Colleagues,
Remote keypads (sometimes referred to as clickers or pads) are a
relatively new technology that allows students to simultaneously and
instantly provide answers to questions posed in class. Early adopters of
this technology may wish to document how their students view this technology
in comparison with other classroom practices that are designed to promote
student engagement.
If you or one of your colleagues are using remote keypad technology, and
you would like to rapidly survey how your students find this approach, I
encourage you to check out a free on-line resource called TextRev
(http://www.textrev.com ). It takes about 10 minutes to initiate an on-line
survey of your students. TextRev will e-mail you a unique URL at which your
students can complete a customized survey form for your course. For this
modest effort, you will receive a detailed analysis of what your students
report to be the value added to their education by this technology, and
whether they believe that the use of remote keypads should be extended in
your course and in others courses on your campus.
For many years, TextRev has been providing instructors with free
customizable survey tools for assessing the degree to which students use and
value textbook resources. The beauty of the TextRev system is that
instructors can quickly receive statistically significant data that is
analyzed with error bars and national percentile rankings. The system is
fast, confidential, and easy. Please feel free to pass this message on to
others who may be interested.
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Dennis C. Jacobs
Professor of Chemistry
251 Nieuwland Science Hall
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556