Hey there everyone!

Just wanted to make sure everyone was aware that registration is now open for our October User Conference in San Diego, CA. I've personally been able to attend several of these and every time I am amazed at the GREAT session topics and unique uses of student response. The sessions chosen for this conference look even more enticing! Check out the conference details for yourself and don't forget to register and reserve your spot today. Remember registration is limited.

View Conference Details and Register!

Morning Everyone!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I just finished loading the Keynote and Breakout Session videos from our Nashville User Conference to YouTube. Sorry, for the delay, but they are well worth the wait! Check out what you may have missed or get a refresher of what you've already seen!

View Nashville User Conference Videos Now

Special Congratulations to Brian L. from Jacksonville University who won the iPad for our TurningTalk content contest. Thanks to everyone who participated! Just because the contest is over, doesn't mean you can't keep contributing. Keep the conversations alive! Thanks everyone!

-Matt

I found a free option that could be used to create participant lists. I was able to successfully scan our clickers and export as a spreadsheet from CodeReadR. There is a free app in iTunes to use for scanning and below is some additional information to get you started.

App to scan clicker
1 Download the CodeReadR App - http://itunes.apple.com/mu/app...code/id389044458?mt=8
2 Record in Real Time (sends it to their website) or to test it out use Record on the device.
3 Scroll through the text and click continue (an image of a scanner will be on your screen
5 Click on settings and click on the application settings
6 Change the Barcode Type to Code 39
7 Click back on the scan and tap the screen
8 Hold the clicker so the iphone camera can view the barcode it will auto focus and complete the scan (you do not have to do anything or click any buttons)
9 It advances to a screen that shows it was valid and shows the barcode with the option to do another
10 Create an account and login to the website below to view your scans

Web Account to view scans
http://itunes.apple.com/mu/app...code/id389044458?mt=8

1. Create an account and Login
2. View all scans
3. Export clicker scans to import into participant lists.

One of the assumptions we instructors make when using student response devices is that students enjoy using them. For some students "enjoy" is too strong a word, but at least clickers can make the lecture experience more agreeable. Every semester our students write course evaluations, and every semester I have used clickers the comments about them have been positive. The following examples are actual unedited student comments from the Spring 2010 semester:

[begin student comments]
I like that we use clickers in class it's one more way to help keep me from getting bored during the lectures if there isn't really much to give input on otherwise.

He uses the data from the clicker questions to get a sense of how the class as a whole is doing in understanding the material and uses that to spend extra time on material that people might not be understanding right away.

Even though the class was early in the morning Morgan would always make it active by using clicker points to understand whether or not students understood the topics for each day.

The powerpoints were very well structured and clicker questions were a great help.

Clicker questions helped me the most I learn from examples.

The clickers are good too.

The lectures and clicker questions provided a way for me to review all the stuff I learned from high school.
[end student comments]

The comments were anonymous and they were not made in response to a solicitation. In other words, I didn't tell the students to tell me whether or not they liked clickers. All of the comments I received were positive. There may have been students who disliked using clickers, they just didn't tell me about it.

Matt Morgan
Distinguished Educator
Hamline University, St Paul, MN

In teaching a course I developed about 'Hands-On Project Management' to the IT department at a state university, I used the Turning Technologies' audience response system to get to know my audience better. Usually we do a round robin set of introductions. To step up the level of information conveyed (and remembered!), I listed several possible roles and asked participants to pick one answer on their ResponseCards: View Graph

Now I know we have quite a mix of roles represented in the room, all the way from team members to a project sponsor. We also see an equal split between full and part time project managers. An interesting discussion ensued finding out what the other five people did for a living and why one person described being a "hostage" who has no responsibilities.

We got into a discussion about IT challenges - among them everybody wants a piece of IT, it's a strategic imperative with notorious failure rates, people can't say "No", and the necessity to implement an effective and efficient framework. I wanted to find out how widespread their strategic plans were. So we conducted another poll, this time using the feature to vote in priority order among six options: View Graph

Ideally there is balance among options 2 through 6. We find this audience experiences incomplete strategic plans that score poorly on balancing long and short term goals. That feedback helps me as an instructor know what needs additional emphasis during the course in order to address known deficiencies.

Getting into the triple constraints, or iron triangle, of project management, I again asked participants, in their opinion, to rank the priority order among scope, schedule, and resources on their projects: View Graph

Without the audience response system (ARS), I'd have to rely on raising of hands and could just ask what was their number one priority. With TurningPoint we now find there is a relatively equal balance with a slight edge on schedule. This graphical display helps bring home the point that their mission as project leaders is to understand which constraint is most important (constrained), second most important (moderately flexible), and lesser important (most flexible). The software did the math and provided instantaneous graphics after closing the poll. This is a great training aid. The challenge for students then is to ensure that all project participants align their thinking similarly.

