1.Studiesatvariousuniversitiesduring Thelastseveralyearshaveshownthatstudentslearnbetter

Anexampleofasyllabusstatementintheuseofclickers

ClickerUseinBiology5A:

1.Studiesatvariousuniversitiesduring thelastseveralyearshaveshownthatstudentslearnbetter, andretain more ofwhattheylearn,iftheyactivelyparticipatein learningbyrespondingto questionsinclasswithclickersandbyformingsmallgroupstodiscussthequestionsandtheiranswers. Moststudentsalsothinkthatusingclickersisalotoffun!

2.Becausetheinstructorswantyou tolearnasmuchbiologyasyoucan,youwillberequiredtoobtainaH-ITTclicker foryourpersonalusein Biology5Ainwinter,2007.

3.ClickerscanbepurchasedinCompUCRattheBookstore.Thecostisapproximately$32.

4.Afterobtainingyourclicker,youmustgotothewebsite Everyclickeroncampushasadifferent,uniqueserialnumber,andthroughthisregistrationyouaretellingthecampuscomputer"Thisistheserialnumberofmyclickerforthisquarter." Thison-lineregistrationshouldbecompletedbeforethefirstdiscussionsessionat 7:40PMonJanuary8,2007.

5.Youshouldhaveonlyoneclickerandregisterjustthatoneclickeratthestartofthequarter. Ifyouusedaclickerforanyofyourclassesinfallquarter,youcanusethesameclickerinwinterquarter,butyoumustregisteritagainatthestartofwinterquarter. Youcanuseyouroneclickerinhowevermanyclickerclassesyouhaveduringthequarter. For example,ifyouare takingaphysicsclassthatrequiresaclicker,youcanusethesameclickerinbothphysicsandBiology5A.Onlyone studentcan useaparticularclicker;thatis,twodifferentstudentscannotusethesameclickerinthesamequarter,eveniftheyaretakingdifferentclasses.

6.When theinstructorasks youtoansweraquestionwithyourclicker,youwillhaveapproximately105secondstosignalyouranswer. UNLH1000has16receiversmountedintheceilingoftheroom. Eachreceivercanacceptonlyabout20answerspersecond,so someanswerswillbemissediftoomanypeoplepointtheir clickersatthesamereceiver.Toavoidthispile-up,pointyourclickeratthereceiverthatisclosesttoyourseatintheroom, and thenpresstheclickerbuttoncorrespondingtoyouranswer.Theredlight onthereceiverwillflashbrighterwhenananswerisreceived. Ifyouhave a12-buttonclicker,'theindicatoronyourclickerwilllightredwhenitsendsyouranswerandthenwillchangebrieflyto greenwhenthereceiversignalsbackthatyouranswerhasbeenreceived. Ifyouhaveanolder6-buttonclicker,itwillnothavethisgreenindicatorlight.Witheithertypeofclicker,youcanlookatthescreenatthefrontoftheroomtoseeifyouranswerhasbeenreceived.Asanswersarereceived,thescreenwillfill withagridofsmallboxes. Eachsmallboxwillcontainthelast4digitsoftheserialnumberofaclickerforwhichananswerhasbeenreceived.Theboxesaredifferentcolorsdependingupontheverylastdigitoftheserialnumber.Theposition whereyourboxappearswithinthegridonthescreenisdeterminedwhenyougive yourfirstclickeranswerof thequarterinBiology5A.On allsubsequentquestionsinBiology5Aduringthequarter,yourboxwillappearinthesamelocationinthegridandwillhavethesame color.Oncethesystemreceivesananswerfromyourclicker,itisblockedfromreceivinganotheranswerfromyourclickerfor7seconds. Afterthe?-seconddeadtime,youcanchangeyouranswerbypointingyourclickerandpressingadifferentanswerbutton.Whenyouchange

youranswer,yourboxinthegridonthescreenwilladdanumber1,inadifferentcolor,afterthelastdigitoftheserialnumber,toindicatethatyouchangedyouransweronce. Ifyouchangeyouransweragainafteranother7seconds,this1willbecomea2.

7.Atthe endofthe approximately105secondsforenteringanswers,theinstructorwilldisplayahistogramon thescreenthatshowshowmanystudentsgaveeachanswer. Thisprocessismuch likepollingtheaudienceinthetelevisionshow,"WhoWantstobeaMillionaire?"(excepttheinstructorsinBiology5Adon'tgiveoutmoney!).Alldisplaysintheclassroomareanonymous,sonobodyintheclassroomknowswhatansweryougavetothequestion.

8.Eachdayafterclass,however, theinstructorreceivesacomputerfilethatcontainsinformationonallclickeranswersreceived duringtheclass.Throughtheserialnumberonyourclicker,youranswersarelinkedtoyourname.Thus,thecomputerfiletellstheinstructorwhatanswer,ifany,yougavetoeachquestion thatday.

