Clickers and Mobi

We have started to invest in student response clicker systems. The CPS clickers by Interwrite have come to the top our list. It is plug and play rf system and they integrate with Examview (which they own). We have some Interwrite interactive white boards, which are great, and some Interwrite Pads. I absolutely love the clickers. If I was back in the classroom, this would be a piece of technology that I would have to have. The ability to formative assess and track progress is a very valuable tool, especially when it can be done in the middle of a lesson. We use the clickers in the planetarium to assess the effectiveness of the lessons. This year about 18,000 students will come through the planetarium and for the first time we can track what they knew when they came in and what they know when they leave. We have already made adjustments to lessons that have made them better. Yesterday I saw a demo of the new Interwrite Mobi. Basically it is an updated pad that includes direct connection to the CPS clickers and has a small screen that lets the teacher track rersponses as they are made by the students. Very neat piece of hardware. The Interwrite Workspace 8.0 has some significant improvements including a multi-user workspace.

There are a lot of great tools like ths on the market. We do use Smart technology in some of our elementary school. The touch screen capapbilities make more sense there. Technology continues to advance in leaps and bounds beyond our funding...but we are trying to provide the best we can for our students.