For more information contact: Thomas Eckl , Peter Giblin .
Last year several people used devices called e-clickers in their lectures. The idea is to ask questions which the students answer by pressing buttons on the e-clicker device. Possible forms of answers include Yes/No, A/B/C ..., or even numerical input. All the answers are analysed by the computer, and a distribution is shown on the screen.
The advantage of this procedure compared to e.g. letting the students raise their hands is the relative anonymity of their answer. Using advanced technology also means more fun (at least for the students), and if one device is handed out to a group of 2 or 3 students, this even stimulates discussions among them.
The use of these e-clicker devices nowadays is fairly widespread. In our university the engineers use them in many courses, and also for maintaining attendance records. Polls show that the use of e-clickers is very popular among students.
We borrowed 55 of these devices + 1 control unit from the engineers. The bag containing the e-clickers can be found in Thomas Eckl's office.
The technical details include installation of software on a computer. There is a departmental laptop on which the necessary software is already installed.
Peter Giblin extensively used e-clickers in his MATH104 lecture. He produced a step-by-step description of what he has done in a typical lecture. He also designed a powerpoint slide which explains to the students how to use the e-clicker devices. Nearly every student responding to an additional question on the questionnaire agreed that the e-clickers made some lectures more interesting.