9.Becausestudentsshouldreceive creditfortheworkthattheydo,clickerresponsesduringthequarterwillbeworth20pointstowardsthefinalgrade. Because thepurposeoftheclickerquestionsistohelpyoulearn,insteadofto testyourknowledgeforgrading,the 20pointswillbeaddedtoyourtotalforthequarteronanall-or-nonebasis,basedonparticipation.

10.Hereistheprocedurethatwilldeterminewhetheryouget 20points,or0points, addedto yourtotalforthequarter. Foreach clickerquestion,youwillearn:

2clickermarksifyouransweriscorrect1clickermarkifyouransweriswrong

0clickermarksifnoanswerisreceivedfrom you

Ifyouearnatleast50% ofthe totalpossibleclickermarks duringthequarter,thenyou willget20pointsaddedto yourpoint totalattheendof thequarter. Ifyouearnlessthan50%ofthetotalpossibleclickermarksduringthequarter, thenyouwillget Opointsaddedtoyourpointtotalattheendofthequarter.

11.Clickerquestionswillbeasked duringbothlectureandthediscussionsection,butwewillnotknowhow manyclickerquestionstherewillbealtogetheruntilwegettotheendofthequarter. Forpurposesofexample,supposethetotalnumberofclickerquestionsduringthequarterturnsouttobe50.Since2clickermarkswillbegivenforeverycorrectanswer,thetotalpossibleclickermarksforthequarterwouldthenbe50X2=100clickermarks. Inthiscase,youwouldneedtoearnatleast50clickermarkstogetthe20 points addedtoyourpointtotalforthe quarter. Supposethatyouanswerall50clickerquestions,butgeteveryanswerwrong.Sincewronganswersareworth1clickermark,youwillhaveearnedexactly50clickermarksattheendof thequarterandwillstillgetthe 20pointsadded to yourpointtotalforthequarter.Thus,theemphasisisonparticipationandlearning,notonwhetheryouarerightorwrongwhilelearning.

12.Participationisimportant,however,becauseifananswerisnotreceivedfromyou, youearn0clickerpointsforthatquestion.Whatare somepossiblereasons thatananswerwouldnotbereceivedfromyou?

Youdidnotobtainorregisteraclickerrightawayatthestartofthequarter.Youforgottobringyourclickertoalectureordiscussionsection.

Thebatteryinyourclickerdied.Yourclickerbrokeduringclass.

Youhadtroubledecidinganddidnotenter ananswerbeforetheendoftheapproximately105secondsallowedforanswering.

Youdidnotoperateyourclicker properly.

Youmissedaclickerquestionbecauseyouhadtogototherestroomduringclass. Youmissedaclickerquestionbecauseyoudozedoffinclass.

Youarrived at classlateorleftearly.Youdidnotcometoclass.

Theonlymethodthatwillbeprovidedforyoutomakeupfortheseoranyotherreasonsfornotreceiving aclickeranswer fromyouisfor youtoanswersome oftheotherclickerquestionscorrectly.Againsupposeweassumethatatotalof50clickerquestionsareasked duringthequarter. Furthersuppose forvariousreasons,thoselistedaboveorothers,noanswersarereceivedfromyoufor10ofthe 50clickerquestions. Onthe40clickerquestionsthatyoudoanswer,youarecorr.eel1Otimesandwrong30times.Foreachcorrectansweryouearn2clickermarks,andforeach wrongansweryouearn1clickermark.Thus, the totalclickermarks you earnforthe40 clickerquestionsyouanswerare(10X2)+(30X1)=50clickermarks.Thistotalis50%ofthetotalpossible100clickermarks,soyou getthe20pointsaddedtoyourpointtotalattheendofthequarter.

13.CLICKERINTEGRITY.Justaswitheveryotherthing youdo inyourclasses,youmusthavehighacademicintegritywhenusingclickers.AcademicintegrityforBiology5Aisdetailedinthelastsectionofthis syllabus,andtheserulesfullyapplytouseofclickers.Themost commontype ofviolationofacademicintegrityinvolvingclickersiswhenonestudentsaysto another,"Ican'tmakeitto classtoday. Here,takemyclickerandenter answerstotheclickerquestionsforme."Suchbehaviorisaclearviolationofacademicintegrity.NEVERBRINGMORETHANONECLICKER(YOUROWN)TOCLASS.IFANYSTUDENTINCLASS,LECTUREORDISCUSSIONSESSION,ISFOUNDTOBEINPOSSESSIONOFMORETHANONECLICKER,THEINSTRUCTORSWILLCONFISCATETHOSECLICKERSANDTESTTHEMFORSERIALNUMBERS.THESTUDENTSREGISTEREDWITHTHOSESERIALNUMBERSWILLALLRECEIVE0POINTSFORCLICKERWORKFORTHEENTIREQUARTERANDWILLBEREPORTEDTOSTUDENTJUDICIALAFFAIRSFORFURTHERUNIVERSITYSANCTION

Websitesofinterest:

-studentregistrationsiteandinstructorrosterdownload.