Why Use Clickers?

I just had to share this tweet I saw a few weeks ago.

@colinmorris: 44% OF MY U.S. HISTORY CLASS THINKS WATERBOARDING IS A SURFING TERM. I take back everything I’ve said about these “clickers” being useless.

6 Responses to "Why Use Clickers?"

@colinmorris says:

October 14, 2009 at 10:56 am

A guy who saw this post @ replied me, then sent me a link here. Thanks for the mention.

My frustration with clickers at my school (Kent State University) is this:

The university required all freshmen to buy them ($40) this year and, I think, all general education classes to use them in some way. The devices open countless pedagogical doors, through which I’d like to follow my thoroughly geeked-out professors.

But I’m a recently unemployed, second-year senior. I’ll have (finally) finished my gen eds at the end of this semester, so it’s not exactly cost effective for me to buy a clicker.

Meanwhile, I’m graded on my responses to clicker quizzes…

You tell me, man.

Reply
derekbruff says:

October 14, 2009 at 11:06 am

Thanks for stopping by, Colin. Crazy how the social networks work sometimes.

It sounds like the cost is the issue for you. I can’t speak on behalf of Kent State, but it certainly sounds like there might be a resell market for your clicker at the end of the semester if all students are required to buy them. You could probably get $30-35 back, I would think.

I prefer to focus on the “countless pedagogical doors” here on the blog, but I do understand the financial issues involved.

Reply
Biggio Center says:

October 20, 2009 at 12:13 pm

Do you remember the exact question that was asked? Would love to see how professors here think their students would answer such a question…

Reply
JOnathan Rose says:

October 23, 2009 at 1:57 pm

See this link for the question wording:
http://bit.ly/2wUTjP

Reply
@colinmorris says:

October 23, 2009 at 2:07 pm

The question was:

When you hear the term “water boarding,” what comes to mind?

A. Olympic event
B. Fraternity initiation
C. Interrogation technique
D. Surfing
E. Torture

Feel free to contact my professor, Dr. John Jameson, for more on this question at jjameson@kent.edu. I think he’d love to hear from you.

Reply
Social Media and Waterboarding says:

October 23, 2009 at 3:05 pm

[…] couple of weeks ago on this blog, I shared a tweet by Colin Morris, a student at Kent State University in Ohio. His comment (via Twitter) was, […]

Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply