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. 