The results of last semester’s test drive of the new clicker technology for classrooms suggest that many students and teachers still believe they are not clicker compatible.
In past semesters students and teachers were frustrated by ineffectual and inconsistent infrared clickers. The University responded by instituting a new student-response system last semester that uses radio frequencies.
But this semester, the majority of classes have opted not to use clickers because of last semester’s frustration. Many science classes, however, are standing behind the young technology.
“It wasn’t such a good experience,” economics instructor Beatrice Farkas said about using the radio-wave clickers in class. “It was costly for the students, and they didn’t work when I tried to give a quiz.”
Last semester, 34 sections of 12 different courses, including economics, accounting, biology and physics, were required to use the new radio-wave student-response system.
Farkas said this semester she will not be using the clickers.
Cormac Hawney, economics teaching assistant, said last semester his section was required to purchase the new clickers, and they did not prove to be more efficient than the clickers they replaced.
“It took us a while to get them to work,” Hawney said. “A lot of it was that we had some problems getting the clickers registered, and other times we weren’t sure if they were on or activated.”
Hawney said he used them to administer quizzes, but it would have been less time consuming to give paper quizzes.
“It took away from valuable class time,” Hawney said.
Hawney said he understands clickers could be an effective way to get students to interact in classrooms, but he thinks more training for teachers and students should be done first.
Last semester, 2,940 radio-wave clickers were purchased.
But as of Monday only 715 clickers had been purchased for this semester, said Paul Stevenson, LSU Bookstore manager.
Stevenson said part of the reason for reduced sales may be because some people kept their clickers from last semester to use this semester.
Joe Hutchinson, executive director of Centers for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, said about two-thirds of the sections that participated in the experiment last semester have discontinued their use of the clickers this semester.
While he said there were reported problems with the new SRS technology, the clickers were more popular in large-enrollment science classes such as biology and physics.
Hutchinson said the effectiveness of the clickers is largely dependent on how they are being used in classes.
“This technology has vast potential to positively influence student learning,” Hutchinson said. “They can only help you if they’re used well.”
Hutchinson also said it is important to integrate technology into classrooms because of the ways students learn.
“There’s a growing body of evidence that young people really do learn somewhat different than older generations did,” Hutchinson said.
At the end of last semester, Student Government requested a demonstration because of a concern “that they weren’t being used effectively in classes for teaching and learning,” said SG President Michelle Gieg.
Gieg said she wanted to make sure they weren’t being used solely for attendance and quizzes.
Gieg said the demonstration proved that science classes are using them effectively by allowing students to buzz in answers during class to measure how well they understand the material.
David Young, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, said he is an advocate of the new clickers.
“The clickers seem to be a large source of frustration for many people,” Young said. “Some of that should be chalked up to the fact that it was the first time they were being used.”
He said in his class of 300, there is usually a 1 percent to 2 percent failure rate in the clickers.
Young said he likes the clickers because they allow 100 percent participation from the class.
“Raising hands doesn’t do that,” Young said. “You can’t count hands in a class of 300.”
Young said that while he is pleased with the technology, he realizes $64 is often a burden to students.
Hawney said he is upset the University granted the sale of clickers solely to the LSU Bookstore.
“You can find a clicker with the same technology online for 20 bucks,” Hawney said. “But you have to register it through LSU, and the only place you could get it to register is the bookstore because they got the sole right to sell the clickers.”
Hawney said the LSU Bookstore “jacked up” the price of the clickers, and because the University prevented competing bookstores from selling them, there is no competition to drive down the prices.
Young said that part of LSU Bookstore’s markup can be attributed to hidden costs including software upgrades, training and installation.
“At the end of the day, $64 is a lot of money,” Young said. “But if you spread out the lifetime of the clicker over eight semesters, it doesn’t really cost very much.”
 
Contact Rebekah Allen at [email protected]