How Clicker Response Systems Can Be Useful For Teachers in the Classroom

Today students are having so many problems focusing on classroom activities and discussions that teachers everywhere are looking for tools they can use to engage students and increase involvement in classroom discussions and activities. At one time teachers were only competing with hormones and last night's TV shows for their student's attention, but today there are so many new technologies, including portable computing devices, cell phones and hand held gaming systems, that engaging students in a meaningful classroom interaction has become more difficult than ever. Using a clicker response system in the classroom is one way that teachers can actually turn the tide of technological gadgetry to their advantage in order to encourage student participation in classroom activities.

Surely, there are those of you out there who are having trouble believing that any kind of high tech device can actually encourage student engagement rather than increasing student distractions. Also called classroom or top hat monocle student response systems, a clicker response system is designed to allow students to respond to teacher questions presented on the classroom LCD through the use of a remote hand held device called a clicker. There are a number of important advantages that can be gained from this type of classroom approach.

One of the biggest factors that reduces the amount of classroom participation among students is a general feeling of shyness and social pressure that many students have. A clicker or student response system actually allows students to respond to questions anonymously so that there is no fear of getting the question wrong or of being ridiculed in any way for a classroom response. In a classroom with a student response system in place, students are empowered to take part in classroom discussions without the fear of social pressure unduly influencing their responses.

Student response system are pretty simple as far as the hardware is concerned. The classroom response systems consists of a hand held clicker device which conducts a signal to the receiver which the teacher plugs into the class computer through a USB port. The other half of a clicker response system is the software component which is simply downloaded to the classroom computer system and can make classroom activities more engaging and enjoyable for students. Many clicker response systems allow students to log in and have access to the interactive slideshow using their own tablet or smart phone which can help teachers turn the tide of distraction in their classrooms by making the sources of these distractions into the very tools to increase student engagement and classroom involvement.

Studies have shown that student achievement rises in direct proportion to the amount that those students are engaged in classroom activities. With a classroom response system teachers can increase the level of student engagement and watch as student achievement and satisfaction rises as well.