Southern Valley Schools have recently invested in the latest classroom technology. This new learning tool is a system of clickers used by students. They can be used by many different teachers, in many different classroom settings.

Southern Valley High School principal Brent Hollinger and elementary principal Steve Billeter were looking for a new innovative way to help teachers improve student knowledge. When they were shown a presentation on the clicker system, they knew this was a technology they wanted to invest in. After having a staff in-service with all of the teachers from kindergarten to 12th grade, they started the process of buying 220 clickers for different departments in the schools. The clickers were purchased with grant money.

The clickers are a small handheld device used by students to answer questions. The clickers can be used in many different ways. They can be used for multiple choice questions, yes or no questions, and also true or false questions. Each student is assigned a clicker number to use. Then the teacher asks questions for the student to answer. Teachers can ask verbal questions or they can put the questions on paper, a whiteboard, or a projection screen. Teachers can see immediately which students have answered questions and how many gave correct responses.

As an added technology tool, the school also received several chalkboards. A chalkboard is a table that allows the teacher to control their computer from anywhere in the room. This allows teachers to circulate around the room to interact more with students.

Mr. Hollinger, high school principal, hopes the new technology will benefit student learning greatly. "I think it will benefit learning because it gives teachers instant feedback on whether all students understand the material or not." He also added that clickers should "greatly enhance student achievement if they are used effectively." Ideally, a teacher can present a new topic to the class and have students answer questions using the clickers. That way a teacher can immediately see if the class understands the material or if they need more instructions.

The clickers purchased by Southern Valley have been distributed to many classes. The 220 clickers were split between 14 different teachers. These classrooms study anything from English and Math to Chemistry and Agriculture. They also were divided between high school courses and elementary classrooms. The teachers who received these clickers included elementary teacher Nancy McClelland, Angela Culver, Gina Ellis, Kim Killion, Rose Bohl, Barb Luke and Carmen Williamson. The high school teachers who received clickers included math teachers Anita Krejdl and Shelly Hollinger; English teachers Meredith McQuay, Kristi Bose, and Alice Hinkle; Science teacher Bryce Wolzen, and Agriculture teacher Sara Scholz.

These teachers received the technology because they prepared a PowerPoint proposal to request clickers for their classroom. The teachers detailed the ways in which they would utilize the clickers and how using them would increase student performance. The three teachers in the English department at the high school received 40 clickers. Sharing them is easy because the clickers are very portable. It takes less than a minute to connect the receiver to a computer in the room. All three teachers have enjoyed learning about them and getting to use them with their classes. Mrs. Bose uses them to study for tests and review for quizzes. She likes to also use them for pretests because she can see what the students know already. She used them for a comma pretest recently. "After the comma pretest, I knew how many students knew each rule, so I only taught the rules they didn't understand," Mrs. Bose said. Junior high English teacher Mrs. McQuay added, "The students enjoy using the clickers. They like the interactive technology."

Mrs. Krejdl and Mrs. Hollinger each received 20 clickers for the Math department. Mrs. Krejdl uses her clickers daily. Her algebra classes are having a contest between the three different periods. "They do daily clicker challenges and compare answers to see how many each class gets right," says Mr. Krejdl. She and Mrs. Hollinger also use the clickers to test students. Kyle Chesterman, a sophomore at Southern Valley High School, said, "I feel I test better while using the clickers because they are more hands-on and interesting to learn with."

One important benefit of the clickers is to ensure that 100 percent of a class is participating. When used on a projection screen, the clicker numbers pop up on the screen when a question is asked. As soon as a student submits an answer, their clicker number changes color, so a teacher can see right away if someone isn't answering.

Mr. Brent Hollinger and Mr. Steve Billeter hope to one day receive more grant money to purchase more clickers. They have nothing but positive things to say about the clicker system and how it will continue to benefit student learning. All teachers who received clickers agree that the clickers have helped improve their lesson plans. They know exactly who needs help in which areas of learning, and for students, the next answer is just a click away.