B-Dag

For years, classroom rules have stated that students should not speak without raising their hand. New technology, however, is giving students the chance to answer not with a raise of the hand, but with a click of the button.We’re referring to the trend of using clickers in classrooms. If you’re not familiar with this trend yet, you most likely will be within a few years. Traditionally used in voting and game show situations (among others), these audience response tools are showing numerous benefits in the classroom. Each student gets their own clicker with which they can signal attendance, answer quiz questions, take surveys, and more.A study conducted at four University of Wisconsin campuses found that 94 percent of faculty members either agreed or strongly agreed with the claim “Clickers increased student engagement in the classroom.” 69 percent of students agreed or strongly agreed with the claim “Clickers led me to become engaged in class.” The study also found that 74 percent of the faculty believed the clickers were “beneficial to their students’ learning,” with 53 percent of students agreeing.There are also separate benefits for both students and teachers. Teachers can use audience response systems to track individual student performance, such as how many questions they get correct. Students, meanwhile, appreciate the fact that their responses are anonymous.Some audience response systems can be integrated with interactive whiteboards, another growing trend in educational technology. These displays are connected to a computer and projectorthe computer desktop is projected onto the board, and users can control the projected image by hand or with a tool. In 2007, Decision Tree Consulting predicted that one in every seven classrooms in the world would feature an interactive whiteboard by 2011. These whiteboards give students another chance to interact in the classroom, while some also offer teachers the opportunity to record their lessons as video files. These files can be posted for students to review at a later time.Like any new technology, both audience response systems and interactive whiteboards have both admirers and critics. Educational institutions should consider both before working to add the technology to their classrooms. If they do decide that it is a worthwhile investment, they will certainly have their choice of products. Interactive whiteboards are available from Polyvision, SMART Board, and Panasonic, among othersaudience response systems are also available from a variety of manufacturers.