At EGCC, clickers convert classes

Staff report

steubenville

When Ken Knox, Eastern Gateway Community College business technologies assistant professor, wants to know if his students understand the concepts he’s covering in class, like any teacher, he asks them questions.

But instead of raising their hands or writing their answers on paper, they register their responses via an electronic student-response system, or clicker. It’s a portable device about the size of a calculator that allows students and teachers to communicate.

Clickers allow students to communicate with their instructors anonymously. Teachers pose questions that students answer with the handheld devices. Their answers are logged by a receiver connected to the instructor’s computer.

Knox said the devices his students use, marketed by Youngstown-based Turning Technologies, are relatively inexpensive — about $30 each — and allow students to key in a response “without anyone else knowing what that response is.”

They can be used for assessment purposes, ensuring students are learning as the semester progresses and not just at test time.

They also allow instructors to track student progress electronically, generating reports so they can gauge how well students understand a particular concept. If there is a problem, instructors can detect and correct it early in the learning process.

“If I notice my students are not comprehending a particular topic, that tells me I need to slow down and pay closer attention,” he said. “If a lot of students miss a question, that means we should go back and review the material again.”

He said clickers inject a little bit of fun into learning.

“Learning doesn’t have to be a drag,” he said. “I think students look forward to it, and because of the clickers they tend to come to class more prepared.”

Count Amber Wanast among the converts.

“It’s something different,” the Dillonvale resident said. “It makes you want to come to class because you’re not doing the same old thing. It’s different from all the other classes.”

Knox said he doesn’t punish students for getting the answer wrong, though from time to time he does use clicker responses as an incentive, offering bonus points based on class participation or correct answers.

He started using clickers about two years ago after witnessing a demonstration at a conference in Florida.

When he returned home, he arranged a similar presentation for college administrators, who then gave him the go-ahead to incorporate them into his class.

This semester, he’s researching the effectiveness of clickers in the classroom by comparing outcomes for two of his business classes — one of them clicker-enabled, the other group covering the same material using traditional learning methods.

He’ll have those results at the end of the spring semester.

For now, he said he’s content to “spread the gospel of the clickers” to his fellow faculty members, encouraging more of them to try using the devices as a teaching aid.

“Students like them,” he adds. “The proof is in the pudding for me. My classes are well-attended; I don’t have an attendance problem. My students like the engagement — young people today like to have something in their hand, whether it’s a cell phone or something else. This takes the cell phone out of their hands and has them paying attention.”