Why Use Clicker Technology?

Why use clicker technology, you ask? Unless your name is Rumpelstiltskin and you've been asleep for the last 50 years, you've noticed that kids today are different than they were 30, 20, or even 10 years ago.

We are now educating the "Net Generation", those kids born in the 1980's and later, and the fact is...we have come a long way from "The Oregon Trail" computer game we used to play in school on our Apple IIe!

A comment from Listen to the Natives, an article by Marc Prensky, caught my eye recently. He wrote, "Our kids do know what engagement is: Outside school, they are fully engaged by their 21st century digital lives."

How does this engagement transition over to our schools?

Are our students being engaged in the regular day-to-day activities of the classroom?

Are students being motivated to participate every day of the week?

Technology has become the vital tool that teachers need to engage, motivate, and relate to today's Net Generation learners in the classroom.

On our site, we have listed several articles about the Net Generation that describe why we cannot possibly teach this generation in the same way that we have taught past generations. Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing things the same way and expecting different results," and so it is.

Learners of this generation MUST be engaged, and that is where clickers shine!

How Clicker Technology Works

Each student in your class has a wireless handheld response pad, or clicker, with which they are able to answer questions. You, the teacher, pose a question verbally or through the computer onto a projector or television screen, and the students respond with their handheld device. Clicker technology, very similar to the familiar feel of a remote control in their hands, is comfortable and fun for the Net Generation. They instinctively know how this "gadget" works, and it makes learning fun.

After students respond, you can then see immediately how students answer and if they understand the material being taught. This allows you to remediate if needed or forge on ahead with new material if it is clear that the students are ready for it; clickers provide true data-driven instruction.

The ability to pose verbal questions and receive immediate feedback from the eInstruction clicker will also allow you to totally change the dynamics of that usually tiresome lecture time.

The classroom suddenly becomes engaging and interactive, and your instructional time becomes much more effective.

Involve Everyone, Embarrass No One

Clicker technology allows every student to answer without the fear of humiliation or negative attention. When using clicker technology, every student has a say when a question is asked. Shy students are given a voice and can answer without being embarrassed. Eager students can answer questions without dominating the class.

When discussing controversial topics, students can also answer and voice their opinion behind a cloak of anonymity. Answering anonymously also encourages your audience to be completely honest, allowing you to take accurate surveys and votes.

Explore ideas for teaching with clickers on a daily basis...

Assess Both Formatively and Summatively

EInstruction clickers offer a wide variety of formative and summative assessment options, including teacher-driven or student-driven. Questions can be posed entirely through the computer for a daily pop quiz, surveys, or verbal questioning during lectures. But, with eInstruction's patented self-paced testing mode, students can also progress through assessments at their own speed. Students can even take paper tests through the remotes, which saves you the time of adding questions to CPS and still lets CPS do the grading work for you!

Reviews are made easy with the eInstruction clickers. This not only benefits you, the teacher, by allowing you to go back and reteach topics if necessary, but it also allows the students to understand which areas they need to work on before the final assessment.

No matter what type of questions or assessments you are doing, CPS generates percentage and graphed totals of each questions' answer totals. This data is tracked and reported in a variety of reports, which allows you to tailor CPS to your classroom environment.

We know how much paperwork teachers have to get bogged down in. When you let the Classroom Performance System do the grading for you and import those grades into your grade book, you have the ability to deliver information to students, parents, principals, other teachers, and district administrators immediately!

Explore the four different CPS assessment modes...

Clicker Technology - What Are You Waiting For?

We hope that by perusing the research articles on our site, you will begin to see that clicker technology is not a trend or a fad, but a true instructional technology piece that can change the way you teach.

We also hope that you will read our clicker success stories and listen to true stories from real teachers and real administrators. There is nothing more inspiring to hear from the very people that are using this technology in their own classrooms.

We are confidant the longer you look for there are a myriad of reasons why you should be using clicker technology in your classroom. In fact, rather than asking, "Why use clicker technology?", you should be asking, "What am I waiting for?"