Technical Aspects of iclicker

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Technical Aspects of igtclicker

• Stephen Addison
• Discovery Learning Network (DLN)?

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Workshop Outline

• Brief PowerPoint overview
• Demonstration of various functions
• Problems Solutions
• Hands-on experience with the system

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Which of the following best describes how you
feel about your ability to integrate technology
into the curriculum?

• A. Bring it on
• B. Confident
• C. Competent
• D. Worried
• E. Hopeless

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What is the best way for you to become
comfortable with incorporating igtclicker into the
curriculum?

• Observe an experienced instructor using it in a
  class
• Start small and ask 1 or 2 questions in a few
  lectures during a term.
• Find a specific application for my subject that
  makes a difference in my life as an instructor
  and has a positive effect on student learning.
• Prepare some questions and start using it for
  most lectures of a course.
• Practice in an empty classroom until I feel
  proficient.

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50 station receiver
Student remote
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What is igtclicker?

• Software floats above any application
• Results previewed on the receiver
• Receiver powered via USB
• 915 MHZ

• 3 AAA batteries (not Duracell)
• 200 hours of use
• Low battery indicator

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Why does UofA support igtclicker?

• No installation plug and play (and portable
  flash travel drive)
• Inexpensive and no hidden fees to anyone
• Easy learning curve
• Durability and AAA batteries
• Fastest (750 votes/second), reliable, and 0.001
  defective rate
• Open source code, and easy grading and reports,
  easy export into your CMS
• Equally robust Mac and PC versions

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No Installation

• Plug receiver/base into USB port
• Plug flash drive into base
• Use with any computer

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How it Works in the Classroom
What you see as you poll on LCD
screen Students see a green light so that
they know the vote was counted
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Managing igtclicker Course Folders

• Keep a clean copy as it is a template for new
  courses
• Make a copy for each course or section
• Rename each new folder with name of the course
• Keep your lecture slides in the correct folder

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Launching the Software

• Open MyCourse from flash drive
• Click on iclicker.exe
• Click Start Session and start polling.

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Question Format Options

• A/B True/False, Yes/No, Agree/Disagree
• A-E Multiple choice up to five options
• Does not allow for numeric entry.
• Why? distraction more complex the remote the
  more room for student error not as useful as you
  might think.

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Questions Polling

• Timer
• Chart display
• Voting grid display options

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Toolbar

• Move toolbar make transparent increase/decrease
  time
• Questions on the fly
• Settings and preferences

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Problems Solutions

• Student remote not working
• Check the batteries and re-seat the batteries if
  required
• Check the remote is set to the correct frequency.
• Distorted graphs on computer display
• Download the most up-to-date software
• New toolbar
• Old toolbar

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Resetting the Remote Frequency

• Press and hold the ON/OFF button until the power
  light flashes. 
• Then enter the 2-key frequency code that the
  iclicker software is set to. 
• The remote will only change frequencies when an
  active receiver is within range. 
• Please note that frequency settings are only
  temporary and the remote will reset itself to the
  default frequency of AA each time it is turned
  off.
• Reset the frequency on the blue remote too.

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Settings Preferences
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General Settings Preferences
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Question/Polling Settings Preferences
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IgtGRADER
Before opening igtgrader, exit igtclicker
application.
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IgtGRADER

• Check how each student voted
• Easily see which questions you asked in your
  presentation (igtclicker takes a screen shot of
  each)
• Look at the overall data, and decide what to do
  with it

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Reporting

• Run/update html reports
• Term Session Summary and Review html
• Breakdown of polling data. Ideal as a
  post-lecture guide
• Linked summary review reports contain statistics,
  screenshots and graphs.
• Student Voting data html
• Contains data for individual students, by session
  and by question.
• Access from here cumulative student scores.
• Cumulative Student Scores
• Provides review of each student performance.

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Indicate the extent to which you agree or
disagree with the following statement
Student behaviours (e.g. effort, participation,
adherence to class rules) should NOT be included
in grades. A. Strongly Agree B. Agree C.
Disagree D. Strongly Disagree
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QUESTION 1
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I am confident in my technical ability to use
igtclicker as a result of this workshop.

• Strongly Disagree
• Disagree
• Neutral
• Agree
• Strongly Agree

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Further Information

• Email stephen.addison_at_ualberta.ca
• DLN site http//www.dlnet.ualberta.ca/iclicker
• Iclicker site http//www.iclicker.com