Student Response Does Not Have to Mean Clickers

Classroom Response Systems have really helped increase participation in class by changing the way educators ask questions and elicit responses from students.  Typically when one thinks of Classroom Response they picture students with Clickers sitting at their desk submitting their answers through a keypad, which submits their responses and displays results, usually in graph form, on the screen in front of the classroom.  Although faculty members may be interested in using this tool they are hesitant for a few reasons: (1) These devices cost money (faculty members pay for the receiver and students must pay fees for the keypad). (2) Students must be physically in the classroom near the receiver to respond to questions.  (3) Not all systems allow for non multiple choice responses.

A good alternative to clickers that I have found is the website called Poll Everywhere http://www.polleverywhere.com/.  This free site allows users to create and save polls for others to view and answer.  Professors can create multiple choice polls, free text polls, and goal polls.  Students can respond by submitting their answers on the website, texting their answers, or tweeting their answers.  Since polls can be displayed from the Poll Everywhere website, students don't have to physically be in the classroom to respond.  Polls can be embedded into PowerPoint presentations so that professors can poll students easily during class.  Although this site only allows 30 responses per poll educators can work around this by clearing results one they reach 30 or by creating multiple copies of a question.  I encourage you to use this tool and let me know what you think by commenting below.         
  

Teach in Your Pajamas



With the string of bad weather we've been having I have been holding a lot of my meetings virtually (using webcams, chatrooms, etc.). Faculty members at STJ are also thinking about how they can teach virtually while still making it feel like a face-to-face class. One tool that I recently found out about is Tinychat http://www.tinychat.com/ . In my opinion this tool beats out Skype and ooVoo because it allows 12 people to video chat, unlimited people to text chat, and has tools that allow you to share your screen, write on a shared whiteboard, and collaborate on a document. Just give participants a URL to your chat room and they are in without even having to create an account. Next time there is bad weather don't cancel class, move it to your computer.