Classroom Response Systems - overview
Classroom Response Systems – notes and comparison
TEST
Friday 2/10/2016 - Met with Noah in FIC. Among other things, discussed their recommendations for CRS options. They have three that they recommend, each has pros and cons...
The three are:
IClicker – the physical device only, not the mobile app (which they do not endorse)
Squarecap
Top Hat
Note:
If you're doing nothing more than polling, Canvas does have a polling app:
https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-4046-mobile-guides-polls-for-canvas
IClicker
https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/1125742/modules#module_972403
This is the physical devise that students can purchase at the UT bookstore, requires that they remember to bring it, replace the batteries, etc. But is the most widely used across campus.
Because of the cost associated with it, the FIC folks do not endorse or recommend using the REEF mobile app. Like the options that follow, students are billed per course (as opposed to the one-time cost of the physical device), and the other options are less expensive.
Squarecap
Created just a few years ago by a UT professor and has come a long way in only 3 or 4 years.
Students and faculty access Squarecap in much the same way. When you first go to the system and tell it you want to connect via Canvas, you authorize it to access your Canvas account, much like you do with Google Drive or LinkedIn, then you log in with your UT credentials (EID or email and password).
Faculty can then create what Squarecap calls a "lecture". This is the quiz, survey, question bank, or whatever else you're using this system for. Basically, the lecture is your set of questions you want students to respond to.
Students, on the other hand, must first pay for a subscription to use the service.
UT students get a 20% discount (see image above for details).
Notes on use:
It's REALLY easy to get up and running with questions or a quiz for a course!!!
Top Hat
Seems to offer more services and bells and whistles than Squarecap but is also more complicated to set up and account and get started...and also more expensive?
When you first set up an account, there are several steps to go through before you can DO anything... it asks if you're a student or faculty/admin, then you enter account into (name, email, password, etc.). Next, you have to create a "course":
Once you create a course (should be named to match the course it’s a part of to make things easy...), you're then taken to the "create content" page where, like lots of meeting apps, there's a "join code" that is included as part of the URL.
Presumably, students log in to the URL and enter the join code.
Students create their own account when they first access the system. That's when they choose how much to pay:
Other ("free") Options:
Poll Everywhere
https://www.polleverywhere.com/plans/higher-ed
Kahoot!
Completely free to use, Kahoot! is a game-based classroom response system developed mostly for K-12 classrooms with an aim to make learning fun and competitive. But can also be used for serious subject too.