Lessons finally click

At $1,700, remotes help gauge progress of classes
By CHRISTIANA NELSON

After 15 years of teaching, Chris Lee never has had complete class participation - until now.

Lee, a science teacher and department chairman at Fort Collins High School, began using Personal Response Systems, or "clickers," in his science classes and noticed an immediate change in student receptiveness.

"This is the single best improvement to my classroom that I've ever done," he said. "Every student participates every day. They can't come to class and not participate."

Students are given the hand-held clickers - a device similar to a remote control - to answer questions in class. Each student can anonymously answer class-directed questions with the clicker, giving instant feedback to teachers on how well lectures are sinking in and giving students an idea of where they stand in the class.

Individual student answers are anonymous to the rest of the class, yet can be charted so students see what other students answered. Teachers can track individual answers and, consequently, use the clickers for quizzes or to track attendance and participation.

Gabrielle Mymore, a substitute teacher at Boltz Junior High School, believes using the clicker is a great way to get shy students involved.

"The No. 1 benefit is the students are able to answer truthfully and it doesn't point out if they are right or wrong. They already know if they answered it right or wrong," she said. "It's a way to be anonymous, but at the same time, they are not anonymous to the teacher. It is helpful in identifying what students need."

In addition to multiple choice or true/false questions, clickers can display pictures or diagrams and keep students with various learning styles engaged with material and focused in class, Mymore said.

The technology, based on radio frequency or infrared signals, was introduced in Poudre School District at the beginning of the fall semester and has gained immediate popularity. In PSD, 16 schools across all three levels have at least one set of clickers, said Kirk Petty, instructional technology specialist for PSD.

Petty has allowed schools to borrow his set of clickers to try the new technology and said every teacher who tries them wants them.

"Upfront, it takes a little time to learn, but the most valuable part is that it is instant feedback for the students and for the teacher," said Carol Peterson, media specialist at Rocky Mountain High School.

But teachers aren't the only ones who love the new technology.

"It makes you have to pay attention," said Erica Garfinkel, a sophomore at Fort Collins High School. "Sometimes I think I understand something and then realize I don't."

Garfinkel and classmates Chance Crawford and Val Brown said they prefer the interactive teaching method and believe it would be beneficial in multiple subjects, although they've used the devices only in science class.

"I just think it's a good way to learn," Crawford said. "It's anonymous, so you don't feel stupid when you get the answer wrong."

The only thing preventing schools from using clickers more often is the price tag. A set of clickers costs about $1,700 and requires projection materials in the classroom, Petty said.

Despite the high upfront cost, the technology is gaining popularity at college campuses and K-12 schools across the country.

Schools and universities - most in the United States - bought nearly a million clickers in 2004, almost double the previous year, according to DTC Worldwide, a United Kingdom market research firm that tracks the global market for education technology.

By 2008, the company expects 8 million clickers will be sold annually to schools - a net worth of about $350 million.

The Boulder Valley School District, which also uses the in-class devices, will release data on student achievement results in the coming months, Petty said.

Lee has collected achievement data from his classroom as well, which he will present to Fort Collins High School faculty next month.

"It has an overwhelmingly positive result," he said. "You get 100 percent participation every day that you use it and immediate feedback on whether the kids have learned the material. It has increased achievement in my classroom."

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