Teaching with Classroom Response Systems

Reviews / Votes

"Good teachers constantly look for ways to improveinstruction. Bruff, Assistant Director of the Vanderbilt UniversityCenter for Teaching, surveys how classroom response systems,commonly known as "clicker technology," can improveteaching and learning. Bruff supplements his points on engagement and assessment with aclassified array of clicker questions for a variety of teachingcontexts. He also provides helpful advice on teaching choices withresponse systems: when to grade clicker questions, how to use themfor summative assessment, and how to address cheating and lack ofparticipation. He provides additional helpful suggestions ondealing with logistical issues such as system choice andtroubleshooting. Throughout, the reader benefits from the copiousexamples gleaned from teachers. This book convincingly demonstrates that clicker technologyallows teachers and students to adapt quickly to emerging learningneeds....Bruff's work is an enthusiastic, accessible, anddetailed introduction for all educators interested in this populareducational technology tool." --NACADA Journal, Issue 30(1) (Spring 2010)"Dr. Bruff's thoughtful description of effectivepractices with clickers, based on numerous interviews with highereducation instructors, both reinforces and extends the knowledgebase on response system use in higher education. The emphasis onpedagogical approaches will make this book useful and relevant foryears to come, even as the technologies themselves evolve. In fact,as small wireless devices become ubiquitous, this book will onlygrow in importance. Dr. Bruff's prior work has been very influential in thedevelopment of San Diego State's clicker program, and thisbook will be an essential resource for our instructors and theinstructional support staff who work with them. Dr. Bruffthoroughly describes the pedagogies associated with effectiveclicker usage. I believe any interested instructor will findactionable ideas to benefit student learning. Dr. Bruff has been a strong advocate of active learning withresponse systems in higher education. This book provides bothbreadth and depth in its descriptive treatment of pedagogicalapproaches to clicker use derived through dozens of interviews ofpostsecondary instructors. This work will be highly beneficial tofaculty seeking to enhance learning, regardless of the technicaldetails of the response system they use. At SDSU, instructors become interested in clicker use basedlargely on the experiences and examples of their peers. Throughcase studies across numerous disciplines, Dr. Bruff's booktakes a similar approach which should prove accessible and usefulfor many faculty. Instructors already using response systems willalso find much here to further improve the classroom learningenvironment." --Jim Julius, Associate Director, InstructionalTechnology Services, San Diego State University