopen the session file then open the correct participant list and save the file again.

• If you forget to save your session after class and shut down the software, you are out of luck.

To import participant list from Blackboard.

• Click on LMS integrations– Management system: WebCT– Server address: http://online.weber.edu

• Click on “Import Participant List”• Select class• I like to alphabetize by last name

before I save.

To export grades to Blackboard.

• Click on LMS integrations– Management system: WebCT– Server address: http://online.weber.edu

• Click on “Export Grades/email student grades.”• Select your class.• Select session and open session file.

– Biggest problems occur when your class makeup changes.

• I figured out a process for Canvas- contact me if you need it (It is not straightforward)timothyherzog@weber.edu

Mac vs PC• PC- much better integration of turning point into

Powerpoint.– Turning Point has it’s own tab in Powerpoint.– Powerpoint presentation includes turning point questions. – Can pretty easily convert standard powerpoint

presentations into clicker presentations.

• Mac- Stand alone app: “Turning Point Anywhere” that floats above screen. Works best in presenter mode.– Works with any software. – Turning Point Anywhere also works on PC.

Single answer vs multiple answer questions:

• Can choose the number of answers for each question. – 1 answer

• Software records the last answer entered by each clicker.

– Multiple answers• Software records each answer entered.

4Conclusions

Why do I use clickers?• Rapid attendance data • Information to help me pace my class• Timely information about student needs• Pacing for group work • I can hold students more accountable for

their work both in class and at home.• Students can participate anonymously for

potentially contentious topics. • Nobody sleeps during a clicker question

Questions?