Plickers

I was introduced to Plickers this past school year. It is a wonderful assessment tool for the classroom.

It is a picture clicker. Instead of passing out clickers to all of the students, they have a something like a QR code that I can scan and record an answer. 

After a whole group lesson, I would give the students 1-3 questions about the topic and assess where the whole class was. Then I could pull the students who needed more help into small groups. 

Each card has a number--which can be assigned to a student. It also has A, B, C, and D around the edges. You project a question with answer choices and the students hold up their card with their selected answer on top. In the case below, the answer chosen is B. 

Then using the app (which is free), you scan the room. The camera on your phone or ipad scans the answers and records it for each student. This is what the screen looks like as you are scanning. You get real time results for what each student choose and who hasn't answered yet. 

                                   

Once everyone is scanned, your screen looks like this. You have a the percentage of correct choices and what each student choose. 

                                               

When I was first introduced, I wasn't sure how to get the students their Plickers or how to help keep them nice and readable. Then someone suggested taping them to a notebook. Which you can see from the top picture I did. It kept the Plicker nice and the students are supposed to bring their notebook to class everyday. 

You can enter a question on the app, but I prefer to do it through the website. Their latest feature allows you to upload a picture which I haven't used yet but will in the next school year. Once you add a question you have to add it to you planned questions so it shows up in the app. Then you just select it and start scanning answers. You also need to have the website projected with LIVE VIEW selected so the students can see the question. 

                                             

There are a few things that I wish this tool did. I want to be able to organize the questions more. I love folders on my computer and Dropbox (it is the only place that I am organized) so I would like to have the option to put my questions into categories. 

You can add several classes to your account and then students to those classes. There are at least 60 different codes so you'll have enough for even your biggest class. I would like to be able to click on a student name and see their answers to the question. Right now, you can only click on question and see all the responses for the class.

I love the quick feedback this gives me on how students understand. They can also see fairly quickly how they did. I anticipate them improving the app and am excited to see what changes they make to it.