TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Engaging The Class

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

South Florida Community College student Lauren Beasley, 19, uses the response card to answer a review question in accounting class Thursday. TOP: Professor Carol Dutton has her students using the Turning Point response card, which allows students to answer questions interactively on a screen.

ADVERTISEMENT

By MANDY SHEETS | Highlands Today

Published: February 16, 2008

AVON PARK — The same way studio audiences in "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" vote for what they think is the correct response, South Florida Community College students key in their answers while studying accounting.

Each student in Professor Carol Dutton's class has a wireless response card that looks like a remote control. Although it doesn't have a fast-forward or mute button, it does have 12 buttons marked with numbers and letters that coordinate to responses.

Dutton presents an interactive polling slide via a PowerPoint presentation during her lecture, and the classmates press the button that corresponds to what they think is the correct answer.

"It's a great way for everyone in the class to participate and for the students to communicate with me," Dutton said.

Students can change their answers before time expires and a counter keeps track of the seconds remaining. As the students respond, their answers remain confidential, which students say they like.

"You don't have to raise your hand and feel like an idiot if you answer wrong," said Megan Metheny, of Avon Park. "You know whether you are right or wrong, but no one else knows."

Dutton said because students feel comfortable with their answers being anonymous, she typically has 100 percent class participation.

"I like using the clickers because it takes the pressure off of raising your hand, especially if you aren't sure of the right answer," said Lauren Beasley, of Lake Wales.

After all the students have responded or time has expired, the program instantly generates a graph showing what percentage chose each response and which answer is correct.

"I know right away how many students understand the concept," Dutton said. "I may find the students didn't understand it, and we will go back and review, or I may find almost everyone understands. It gives me instant feedback that I might not otherwise get and it gives them instant feedback as well."

Brad Lowery, of Avon Park, said the feedback helps him monitor his progress.

"I have been in classes before where teachers ask if anyone has any questions, but if you didn't understand the material, you don't know what to ask," Lowery said. "This way the teacher can see right away what the students understand."

Peter Hamlet, a chemistry instructor at SFCC, has been successfully using the technology for many years.

"When students use the clickers, they become engaged; they are participants instead of spectators," Hamlet said. "It provides two-way communication in a situation where there sometimes isn't any."

Hamlet said he thinks the technology would be useful in elementary and middle schools also.

"Instead of asking one student to answer a question while the others feel left out, everyone gets to participate," Hamlet said. "For the type of drills they have in K-8, I think these clickers would be very efficient at getting everyone engaged."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT