Alternatives to Clickers

Colored cards | Hand signals

Colored cards
Instead of clickers, it’s easy to use an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper with four colored blocks and letters (see below for an image).

Students simply fold their sheets to display the answer they desire. At your signal, they hold the cards up to their chests with their answers facing out. For choice E, they can display a white surface. If they don’t know, they can hold up the whole sheet.

You may have to spend a few minutes training them in the process. To get the benefit of anonymity, it’s important that they wait for your signal to display their answers, and that they hold their answers close to their bodies so that other students cannot easily crane around and see. Interestingly, students don’t so much mind the instructor knowing what they think as they mind their peers knowing.

There are some advantages of using the cards over clickers:

The cards are much cheaper and they never run out of batteries

You can see which students are not participating and encourage them to do so

You can look directly at students who are not correct; this lets them know that they have work to do (be careful not to give them away to their peers)

The main disadvantage is that cards do not allow you to collect any data about the students’ responses. You cannot give credit for participation with cards, and you cannot track improvement. Also, with a mixed response you may not be able to tell at all accurately how many students have the correct answer. Finally, if you are using the technique to encourage discussion about sensitive questions, students may be more reluctant to ‘fess up through cards even though their peers cannot see their answers easily.

Hand signals
Instead of clickers, students can use hand signals. At your signal, students place one of their hands on their chests, with one, two, three, four, or all five fingers displayed. If they don’t know, they can display a closed fist.

You may have to spend a few minutes training them in the process. To get the benefit of anonymity, it’s important that they wait for your signal to display their answers, and that they display their answers close to their bodies so that other students cannot easily crane around and see. Interestingly, students don’t so much mind the instructor knowing what they think as they mind their peers knowing.

There are some advantages of using hands over clickers:

Hands are, of course, free, and they never run out of batteries

You can see which students are not participating and encourage them to do so

You can look directly at students who are not correct; this lets them know that they have work to do (be careful not to give them away to their peers)

The main disadvantage is that hand signals do not allow you to collect any data about the students’ responses. You cannot give credit for participation with hands, and you cannot track improvement. Also, with a mixed response you may not be able to tell at all accurately how many students have the correct answer. Finally, if you are using the technique to encourage discussion about sensitive questions, students may be more reluctant to ‘fess up through hand signals even though their peers cannot see their answers easily.