To Click or Not to Click...?

When I saw that one of the topics we could address in this weeks blog was the use of student response systems or "clickers",  I thought this is one I can really get on my soap box about.  When my oldest daughter was a junior at Ole Miss, the biology department's policy was that all students had to buy a clicker and that all tests were taken by SRS.  To make a long story short, she was accused of cheating by the professor in her Human A&P class, who was not even in the room at the time the test was given. My daughter, who had an "A" in the class, went to the professor for clarification of the charges. She found out that another student in the class was also accused of cheating. After an investigation, the other student admitted to finishing the test outside the classroom where she could look up the answers and click them in. My daughter had walked out of the class about the same time. A graduate student had seen the girl clicking in answers and reported it to the professor.  The professor's argument was that because my daughter had a five minute time between two answers and that it corresponded to the time stamp of the cheating incident that she was also somehow involved.  He could not be convinced, because he was positive that electronic evidence was unmistakable, that he was mistaken. My daughter, being the the conscincious  student that she is and knowing she was right, made a case for her innocence and brought it before the discipline committee.  She had her grade restored and more importantly her good name.  This incident left an unfavorable impression on me when it came to the use of clickers in my school. For several years, when asked my option, I was not supportive of their use.  Our math department was given sets of clickers to go along with a new math program that was purchased and my first response was ugh her we go. However, I have now been somewhat won over. I saw the teachers using the SRS's correctly and I saw the benefits they were having on the student's learning.  When properly  supervised, they can be useful in giving teachers and students instant feedback and increase participation. Students who are reluctant to speak out or raise their hand in class can also benefit.
My suggestion to teachers, and how I would use clickers in the classroom myself, would be for clickers to be used for reinforcement and review of skills. I would not give a test using SRS.  My school district emphasizes using higher depth of knowledge questions on tests and encourages writing out answers in complete sentences. Clickers should not take the place of teacher supervised learning or testing.


This is a great overview of SRS's and their use:  Overview
How to use clickers in the classroom

  SRS Pros and Cons Blog