Re: [MobiMOOC projects] A Clicker system for mobile phones

[Ignatia/Inge de Waard]

Thank you for your sharing your project Marinda. A universal, and cross device clicker system would certainly make life easier for all of us trainers and teachers if we address a large crowd.

On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 11:14 AM, Marinda Van Rooyen <marinda...@gmail.com> wrote:

MLearning project: M van Rooyen

1. Working title

Nobody gets left behind: a clicker system for all

2. Type of mLearning (language, health, environment, learners with learning difficulties…)

The design of an e-clicker system which can be used to enhance active learning and formative assessment as part of classroom instruction.

3. Project goal (what do you want to achieve with this project? For instance: an improved financial awareness and action strategy for women in poor and challenged situations)

To create a clicker system that is

·        open source, therefore free to use and distribute

·        easy to set up so that teachers with very little technological background will also be able to use the system with ease

·        accessible by all mobile devices which have web access, therefore it should not exclude poor students who cannot afford the latest smartphones

·        very light, so that it can work even in areas where connectivity is poor

4. Target audience

Lecturers and students at Stellenbosch University in South Africa

5. What type of technology and infrastructure can be expected?

The clicker project is a module plug-in designed for Moodle 2.3, an open source learning management system. The system focuses on a web interface so that all mobile devices with web access can have access to the system. The design is kept simple and light so that it can work in very low connectivity areas, and also so that the costs of using the system for the student is kept as low as possible.

6. Possible guarantees for sustainability

No additional costs will be incurred by the institution, so funds are not a problem. The system is also lightweight which makes it easier to use even in poor connectivity conditions. This also keeps the costs for the student very low. All of these conditions guarantee that the system is sustainable.

 
7. Who are ALL the stakeholders that might influence the project?

IT director and lecturers at Stellenbosch University

8. Deadline or timeline for developing the project (if any):

The system has already been developed and is currently used by lecturers at Stellenbosch University. A number of enhancements can still be made to the system. Feedback from lecturers and students will guide these enhancements.

9. A broader description of the project

The buying of clicker devices or clicker software for mobile devices is extremely expensive, especially for South African institutions taking the exchange rate into consideration. The software also most often concentrate on mobile apps for iPhones and other expensive smartphones which cannot be afforded by most students in South Africa. This software is also written for areas with high connection rates where bandwidth is not a problem. Because Internet access is very expensive in South Africa and most areas do not have sufficient connectivity, it makes it very difficult to use these clicker systems. 

Lecturers however wanted to start using clickers as part of classroom activities. Because there were no funds available and because of the aforementioned reasons, it was decided to look at open source products. Because nothing existed at the time, a new system was developed.

The most important aspect of the system was that no student should be excluded because he/she could not afford an expensive smartphone, therefore all phones with web access should be able to access the system.

The low web connectivity at Stellenbosch and the expensive Internet rates also influenced the design. It was necessary to keep it as simple as possible so that data traffic would be kept as low as possible to make the system usable and affordable.

10. Which steps will you take to ensure you will reach your mLearning goal?

This pilot study to create to create clicker software for mobile devices that lecturers could use as part of classroom instruction during lectures was already started in 2011. Comprehensive research on the use of audience response systems, also called clickers, was conducted prior to the creation of the clicker software. This was done to guide the design of the system. The results of this research indicated that clickers were originally created to provide interaction with an audience. It gives the presenter a means to gain immediate aggregated feedback from the audience. Used as part of education, it is also used to enhance student interaction. It is used as part of formative assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of various aspects of the instructional process. Caldwell (2007) describes how it is used to make standard lectures energetic or to assess student opinions and in general to increase interactivity.

However, the lecturers who took part in the pilot study had different ideas for the use of the system, which did not always correlate with the intended design of the clicker system. This discrepancy between design and intent of clicker systems were also noticed by Fies & Marshall (2006:101) who wrote in an article Classroom Response Systems: A Review of the Literature, that clickers are most often used "to collect attendance and summative assessment data, or to collect survey data regarding prior knowledge and student attitudes." Very few lecturers at Stellenbosch University used the clicker system to enhance interactivity or to give formative assessments to guide learning. Most lecturers wanted to use the system for summative assessment purposes.  Therefore most lecturers stopped using the system because the system was not designed for summative assessment.

It is therefore necessary to educate lecturers in the use of clickers and active learning, so that they understand what the system is designed for. Therefore when workshops are held to explain the system, part of the workshop also entails the theoretical framework behind the use of clickers as part of classroom activity.

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[Carolyn Nandozi]

I finally found part of my Moodle mobile answer - So Marinda, do you mean that there is a system connection between moodle and the mobile phone? Its only expensive that you need to continue your own universty system which is cost effective?
Secondly we wanted to send text messages from moodle to mobile phones and from mobile phones to moodle. is it exisiting  too?

[Kris Witte]

Marinda,

I appreciated learning about how clickers can be used open source in Moodle.  I designed a Health Aide Course on Moodle as part of a graduate certificate program.  Now that I'm done with the program, I've set up a hosting service for Moodle so that I can continue to develop my course, and explore cool possibilities like using the clicker/polls/surveys for formative assessment.  Thank you! 

Kris

[Marinda Van Rooyen]

I've added a document that explains how the clicker system works.

[Marinda Van Rooyen]

I deleted the original by accident. So here it is again.

[Marinda Van Rooyen]

Hallo Karolyn

I've attached a document that explains how the Clicker system works.
Regards
Marinda

[Carolyn Nandozi]

Hey Marinda,

I will soon contact you for some help about our Moodle Platform once I am well settled. I look forward. meanwhile have a view of what I mean-   idi-makerere.com/moodle

[Marinda Van Rooyen]

Hi Carolyn, you are more than welcome to contact me. Your site looks very interesting.

 

Marinda