The Collegian

Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: News

Interactive classroom technology introduced last semester has been expanded to use in Science 101 and education classes and could be used in more classes next year, Assistant Professor of Physics Cyrill Slezak said.


This technology uses the "iclicker," a device students use to answer questions during discussion.

This semester, students in Science 101 each registered their name with one of the clickers. This allowed Slezak to keep track of student participation.

"They really seem to like it," Slezak said. "It's a way for us to deal with participation in a large classroom."

Sophomore Tyler Sharette said he thinks the clickers are "pretty dope."

"It's definitely way more interesting than listening to a professor talk all day," he said. "It's a good way to get participation points."

Sharette used the clicker in the Science 101 physics portion, which he completed this week.

Recording students' clicker answers allows the professor to award extra credit or participation points to students who answer correctly.

"The idea is to get them involved in the process," Slezak said.

Sophomore Katie Stafford is in Hillsdale College's education program. She said she used the clickers in one of her education classes.

"I like them," she said. "They're good because you can see the results right away. It's kind of fun."

Stafford said she also thinks they are a good way to help students participate because everyone gets the chance to anonymously answer a question.

"You don't have to be scared about getting the wrong answer," she said.

Junior Nathan Britton said he thinks the clickers also aid in promoting classroom discussion, which he appreciates.

Slezak said he surveyed his 101 class and 100 percent of the students thought the clicker was easy to use. All but two students thought the clicker was used the right amount during class time.

"So far, I've been quite happy with the response," Slezak said.

This semester, the clickers were used in both physics portions of Science 101 and in Physics 201.

"It looks like from now on SCI101 will continue using them," Slezak said.

At the end of the semester, all the students who took SCI101 - approximately 100 - will be surveyed.

The science department plans to keep using the clickers in Science 101, Physics 201 and might begin using them in Physics 102 as well.

Slezak said in large classrooms, it's hard to judge how many students are actually participating.

"This way, for every single question I ask, every student can participate," he said.

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