FACULTY – GETTING STARTED WITH i>clicker2 Software
The i>clicker software is completely packaged in a single folder and includes the i>clicker, i>grader, and searchable help files. The i>clicker software is used in the classroom for real time polling. The i>grader is used after class for scoring, synching roster, and uploading grades. The Web Update utility checks for software updates.
Instructor Kit
Pick up your i>clicker kit at the ITS Faculty Instructional Technology Center (FIT Center) (AH-1109, 619-594-6348). Your instructor kit contains:
1. Base receiver and USB cable
2. One student remote (we can create a fake student for this clicker so you can practice) 3. One instructor remote (includes a laser pointer)
4. Flash drive pre-loaded with zipped Mac and PC i>clicker software
Instructor Syllabus Tips
We recommend you add i>clicker instructions for students to your syllabus including how to register. Students should understand why they are purchasing i>clicker and how the devices tie into your grading. Students need purchase only one device. Students register i>clickers from your Blackboard course menu (Tools > Register Your i>clicker). Instructions for students and other support materials can be found on the SDSU
http://clicker.sdsu.edu website. You might want to consider this sample language for your syllabus:
"You are required to purchase an i>clicker2 remote for in-class participation. i>clicker2 is a response system that allows you to answer questions posed during class. You will be graded on your feedback and/or your in- class participation. In order to receive scores, you need to register your i>clicker2 remote on your SDSU Blackboard course not the i>clicker company site. i>clicker2 will be used every day in class. You are responsible for bringing your remote daily. Clicking for other students who cannot attend class is considered cheating.”
In addition, you might want to tell students:
• Keep extra batteries available (two AA).
• Put their name on the clicker.
• Cover the ID number with a piece of clear tape to protect it from rubbing off.
• Watch video showing how to register at http://clicker.sdsu.edu/registration.html
• If not already registered, register clickers on their SDSU Blackboard course site
Receiver Student
Device
Instructor Device
Flash Drive
Connect i>clicker to Smart Podium
Connect i>clicker base receiver using the PC or MAC USB port on the smart podium. The LCD screen on the receiver will light up indicating there is power. Connect the smaller a-b USB to the base receiver.
Insert the flash drive into the USB port on your base receiver.
Place your presentations on this same flash drive to keep things simple.
Locate and open the i>clicker software. You may need to unzip the software the first time.
About the software
Within the i>clicker folder, you will see the i>clicker and the i>grader apps.
After you create your courses, each course will have its own folder in the “Classes” folder.
Data will be stored from each i>clicker session in the “Reports”
folder within the appropriate Class folder.
We strongly recommended you keep your software on the flash drive. Software may become corrupted resulting in a potential loss of grades and data if you try to move things around.
Software Updates
The WebUpdate icon in the i>clicker folder checks for software updates. The WebUpdate icon will guide you through
downloading the latest version of i>clicker if there is one.
The latest software can also be downloaded free of charge from iclicker.com site.
Additional Help
The i>clicker software includes a great help resource. Any time you see the blue circle with the question mark, you can click on the icon to get help. There is also an index and search tool in the help site.
In addition to free training and consulting from the SDSU ITS Faculty Instructional Technology team, we created materials specific to San Diego at http://clicker.sdsu.edu
There are a variety of resources on the i>clicker website including Best Practices, Case Studies, Webinar archives and more.
http://www.iclicker.com
You are now ready to:
• Create a Course
• Download a Blackboard Roster
• Start a Polling Session
Create a Course
You will need to create a course in order to conduct a polling session and save data. These steps are for both PC and Mac.
1. Open the appropriate i>clicker folder for your computer operating system (PC or Mac).
2. Double-click the i>clicker icon to start the program.
3. The Welcome window appears and asks you to choose a course. Choose “New.”
4. New Course window appears. Fill in course name, course number, and section or whatever you want here.
Click “Create.”
Your course is created and a new folder has been created within the “Classes” folder on your USB drive to hold data.
5. The Welcome window re-opens. You can then select your course and begin a polling session or begin the process of downloading your course roster.
Note: Before you download your roster, many professors have found it useful to rename their courses in Blackboard with a semester and year. This makes it easy to determine which course you want when i>clicker presents the drop down list of your courses.
Start a Polling Session
1. Select a course from the Welcome to i>clicker window. (If none are there, you will need to Create a Course first.) Note: You may want to download a course roster before class and before you begin polling. No worries, i>clicker saves all the data for each remote ID; so you can also
“synch” to the Blackboard course roster later.
2. The i>clicker Home Page appears. Click “Start Session.”
Note: If this is your first time using i>clicker, you will need to:
• Click “My Settings”
• Register your remote ID (located on back of device)
• Set CMS/Registration to Blackboard 8 and above
• If interference with your base receiver occurs, this also where you would change your frequency settings.
• Check the Scoring settings.
• Click “Set for Course” to save it for the semester.
My Settings
3. The Session Toolbar appears in the top left corner of your screen. You can drag and reposition it anywhere.
Both the instructor remote and the Session Toolbar can be used to start / stop polling or to show / hide polling results.
Using the remote allows you to move about the classroom.
The Session Toolbar floats above applications including PowerPoint, Word, Acrobat, Web browsers, etc. Every time you ask a polling question, a screenshot is captured and stored for later use.
4. Tell students to turn on their clickers (Orange button). Their device will display “Ready” and show battery power level.
(Flashing battery has ~10 hours before failure!)
By default, multiple choice is selected. Use the drop down menu on your session toolbar if you want to change the question type. Open PowerPoint or whatever you are using to present your questions.
