The days when students could sleepwalk through their largest classes may soon be over.
Along with the usual supply of textbooks and notepads, more and more professors are requiring that each of their students purchase a new device called a "clicker" for crowded introductory courses. According to some students and professors, this new system has the potential to revolutionize the large lecture experience.
A handheld electronic remote that costs about $30, the clicker allows students to respond to a question in class, transmitting the results to professors within seconds. In addition, professors can use clickers to take attendance in large classes, a feat that has traditionally been impossible.
Professor George Norman used a clicker system last year in an introductory economics lecture class of about 200 people and has continued to use the system this year. Norman believes that clickers are a good way to gauge a class's comprehension of material.
"One use of the clicker technology is just to see, particularly when you're going over something that is reasonably complex, 'Are the students actually getting it?'" Norman said. "It's particularly useful, I think, in introductory level classes where there are lot and lots of concepts that you're trying to get across."
Norman found that the clickers helped him to monitor his students' progress and made his students more willing to speak up in class.
"I got much more direct interaction with the class," Norman said. "Students were much more willing to stick up their hands and ask questions, and admit on occasion that they didn't understand something. The risk in a huge class is that no one is willing to do that because they don't want themselves to look foolish."
Students faced with the prospect of using a clicker have had varied reactions.
Freshman Bo Shang used a clicker system last semester and found it to be useful. "I think it worked well," Shang said. "It encouraged class participation and it made answering questions a lot easier."
Freshman Danielle Okai said that while clickers have some merit, they also make it easier for students to cheat the system.
"I guess it facilitates doing quizzes in such a big class, and also taking attendance," Okai said. "But I don't know how attendance can be effectively taken if I can just ask a friend to click for me."
Other students said that they won't be getting as much use out of their clickers.
"At this point I'm [taking] more upper-level courses, and I feel [clickers] would be better for larger lecture courses," junior Katy Lee said.
Freshman Courtney Payne agreed. "After this semester I'm going to be done taking my large classes," she said. "It's not really an investment for the future."
Sophomore Sarah Hellerstein said she thinks the clickers will force students to stay engaged.
"I think it'll probably be effective in terms of getting people to come to class if [professors] use them to take attendance and do quizzes," she said.
But Hellerstein also voiced concerns about the possibility of problems with the technology.
"I'm sure that there'll be lots of glitches at first," she said. "I just hope that I don't have to personally go fix it if they mark me absent or mark me as a zero for a quiz."
Associate Professor William Waller is using clickers to teach "Concepts of the Cosmos" this semester. Waller emphasized that while the technology is new, the clicker's basic function is actually a time-tested method of teaching.
"This technology is an outgrowth of just polling - we want to poll the students of their responses so that we can prompt interactions among the students. And the low-tech way to do this, let's say you have four choices," Waller said, holding up his hand, "you do finger one, or finger two, or finger three, or finger four, in front of you so the other students can't see it. That's the low-tech way."
Professor Roger Tobin, who tested a clicker system last year, agreed with Waller.
"I've been doing this kind of teaching for years, and the only thing that's new is this little electronic gadget," Tobin said. "Whether it really improves learning drastically over much lower-tech ways of implementing the teaching is not at all really clear."
Tobin said that he enjoyed using clickers last year, but that some aspects of the system still need improvement. He said he is unsure of whether he plans to use clickers in another class.
"I'd have to think about it, and think about if there's other ways to implement it that might be less onerous for the students," Tobin said. "On the whole, I appreciated some of the virtues of [the clicker system]. Whether it was worth the cost and some of the hassle is a little bit questionable, but I'd probably do it again."
Although clickers have not been completely problem-free as teaching tools, some faculty members who have used them are optimistic about their potential.
"When I looked at the student feedback last year, it was largely positive," Norman said. "The only negative comment was that they'd occasionally find it slightly disruptive, and it might be that in a couple of lectures I got question-happy and asked too many questions ... but the overwhelming reaction was positive."
Waller, who plans to start using clickers in class within the next few weeks, said he looks forward to getting started.
"I'm just game," he said. "Just to see how it'll work."
