Clicker

Clicker

David Clarke, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Definitions and background

Clickers are synchronous electronic voting devices (Tong, 2012) that are particularly popular with instructors of large lecture classes (MacGeorge et al., 2008). In the United States, clickers are commonly referred to as key-pads, and as handsets or zappers in the United Kingdom (Laxman, 2011). However, they are also known by various other names such as audience response systems (ARSs), personal response systems (PRSs) and electronic voting systems (Laxman, 2011). Physically, these small handheld wireless devices (Tong, 2012) resemble a television remote control (Lundeberg et al., 2011), typically with a numeric keypad, function keys that allow for text entry, a send button and a power switch (Laxman, 2011). Students' clickers connect to a receiver attached to the instructor's computer that runs what is essentially presentation software (Lundeberg et al., 2011). This technology therefore allows instructors to pose questions, receive immediate responses from students and project student responses on to a screen in a variety of different formats all in real time (Turban, 2011).