Student response clickers are an easy way for professors to get information from or give in-class quizzes to their students. But because professors seem to have difficulty agreeing on a specific brand, a Faculty Senate resolution seeks to select a sole clicker system for University classrooms.Faculty Senate Resolution 09-05 urges all University professors to adopt Turning Point clickers over other brands to prevent the extra cost for students who are required to buy more than one type. The resolution is based on Student Government’s expressed satisfaction with Turning Point and the faculty’s previous endorsement of it. The two most popular student response systems on campus are Turning Point — a credit-card sized keypad with 12 buttons   — and the iClicker  — a longer, white remote with six buttons. At the LSU Bookstore, a Turning Point device sells for $40, while the iClicker costs $36.Kevin Cope, Faculty Senate president, said the resolution was meant to save money for students.”The University should make every conceivable effort to control student expenses,” Cope said. “I don’t think we should buy duplicated technology for limited pedagogical gain.”When the resolution was originally read at the Faculty Senate’s April 13 meeting, it asserted that colleges or departments wishing to use brands other than Turning Point would be required to purchase the alternative clickers and distribute them to students for free. Since then, the text of the resolution on the Faculty Senate’s Web site has been changed, now stating professors who require other brands are “cognizant of the possibility that using alternate clickers may impose an additional financial burden on students.” Cope  could not be reached for comment about why the change was made.In a classroom poll of 260 students in Steven Pomarico’s Biology 1002 class, 33.5 percent of the respondents said they were required to purchase more than one type of clicker.Katie Stanford, mass communication freshman, said she was displeased with having to buy two clickers.”I bought a Turning Point clicker and then had to pay about the same price for an iClicker for another class,” Stanford said. “I can’t even use the iClicker in a class outside of the Cox Auditorium, so that was a waste of money.”One of the arguments against the resolution was the large market for clickers outside the bookstore, such as buying used or borrowing, which makes the expense a bearable burden.In the Biology 1002 poll, 75.4 percent of students bought a clicker for that class, 13.8 percent checked it out of the library and 10.4 percent borrowed from another student.Natalie Russ, communication studies junior, was able to make her money back after she finished with her clicker.”I bought it new, but I sold it back to the Union for pretty much the same amount,” Russ said. “I didn’t lose any money.”An argument for iClickers was made at the Faculty Senate meeting by mass communication professor Danny Shipka, who uses iClickers in his class.”Mass communication books that we use come with iClicker technology,” Shipka said at the meeting. “This brings no extra cost to the University.”Shipka said these books were available at the bookstore with an iClicker for a packaged rate. Cope said this is an acceptable reason to use an alternate clicker.”If a clicker is prepackaged with textbook and causes no additional expenses, it’s fine,” Cope said.The resolution will have its second reading and a vote at the Faculty Senate’s May meeting.–Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]