Plickers – A Great Feedback
Tool for the One iPad Classroom
Plickers is a great student response system that is
perfect for the one iPad classroom. I’ve featured it on Free Technology for Teachers and
used in workshops this summer, but I’ve yet to feature it here.
Plickers is a neat student response system that uses a teacher’s iPad, iPhone,
or Android device in conjunction with a series of QR codes to create a student
response system. Students are given a set of QR codes on large index cards. The
codes are assigned to students. Each code card can be turned in four
orientations. Each orientation provides a different answer. When the teacher is
ready to collect data, he or she uses the Plickers mobile app to
scan the cards to see a bar graph of responses. Teachers can create and save as
many questions and responses as they like. The data collected can be viewed in
a web browser or in the mobile app.
Three Ideas for Using Plickers In the
Classroom
1. Quickly taking the pulse of the class. Ask your students, “do you get this?” (or a similar question) and have them hold up their cards to indicate yes or no. You can do this with a saved class or a demo class in the app.
1. Quickly taking the pulse of the class. Ask your students, “do you get this?” (or a similar question) and have them hold up their cards to indicate yes or no. You can do this with a saved class or a demo class in the app.
2. Hosting a review game. Create a series of questions
in your saved Plickers class. To conduct the review have students hold up their
cards to respond to each question. Every student gets to respond at the same
time and you get to see how each student responded. This is an advantage over
many review games in which only the first student to respond has his or her voice
heard.
3. Take attendance. In a saved Plickers class each
student has a card assigned to him or her. At the start of class just have them
hold up their cards to check-in.
Individualize Student Learning with the Aid of Easy to Make and use “Paper Clickers”!
Data is
an essential component in education, yet sometimes it can be viewed as a
necessary evil for educators. In the past, a teacher may teach a lesson and
require students to complete an exit ticket assessment activity to show mastery
of the concept(s) reviewed over a certain time frame. Passing out the materials
and grading individual student responses can be a time consuming task.
As the
year goes on a teacher’s attitude toward data collection may change and decline
as assessment becomes more overwhelming. Fortunately, today’s technology
provides useful tools for educators to gather, analyze, and save data in record
time. One such tool is enabled through the tablet and smartphone, but does not
require students to have any technology, making it essentially free. What tool
is that? Plickers!
What is
a Plicker?
In my
classroom, students’ desks are grouped in pods to allow collaboration during
activities. In the middle of each pod is a basket that holds a variety of
student materials. One of the most recent additions to the basket is Plickers.
A Plicker is an image similar to a QR code on a piece of paper that can be
scanned by a tablet or smart phone. How does the app recognize the student
responses? Depending on which way a student holds the plicker image determines
the response to a question you create within the app or plickers website.
Below, I have created a step-by-step guide to walk you through the website and
app.
http://www.emergingedtech.com/2014/12/getting-started-using-free-plickers-for-assessment/
