Information and Technology

Turning Technology Clickers

Posted June 08, 2007

Starting in the Fall of 2012, Turning Technology clickers have replaced eInstruction clickers at Bowdoin, based upon feedback from faculty who had been using clickers for several years. The Turning Technology clickers are smaller, integrate with PowerPoint on the Mac and PC, and use a thumb-sized radio frequency receiver.

Clickers, or Classroom Response Systems, are hand-held devices which allow all the students in a classroom to respond to a question at the same time. Questions can be in a variety of formats, and the software quickly summarizes the responses, providing quick results to faculty or to the entire class. Clickers may be set up to be anonymous to the faculty member or linked to a particular student, enabling the tracking of each student’s progress.

Faculty may use clickers for many reasons, including the following:

• Poll the students on their understanding of concepts before deciding whether to move on to the next topic
• Obtain a range of student opinions to faciliate debates
• Seek anonymous feedback on a reading
• Take attendance quickly

Turning Technologies provides us with many features, such as:

• PowerPoint Integration
• Anywhere Polling - Ask questions and poll within any software or website.
• Radio Frequency - Students do not need to point the clicker at the receiver. Works within a 200 foot range.
• Instructor Remote - Faculty can advance presentations and start/stop polling remotely from anywhere in the classroom.
• Get Started in just a few clicks
• Integrates with Blackboard

Bowdon Faculty who have used clickers in their courses:

• Members of the Biology Department: Patsy Dickinson, Barry Logan, Hadley Horch, Lindsay Whitlow, Pam Bryer, Mike Palopoli, Anne McBride
• Members of the Physics Department: Thomas Baumgarte, Steve Naculich, Dale Syphers, & Karen Topp
• John Fitzgerald, Economics
• Peter Lea, Geology
• Scott Sehon, Philosophy
• Steve Majercik, Computer Science

Read more about Turning Technologies role in Higher Education by visiting their website, blog, forums, and training resources.

Learn more from EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and from Derek Bruff's Teaching with Classroom Response Systems book and blog.

Would you like to use Clickers for your Bowdoin course?

« Back | More Featured Projects... | Have a Project Idea? Let us know...