The iRespond student response system is part of the teacher toolkit at my middle school. These devices are used in multiple parts of the learning experience including formative and summative assessments as well as competitive learning activities – games. We rely heavily on the data we are able to obtain from these little blue remotes. This technology is a wonderful part of the teaching and learning experience at our school. The students appear to enjoy class better when they are able to input their responses into their remotes.
Product Information: http://www.irespond.com/products/lite.shtml
A Minor Challenge
iRespond has also brought with it a few challenges – mainly hardware based. One of the main challenges that we have encountered may be seen as minor in some schools, but with the diminished school budgets, it is major to us. The remotes operate with two alkaline, AA batteries. During the first year of implementation, the question was “Who’s responsible for replacing the batteries?” It was bounced back and forth between the media center specialist and the school bookkeeper. Ultimately, I was able to obtain batteries from the bookkeeper. However, this was not a widespread solution to the overall problem of power supply. Batteries are not obtained by leaving the remotes that need batteries in the media center and the district’s technology support specialists exchanges the batteries as needed.
Meeting Our Needs
We are data-driven school. iRespond allows us to quickly assess students and differentiate according their individual/collective needs. We immediately check for understanding on taught concepts with this software/hardware combination. Students are able to see their progress immediately from the color-coded bar graphs generated after all students have entered their responses. An added bonus is teachers are able to send quick electronic messages to students that may be taking longer to answer questions without singling them out among their classmates. It is a great communication tool between the teacher and the students. Another bonus is the use of the remotes when playing review games. The student groups are able to see their points scroll across the screen, which motivates them to want to be the best group. The students appear to try harder as a result of the iRespond system.
One Way to Improve the SystemAs previously stated, the iRespond Lite remotes run on AA batteries. One of the ways this response system would be better would be to provide rechargeable remotes that the teachers would be responsible for charging instead of relying on someone outside of the classroom who may or may not exchange the batteries in a timely manner.
References
Wireless eSystems. iRespond teacher dashboard. (n.d.) Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://www.irespond.com/products/popUpDashboard.shtml
Wireless eSystems. iRespond lite. (n.d.) Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://www.irespond.com/products/lite.shtml
Betseykenn. Creating student paced tests on iRespond. (2011a). Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=221740&title=Creating_Student_Paced_Tests_on_iRespond
Betseykenn. Viewing test results on iRespond (2011b). Retrieved March 17, 2011 from http://www1.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=221723&title=Viewing_Test_Results_on_iRespond
I found your post interesting. I would like to know what the indicators were that informed you that the students enjoyed class better when they used iRemotes. The batteries issue, slightly humorous as it may be (or not), it points to a (dys)organizational issue with public school systems on the national level. Yet, the data-driven approach you describe is impressive. It might not surprise you to know there is a tremendous discepancy between your school's approach and many other school systems. For example, this week in NYC on parent-teachers night, the Board of Ed. informed teachers that the prior 4 point scoring system (e.g., 3=74-88 and 4=89-100), was revised (e.g., 4=74-100). Whereas 3 used to mean at grade level and 4 meant exceeding grade level, you can see for yourself what was done. Thus, students who were at 1 or 2 and not passing were swept up by the new rating scale and the stats were tweaked before parents arrived.
ReplyDeleteAngela,
ReplyDeleteIts great that you use these in your school. Are all teachers implementing them or whomever wishes to? We are data driven as well but I do not see the clickers being utilized as the principal would like. Do you have any suggestions to promote their use?
Jeannine,
ReplyDeleteGood question. All core content teachers (Math, Social Studies, Reading, Language Arts, and Science) are required to use the iRespond response system at our middle school when students are taking assessments such as the benchmark and checkpoint assessments. This is one of the expectations at our school. One of the ways to promote their use is to show the teachers how the system will make the teachers' analysis of data much easier. Another way to promote them is the enlist a few teachers that you know will use them in their classes. These teachers will use every aspect of the system for a couple of weeks. Allow these teachers to speak during a professional development session about the benefits of the clickers. They will also give the drawbacks, as we all have them. Simply having the administrators say it was not enough at our school, contrary to what they believe. It was the select few of us that were constantly talking about how great they were that drove their overall implementation. We were also available for technical support without waiting on the district's busy technology specialists.
Marlon,
ReplyDeleteGood (and fair) question. One way we were sure the students were enjoying the system was their eagerness to come to class and use them. They also shared their excitement about the remotes in classes where the remotes were not used. The students were very vocal about their enjoyment. I have been fortunate to have students (middle schoolers) that want to excel in class, and the immediate feedback they received when completing an exit ticket, quiz, or test was welcomed. It gave them "bragging rights" among their peers. It also allowed for students that be a little shy to respond to questions without being put on the spot. The students welcomed this treatment as well.
Angela,
ReplyDeleteI am drawn to the clicker concept myself. I am working on a system wide grant in my own time. Being in Tennessee one of the states with the Race to the Top money all to be used for student achievement. In a era of teacher accountability I believe that the clickers will aide both teachers and administrators with the data needed to drive insturction and raise stusent achievement. I like your comments on the shy students. Do you think that the clickers aide the teachers in driving instruction?