Feedback and Student Response

The article “Feedback that fits” was very informative and filled with common sense. I have always found that giving correct and positive feedback requires patience, tact, insight, maturity, and at times compassion—even if as a teacher you are having a bad day. The article points out that giving feedback is a craft that is learned over time. This is indeed true and it’s important to note that wrong or negative feedback can be damaging.

After reviewing two articles on electronic student response tools (Clickers: A classroom innovation by D. Buff and What I learned from using a personal response system by M. Butler) I’ve learned that clickers promote active participation, engagement, and discussion among all students, even those who might not participate in typical class-wide discussions. I’ve also learned that clickers can be assessment tools, providing students with useful and motivational feedback on their own learning while providing instructors with information about student learning that helps them respond to immediate student learning needs. I checked out two systems online: I>Clicker and Qwizdom Action Point. I>Clicker seems to be the easier of the two to use and questions can be written using any application. Qwizdom is only compatible with PowerPoint. Both packages have a “Questions on the Fly” option but I>Click can work with a large selection of textbooks. I>Clicker has a remote which is well-suited for students with disabilities. This doesn’t seem to be the case with Qwizdom. Students and direct purchasers pay one price for the I>Clicker remote and can use it repeatedly with no additional costs, ever. I>Clicker is very reliable and has a very small defective rate. It uses AAA batteries and users will not encounter any problems with wireless interference. Data from I>Clicker can be exported into HTML reports. Qwizdom users have the option of choosing different styles of remotes, they can discreetly ask for assistance, and they’re instantly provided with right/wrong feedback. Qwizdom also has interactive learning games. I did not see any prices but I’m assuming that Qwizdom is the more expensive of the two (just a guess). The only con I can see with clickers is one caused by the economy. I don’t see my institution investing in any new technology for a while. The math classrooms at my institution are not equipped with computers (student or instructor). This raises another problem. I personally would like to see clickers in action somewhere—especially in a math classroom. I’m sure they add a missing piece to student involvement.