Professor Jack Wilson is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Maine. He currently teaches a large lecture humanities course to 400 students at one time using the H-ITT system.
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I use the H-ITT clickers primarily in a large class at the University of Maine. In this humanities class of up to 400 students (yes, that many, and a class I teach by choice), I don't want to take up class time with attendance, so I have students click in and then out with them. This frees me up to do the teaching, which is not simply a lecture using WebCt and PowerPoint, but rather an attempt, at times, to integrate all the students into the discussion. Hence, I'll walk around the classroom with a portable mike and talk to students in the back rows, as well as to those in the front. In the process, I often pose spontaneous questions that I'll ask the whole class to respond to with their clickers. The TAs for the class then put the H-ITT response system up on the screens at the back of the stage, and within a minute or so I'll have the answers-which often lead to more H-ITT questions. For me, this system allows me spontaneity and the students anonymity (often students are shy about standing up and talking in front of 400 other students), which keeps the class lively.
I also find the clickers useful in generating responses to the lectures I give using PowerPoint, which I use in all of my classes, small and large, in subjects such as Victorian literature, World literature, Bible and Near Eastern literature-my special interests. The ease of recording attendance is valuable, but even in small classes their use makes testing over material that I've asked the students to have read for the class much simpler by minimizing time spent on paperwork and the grading of quizzes, for the data easily goes onto a spreadsheet. Undoubtedly, I'll find additional uses for this technology, but right now it's enough that the clickers have liberated me in the classroom. Professor Jack Wilson is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Maine. He currently teaches a large lecture humanities course to 400 students at one time using the H-ITT system. More information can be found at his web site www.umaine.edu/victorianlinks |