Clickers and Reef Polling (CTE726)

Location: EV1 241  Notes: Open to faculty and staff (registration is required)

Description: “Clicker” is the generic name for devices that allow students to easily respond to an instructor’s in-class, multiple-choice or short-answer questions, and for the instructor to easily and instantly aggregate those responses. Clickers are primarily used for three reasons:

1. to increase student engagement;
2. to facilitate peer instruction;
3. to help an instructor gauge -- on the fly -- whether students are understanding course concepts.

At Waterloo, a brand of clicker known as the iClicker has been used since 2006. More recently, an app version of the iClicker – known as Reef Polling – has been introduced: students access or install the Reef Polling app on their smartphones or other mobile devices. iClickers and the Reef Polling app are an effective tool for fostering student engagement, often by facilitating peer instruction. Instructors can also these tools to easily provide themselves with real-time feedback about how well students are understanding course concepts. In this hands-on session, participants will learn about the functionality of iClickers and the Reef Polling app, including the advantages of each tool. Best practices for using them in class will also be explored.

Learning Outcomes:  After this session, participants will be able to:

• Describe the functionality of iClickers and the Reef Polling app;
• Use both tools effectively to foster student engagement and enhance student learning;
• Locate online or human resources to learn more about this tool or to get help in implementing it.

For a head start on the session, view this five-minute YouTube video about clickers:

https://youtu.be/tpAEx2abKBQ

And this two-minute YouTube video about the Reef Polling app:

https://youtu.be/eCnzla9d040

Facilitators: Paul Kates (CTE), and Tammy Marcinko (ITMS)

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Full overview of 2017 Educational Technologies workshop series.