Clicker Strategy

In response to a request from the California State Student Association and the Office of the Chancellor, Cal Poly has identified the following resources and guidelines to encourage and support standardized clicker use.  The purpose of these guidelines is to help the university make informed decisions when choosing clickers for classroom and administrative use.

Goals for standardized clicker use at Cal Poly:

• Minimize cost to students, faculty, and the institution
• Identify clicker technology that is easy to use and support
  • Intuitive interface
  • Straightforward set-up and configuration that requires very little technical support
  • Reliable software that is not subject to frequent or radical changes that could disrupt teaching and learning
  • Supports basic and advanced use cases to meet desired learning outcomes
  • Integrates well with Moodle Learning Management System gradebook
  • Utilizes accessible technology

Cal Poly conducted a clicker pilot and usage analysis in Spring of 2010 and determined that i>clicker was the preferred technology for this campus.  Based on subsequent analysis, campus usage statistics, and the findings of several CSU campuses who performed detailed comparisons in Spring 2011, i>clicker remains the preferred product at Cal Poly.

The campus strategy for ensuring standardized use of clickers on the campus is to do the following:

• Provide a FAQ and other resources to support informed decisions about clicker use.
• Conduct outreach to campus stakeholders to advise them of the campus recommendations.
• Work with the campus bookstore to identify ways to encourage the use of i>clicker and to continue to monitor usage.  It is recognized that, in the current climate of rapidly changing technology (both in clickers and the campus environment), market share will continue to be an influential factor.

Cal Poly’s clicker implementation strategy has been in place for several years now and is being refined over time. Cal Poly’s campus contact for clickers is Tracy Tanner, iClicker Specialist at Macmillan New Ventures (Email: tracy.tanner@macmillan.com, Phone: 801.628.8882).