Looks like this guy has a thing for FPS’s – he’s also done a code review for “Wolfiphone” (Wolfenstein for iPhone) and the original Quake.
I like this idea. Why aren’t there more of these on the web? Or am I not looking hard enough?
Looks like this guy has a thing for FPS’s – he’s also done a code review for “Wolfiphone” (Wolfenstein for iPhone) and the original Quake.
I like this idea. Why aren’t there more of these on the web? Or am I not looking hard enough?
i>Clickers have been around for a few years. I’ve never had to buy or use one in any of my classes, but it seems like more and more courses are starting to find it useful.
An i>Clicker is a handheld wireless device that essentially brings the “ask the audience” portion from Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, into the classroom.
So, each student buys his or her own personal i>Clicker, and registers it for any classes that require it. During one of those classes, the instructor could throw up a slide that quizzes the students on what was just taught. Students key in their responses on the i>Clicker, and the results are then displayed up on the screen.
From what I can tell, the idea is that the i>Clicker should encourage more class participation because:
The i>Clicker can also be used to poll students and give the instructor feedback. For example, an instructor could put up a slide that says “How was my lecture today?” and get some anonymous feedback there.
Well, not exactly anonymous. See, the instructor has the ability to see who submitted what, and when…so if you repeatedly answer quiz questions incorrectly, the instructor can probably detect that you’re misunderstanding, guessing, or just don’t care.
Anyhow, that’s the basic idea behind the i>Clicker. It’s used in a few classes here at UofT, and I know people who’ve had to purchase ($35+) and use them.
Click here to visit the i>Clicker website
The amount of data that students can provide through the i>Clicker is pretty limited. Here’s a photo of a the device:
Ta da.
Students have a maximum of 5 choices that they can make while being polled. Instructors are restricted to multiple-choice questions.
Hm. Can’t we do any better?
Wifi-enabled “smartphones” are becoming part of everyday life. It seems like I can’t walk half a block without seeing somebody whip out their iPhone and do something really freakin’ cool with it:
So it’s not really a far fetched idea to imagine that, some day, every student will possess one of these things.
Certainly, something like the iPhone could act as a multiple choice interface. But is there a way of turning some of that cool touch/gesture/accelerometer stuff into useful polling feedback for students and instructors?
Any other ideas?