A low-tech solution that works

Roger Lunt was fascinated by the idea of using clickers—those electronic devices through which instructors can record students’ responses to questions on-the-fly during class—but he wasn’t so drawn to the idea of managing the technology. “I was not sure I wanted to learn how to operate the software and the hardware,” he says, “so I decided to come up with my own way of doing it."

Lunt, an economics and business instructor in Arts and Sciences, made a pile of “homemade response devices” by stapling the letters A to D on either end of half a yard stick. To make a second set, he was able to get Home Depot to give him enough paint stirring strips to make the handles. Cheap, pretty quick to make, and rarely does the software fail!

So how well do they work? Students say they like using them because it keeps them involved in the class as they answer questions scattered throughout a class period. Roger has used them for much of fall semester and plans to continue using them. As for the second set of "clickers" he made, they are available in the CTE for use by the first person who asks for them.

What she did on her "summer vacation"

Dr. Jenny Harper in Spain

Dr. Jenny Harper began participating this past summer in the University System of Georgia’s European Council—a study abroad initiative with programs in Madrid, London, Paris, Berlin, and now Scotland (thanks to our own David Nelson). Dr. Harper applied for a fellowship to the Madrid, Spain program last year and was accepted, she believes, “because they had never had a biologist travel and teach with them before.” The fellowship included her flight, room and board, and most meals for 10 days this summer. “While I was there,” she says, “the goal for me was to use the time to plan what I would teach, how I would teach it, and what field trips I would take my classes on.” She is now obligated to teach in the program in Spain one semester between now and 2015.