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from the issue of June 14, 2007
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UNL upgrading 'clicker' technology
BY KIM HACHIYA, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
UNL is upgrading its Personal Response System technology, often called "Clicker" technology, to enhance speed and expand learning options available for users.
Clickers are small, portable electronic devices similar to a television remote control. They are used in classes to register attendance and to record answers to quizzes or other questions.
Students who need to buy PRS/clickers for fall classes should be sure they are buying the latest radio-frequency versions and not the infrared versions.
Infrared clickers will still work during the 2007-08 academic year, but they are being phased out. UNL is looking into ways to recycle the old clickers to keep them from the waste stream.
University Bookstore and Nebraska Bookstore will sell only the new RF clickers this year.
The RF clickers offer several advantages, according to Ron Roeber, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. Infrared clickers, similar to TV remotes, must be pointed directly at the receiver (line of sight) and are limited in the number of responses they can record simultaneously. They are slower to capture responses and have less capability to offer feedback to the users. They also are more limited in the ways that faculty can use the technology during classes.
The wireless clickers have higher capacity, are faster, don't have the "line of sight" problems and offer many possible feedback opportunities. The radio frequency system is less expensive to install and maintain, Roeber said, as a single RF receiver can serve an entire room. It's also expandable beyond lecture halls; the infrared system was not portable because several receivers needed to be permanently installed in specific rooms.
Approximately 200 courses use the system right now. The advantages offered by the new technology may encourage more faculty to adopt it and integrate it into Blackboard offerings, Roeber said. Information Services is developing on-line tutorials and will offer training for faculty to learn how to use the new technology.
UNL provides technology support for a single clicker that can be used by the faculty and students in any of the 32 classrooms supporting that technology. UNL decided to overlap the phase out of old models during the transition to the newer RF technology so students would need only one clicker. Some campuses, Roeber said, use multiple systems, often tied to book publishers' proprietary systems, forcing students to have two or more clickers to accommodate various technologies. Adopting a single technology allows the university to provide more comprehensive support for the response system to students and faculty that use the technology.
About 8,100 infrared clickers are registered with UNL Information Services, Roeber said. New RF clickers will cost about $35, slightly more than the infrared models. The university is exploring options for recycling the older system as some other schools have inquired about adopting UNL's old receivers and clickers next year.
For more information, contact Roeber at 472-3751.
GO TO: ISSUE OF JUNE 14
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UNL upgrading 'clicker' technology
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