Thursday, April 9, 2009

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Family Sports Life Today Podcast

In order to find the podcast that discusses the Qwizdom system, please click on Coping With Injuries: Dr. John Thayer (Episode #28), click on Podcast at the top of the page in gold, and scroll down the page until you find Qwizdom: Meeting Audiences Where They Live. Click and listen!

EdTech Classroom Podcast

Episode 13 deals with Cybersafety not with the Qwizdom system. Please listen to episode 3: Student Response Systems in order to learn more about Qwizdom. You can find episode 3 by clicking on the EdTech podcast episode 13, scroll down to archives, choose September 2008, and scroll down till you see episode 3. From there, click to play!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Personal Experience

Last year in MUS 190, my professor used an audience response system similar to that of Qwizdom. This system was called CPS or Classroom Performance System, which is a product of eInstruction (Webside: http://einstruction.com/). This programs works just as that of Qwizdom. Before this course, I had never had the opportunity to use this type of system. After buying the clicker, we had to go online to register and activate our account so our clicker would respond and collect data. Throughout the semester, my professor mainly used the clicker to keep track of attendance, but also awarded points for correct answers. After the results were in, we would discuss the answers and why they were correct for those who didn’t get the answer correct. I feel that this helped keep me focused in class and kept me alert because I wasn’t sure when he would ask a question. It also helped to revisit information each day because it gave me a chance to quiz my understanding of the topic and discover which areas I needed to still study. I think using the response system was a suitable method for class because it didn’t waste much time and was a good way to get all the students involved which could be hard otherwise in a lecture type setting. Overall, I was pleased with using the clickers and feel that more teachers should take this approach in their classrooms to monitor student’s progress and keep students engaged in the material.
The clicker used in my class.

Benefits of Qwizdom

Using the Qwizdom system or other audience response systems seem to reveal unbelievable benefits for students and teachers. With Qwizdom, every student is actively engaged in the material and participating. It is a great way for the students to receive instant feedback. This use of technology keeps students excited about learning. This system allows teachers to track student’s understanding and performance. Qwizdom has become extremely effective for teachers of large classrooms or lecture halls because it gives the teacher the opportunity to discover if the students are grasping the material. Some students may not understand what is going on but may be too shy to ask questions; therefore, the Qwizdom system allows teachers to recognize this and present instructional interventions as needed. It also offers a way to include shy students in a classroom when answering questions without singling them out. Qwizdom creates communication among the instructor, the students, and the material. In some cases, this program can be used for review or other types of games, voting, taking quizzes, and spawning discussions and debates. Whatever the case may be, Qwizdom makes learning interesting and fun!

The following video gives further details of the benefits of using audience response systems as they pertain to college classrooms.

Using Clickers In The College Classroom (YouTube)

What Is Qwizdom?

Using a clicker Qwizdom audience response system provides children interactive opportunities to participate within a classroom using technology. There are many different kinds of audience response systems available for teachers to use in their classrooms, Qwizdom being one of those. Qwizdom offers multiple devices and interactive software to help enhance student’s understanding of material. The way Qwizdom and other audience response systems work, is simple. Each student or group has a remote or clicker that allows students to answer questions presented by the teacher or on a powerpoint. After the child has entered their answer, they press send to transport their signal to the infrared receiver that then displays the student’s response. The child’s choice is not displayed, only whether or not they have made a selection appears. When the time is up, the correct answer is given, and usually some type of graph is created by the data received to show how well the class as a whole did. This response system and others can be used for a variety of subject matter and offers a variety of question formats and data interpretations. Qwizdom systems are can also be used in corporate areas and conferences as well.



A short explanation and example of Qwizdom are shown in the DVD found in the back of your textbook under Software and Media. It is a nice demonstration of the concept and use of Qwizdom within the classroom.

Side B
Menu where example can be found. (#2)
Roblyer, M.D. Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. Pearson Education, 2006.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

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