The Biology department and the Mass communication department are debating which student response clicker is better for students to use and want the university to adopt a universal clicker to be used for all classes.
Student response clickers are used for in class quizzes and participation points. These clickers can cost as much at $40. The clicker currently used for most Biology classes is the Turning Point clicker. The popular clicker used in Mass Communication classes is the iClicker.
The Faculty Senate Resolution 09-05 suggests University Professors use Turning Point clickers instead of other brands so students are not required to buy more than one type of clicker.
“I have to pay another 40 bucks for a clicker that is worse than the one I already have,” said Brandon Neighbor Mass Communication junior after purchasing an additional clicker for his Biology class. “On the Biology clicker you have to sometimes click it up to 30 times in order for it to receive your response,” said Neighbor.
“In Mass Communication 2000 half the class could not get iClickers until the middle of September because the bookstores ordered more Biology clickers then iClickers and they sold out of iClickers. The only way you could get your hands on one was to order it online,” said Ryan Cross a Political Communications freshman.
Both departments recognize student’s frustration about having to buy two different clickers if they are enrolled in both Biology and Mass Communication classes. “What we in Mass Com have tried to do was to allay some of those cost by trying to reduce our book price,” said Craig Freeman, a Mass Communication Professor.
“As a university, it is beneficial for the students for us to have our act together enough to have ‘a’ clicker so we don’t have to have this clicker for this class another clicker for anther class, it is much more economically disadvantageous to have multiple clickers then it is to have one,” said Steven Pomarico a Biology professor.
Pomarico also praised Student Government for making more clickers available for students to rent for the semester. “When we first started this out they had 200 clickers in the library for you to check out. I asked them at the beginning of this semester and they had somewhere over 2000,” Pomarico said.
“I like the iClicker used in Mass Communication 2000, it works well and keeps you engaged in class,” said Cross.
“It is easy for me to use as a professor. What I like is that I don’t have to program anything on the front end, essentially I just click a button and then start with my power point or whatever I’m doing and I can run a question whenever I’d like too,” said Freeman.
In the near future, students will be able to respond to in-class questions on their smart phones or on their computers. Both iClicker and Turning Point have or are developing this technology.
Freeman said the second year he was using the iClicker he had another instructor after seeing his class attendance ask him if he was giving kids free beer to come to class. “Its because of the clicker, they know that they get their clicker points so they show up to class and when they show up to class, they do better in class. And so the technology works, it actually improves learning and so it’s not free beer that I give, it really is just I think the clickers actually make it better,” said Freeman.
“The classroom experience is ever evolving. Its one of those things where we as educators have to always be looking ahead for better ways of doing something,” said Pomarico.
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