The most common question type (80%
according to i>clicker) is multiple choice designated by the A-E button.
Student remote ready to respond.
When polling closes, a closed status indicator will flash and then the screen will say CLOSED.
5. When you are ready to begin polling, click the Start/Stop button on your blue instructor remote (Button A) or use the Session Toolbar.
The Session Toolbar includes a status indicator (red indicates polling is active), a timer, and a green number indicating number of student votes.
When you are ready to close polling, use the Start/Stop button on your instructor remote (Button A) or use the Session Toolbar.
Note: Throughout polling, the base receiver timer is active. A counter displays how many students have voted. The base receiver also shows responses during voting in number of responses and percentage per answer.
You are now ready to Display Results, Export Grades, or use the Report tools.
There are many features associated with Session Polling. We’ve created a Powerpoint quiz that you can use to not only practice; but inform students how to use i>clicker. This Powerpoint can be downloaded at
http://clickers.sdsu.edu/documents/clickerCommonIssues.pptx
(Download Powerpoint viewer software at http://www.nist.gov/pml/viewer.cfm)
At any time, click on the help icon on i>clicker and i>grader screens to access the help files.
Download a course roster into i>grader (see also movie on http://clicker.sdsu.edu) 1. Open i>grader. (If the i>clicker app is open, close it.)
2. The Welcome to i>grader window opens.
Highlight your course and click Choose or double-click.
The course i>grader Home Page will open.
Note: If a roster window opens with a red student named
“Stelzer, Tim” and the lower right corner of the window says
“Output formatted for: General,” you need to go back to “My Settings” in the i>clicker app and select “Blackboard 8 and above” for CMS / Registration.
3. If this is the first time entering this course in i>grader, a pop- up window opens indicating a roster was not found. If you see another window titled “Synchronize Web Registrations,”
please contact us. You are missing 3 important files.
Click “Yes” to download a roster from your Blackboard course.
4. The Course Management login window opens.
Enter your regular Blackboard username and password then press “Login.”
5. Select your course from the drop down menu, then press
“Import Student Roster from CMS.” Click “OK.”
Close and re-open i>grader to update!
6. A successful import will list all students enrolled in the course.
Students who have registered their clickers appear in black.
Students who have yet to register appear in red.
Recorded votes of unregistered students are stored by i>clicker remote ID until you “sync” them.
We suggest setting a deadline for web registration. This will assist you with classroom and i>clicker management and grading.
Export scores from i>grader to your Blackboard course (see also movie on http://clicker.sdsu.edu) 1. Open i>grader.
2. Click the export icon
3. Select the session (date) you want to export by clicking the appropriate checkbox.
Exporting a session automatically creates a column in the Blackboard Grade Center and uses the date that appears in i>grader as the column name.
You can change the Grade Center column name later after your scores are uploaded to Blackboard.
Note: You can hide the individual columns and create a
“Calculated Total Column” to keep a running total.
4. Click “OK”
A file is created using the data from the session
(uploadfile.csv). You don’t need to do or know anything about this file.
5. Confirm Upload = “Yes”
The Course Management System (CMS) login screen appears.
Login using your Blackboard username and password.
6. Select Your Course from the drop down menu and click
“Export i>clicker scores to CMS.”
You will see a message indicating it may take several minutes. Please be patient.
7. A success window will pop up upon completion.
There are many features associated with i>grader. Click on the help button on the i>clicker and i>grader screens to access the help files.
Other Tasks Display Results
Display graphs of polling results can be displayed by clicking the “Results” icon on the i>clicker Session Toolbar or by pressing Button B on the instructor remote.
The graph displays the number of votes for each answer and percentage of total votes.
Designate Correct Answer
To designate a correct answer during polling, click the Correct Answer icon on the Results Chart. The Correct Answer window opens. Click the checkbox next to the correct answer and click “Apply.” After you have designated a correct answer, the correct answer choice on the Results Chart turns green.
You can also click on the correct answer column and leave the correct answer set in the green color. Or, use the “E” button on your instructor remote and cycle thru the answers leaving the correct answer green.
Note: If you click on the “Clear” button, the correct answer is deleted from i>grader and no grades or participation points will accrue.
Question on the Fly
You may add a question at any time by following these steps:
• Click the Session Toolbar Options
• Select the Question On The Fly and question type
• Enter your question and click Display
A screenshot will be taken when polling begins and will be saved in i>grader along with the question title and the correct answer (if you chose to designate one).
Anonymous Polling
Answers are not associated with student names or IDs in the course roster. You will not see individual student
voting data. This is useful for surveys or gathering demographic data.
• Click the Options icon on Session Toolbar.
• Select the Anonymous Question.
• A small, red AP appears next to the Start icon on the i>clicker toolbar, indicating that the question is anonymous
Data will be included in the cumulative results in i>grader (ex: 50% of students voted A, 50%
voted B).
Students’ individual responses will be marked as Ap in i>grader.
Student Registration 1. Log into Blackboard 2. Click on the Courses tab
3. Click on the Course that is using the i>clicker 4. Click on Tools from the Course Menu
5. Click on Register Your i>clicker Remote ID (bottom of the Tools list) 6. Enter your remote ID (located on back of device) and click “Register”
7. You will receive notification that your registration is successful immediately.
Registration Video: http://clicker.sdsu.edu/
Getting Help: Contact the SDSU Bookstore or i>clicker Customer Support [email protected] 866.209.5698
Student Remote Function Diagram