Later in the course I used a simple poll both to introduce and ascertain current understanding about risk management: View Graph


While most answers represent some degree of truth, they are allowed only one answer. Only 40 percent selected the preferred answer. I could then explain why the other options were incomplete. We are now firmly launched into a teaching moment, thanks to feedback provided by the ARS. Otherwise, I would have incomplete understanding about how my audience currently understood the topic. I also caused students to think about the question first before providing a definition.

This technology provides me as an instructor with much more information to know my audience better, as well as allows more focused instruction.

Randy Englund, Englund Project Management Consultancy
www.englundpmc.com

Many courses taught in the College of Liberal Arts at Hamline University use clickers, and students are required to have their own. This creates a wonderful, clicker-friendly environment, but it also creates some unanticipated problems.

I love the fact that the tech podiums in our classrooms have Turning Point software and a receiver installed. When the students bring their own clickers, I can just load my lesson and start teaching. Back when I first started using clickers I had the package of clickers that I had to hand out to students and then collect after class. I also brought to class a special computer that that the receiver and software installed, and after class I had to disconnect everything and bring it with me. If I had to do that again I would, because I think the educational benefits of using clickers is worth the trouble. However, it's very nice not have to do that anymore.

That all sounds great, but what do you do when a student doesn't/can't/won't purchase their own clicker? I allocate a certain number of course points to answering clicker questions, and it's difficult for a student who doesn't have a clicker to get those points. The reason most often cited for not owning a clicker is financial, and the student telling me he or she can't afford a clicker is often wearing nice shoes, sporting a Prada handbag, and texting on the latest generation iPhone.

Rather than argue with the student, there are a few options you can pursue. My least preferred option is to hold the hard line and say, "No clicker = no clicker points." That choice is simple, but does create some tension. Another option is to allow the student to email you the answers to that lesson's clicker questions. I don't like this choice either, because I have had students do this for an entire semester, and it defeats the purpose of using clickers in the first place.

For me so far, the best option has been to allow a grace period. I allow emailed answers if the student is without a clicker for one or two lessons. It's not a perfect solution, but a good compromise is one that upsets all parties.

If someone has new and better ideas, please share. I think that's one of the great advantages of blogging.

Matt Morgan
Distinguished Educator
Hamline University

For the past couple of years I have been using Participant Lists to keep track of my students' responses to in-class questions. In addition to all the educational benefits of using clickers, they also help reduce my administrative workload.

For example, I don't like to use class time to take roll, and it breaks up the lecture rhythm when a student comes in late and I have to stop talking and change his or her status from absent to late. With clicker device IDs associated with student names, I know who was in class that day. I also have a pretty good idea when a student comes late to class. If that day's report shows a student not answering the first one or two of that day's questions, there is a good chance that student was tardy.

When a student stops coming to class, I am usually asked by our Student Administrative Services to provide the date that student last attended. Before using Participant Lists, I would estimate the date based on the last graded work that was handed in. The date I gave was usually good within a week or so, but it did bother me that I didn't know this information with greater certainty. Now by viewing the student results reports, I know the exact date a student's clicker answers stop appearing. That information is easy to retrieve, much more accurate than my previous guesses, and I don't have to call the roll every day.

Matt Morgan
Distinguished Educator
Hamline University

Try inserting a video into Prezi and adding a question over the video. Using TurningPoint AnyWhere, you will be able to poll while the video is playing. Here is an example from my FETC presentation:

FETC Intro

Probably the most challenging and rewarding course I teach here at Hamline University is called Chemistry and Society. It is a course for non-science majors who need two natural science lab courses in order to graduate. Most of my students are non-science majors because...wait for it...they don't like science. They embrace the subject matter with the same attitude as a person who has to pick up dog poop in the back yard. They hope it doesn't smell too awful and that nothing sticks to them.

One strategy I have found to be very successful in generating interest is to use competition slides. The students pick their own teams, and the slide I use for that has pictures of the main Twin Cities professional sports teams.

The software is great because it adjusts the scoring to account for teams having different numbers of people. The last time I used this slide, the Vikings had by far the fewest people pick them.

I asked a series of questions, and displayed the scores periodically. I noticed the students worked very diligently to answer the questions correctly. They might not have cared much about learning the material, but they cared a LOT about their team getting the best score. The scores were very close, and even the short-handed Vikings team was in the running to win. Eventually the Wild brought in top honors, but any team could have won. At the end of the contest I also displayed team MVPs and fastest responders.

In the future I will continue to leverage that competitive spirit. Students will hopefully work harder at learning the material, and the class will be more fun.

As always, if you have questions or comments, please let me know.

Matt Morgan
Distinguished Educator
Hamline University, St Paul, MN

Edited: 02/07/2011 at 03:16 PM by