“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” said Benjamin Franklin. His words makes more sense today than ever before when education, classroom teaching, learning, teach-student relationship have all undergone a sea-change. The dynamics in the education system has seen so much change that to be able to successfully run an educational institution, you have tostress on new-age learning methods.
Today educators cannot afford to remain aloof from their students. The young minds who are exposed to so much of information already, it is important that teachers become facilitators, guide and above all their friends. Clickers or mobile student response system have changed the way interaction happens within a classroom. These small devices help to break the ice between the students and the teachers, encouraging the former to question the latter far more freely.
Ask any teacher how disheartening it is to stare at blank faces in a classroom in what they thought would be an energetic lecture. Such lackadaisical attitude can dampen any facilitator’s spirits. If you are a teacher and has seen the forlorn expressions on your students’ face then you must start using interactive student response system that has the power to completely change how interaction happens within a classroom.
Many have rightly noted that mobile based student response systems are interactive. They have completely changed the way knowledge is imparted in a classroom. It is especially useful when teachers have all the materials required to make a class interesting, when student don’t necessarily dislike you but when you cannot hold their attention span for more than a few minutes. Clickers engage students, keeps them glued to what is happening within the classroom and promotes discussions and deliberations. There are many ways that clickers help in a classroom. Let’s take a look at some of them.
New-Age Learning
Teaching is a profession that should not remain stagnant. Teachers and facilitators should bring new methodologies of teaching. Students should remain interested in classroom and not look for ways to escaping a teacher’s class. Among the many new-age learning methodologies that are currently doing the round, clickers are one. They have empowered teachers and students with interactive tools using which both parties can engage in meaningful discussions. Most student response systems are mobile based and they are easy to use and accessible. Since everyone now carries a smartphone, these systems are effective in multiple ways.
Increased Participation in the Class
In the traditional teaching method, students were not expected to question within the classroom nor were they encouraged to clear their doubts. Teachers were authoritative and didn’t really mingle with the younger lot to understand how well they grasped the topic or if they understood it at all. Once he finished his lecture, his job was done. How the students interpreted the topic, whether they understood anything at all what completely irrelevant. But thankfully things have changed now. This authority does not work anymore. Today students are much more forthright. They do not sit quietly inside a classroom. They question, they challenge and they debate. And that’s why teachers have to change their approach as well. They have to become accessible to the younger ones, they have to allow participation. While it is not impossible to change a classroom environment without the use of technology, but using devices such as clickers makes the job easy.
Scope for Feedback
Clickers in the classroom not only increases participation but also improves the scope for feedback. In earlier times teachers or administrative authorities did not have a scope to understand what the students felt. Communication at almost all times was uni-directional and there were hardly any scope to understand student grievances, especially regarding teaching methodologies and classroom atmosphere. All this has changed with mobile based clickers. This technology has enabled students to not only participate but also allowed teachers to understand students better.
Makes Assessments Simpler
Clickers offer flexibility, something which was completely missing in the earlier classroom scenario. Clickers are useful not just to make a discussion lively and Interactive Polling Software but they also help in pre and posttest assessments. When teachers conduct a test using clickers, the results are generated in real-time and can be easily shared with the students. Not only this but test results can be easily stored in cloud servers and can be assessed anytime, anywhere. This also makes the process transparent, allowing the students to understand their own academic progress.
Audience response is indeed a novel approach to interactive and hand-on activity in the classroom. They have easily empowered both teachers and students equally. While teachers can now engage with their students far more easily without being called a bore, students also have the power to interact and enable discussions within the classroom. These systems have completely changed the way the education system works and brought in the much required change in the academic world.but they also help in pre and posttest assessments. When teachers conduct a test using clickers, the results are generated in real-time and can be easily shared with the students. Not only this but test results can be easily stored in cloud servers and can be assessed anytime, anywhere. This also makes the process transparent, allowing the students to understand their own academic progress.
Summary – In this write-up we take a look at how mobile based student response systems are useful in improving interaction and hands-on activity in the classroom.