What is a Classroom Response System?

A classroom response system is a tool designed to help instructors collect feedback from students by way of a collection of handheld remote devices, commonly referred to as "clickers".  In a clicker-enabled classroom instructors may engage their students with interactive multiple choice questions designed to measure student comprehension of recently covered material or to gather student opinion data.  Students respond to these questions using their clickers.

How are Clickers being used at Viterbo University?

The Title III Project helped pilot Viterbo's first use of clickers in the Fall of 2006.  This pilot program provided clickers for roughly 60 students.  Today, Viterbo University, with continued support from the Title III Project, has been able to expand its use of clickers to serve nearly 300 students, and has outfitted classrooms all across campus with clicker-enabling technology. 

Instructors in our Natural Sciences program have found clickers to be especially useful, due, much in part, to the fact-rich nature of their work, which lends itself well to multiple choice questions.  These instructors have reported using clickers to take attendance, to measure student comprehension/participation, and to quiz their students without the use of paper or pencils. 

Instructors in our Business program have found clickers to be useful for measuring student attitudes toward ethically difficult problems.  For example, students may be presented with an ethically challenging scenario and four possible choices to make.  The instructor will collect the students' choices anonymously using clickers, and, using the clicker presentation software to display the feedback in the form of a bar chart, the instructor will open the results up for discussion.

Student Impressions of Clickers - Spring 2007 This document contains results from a poll conducted at the end of an introductory-level biology course designed to measure student satisfaction with clickers.

How can I learn more about using Clickers at Viterbo?

If you are an instructor or student at Viterbo University who is interested in learning more about clickers, or if you are in need of technical support concerning clickers, please feel free to contact Isaac Kulka, Viterbo's Instructional Technology Support Specialist at igkulka@viterbo.edu.