When I first learned about Plickers, I was attending a technology session at a conference. I thought…wait what does this mean? To get instant feedback about what students know I don’t need a fancy student response system with hubs, wires, clickers, and a RAM greedy program. Just paper…REALLY?! Next I thought to myself, why is this sanity-saving resource FREE? Yes…Plickers is a completely free assessment tool to use with students in your classroom!
So what are Plickers and how do they work?
Plickers is a classroom polling system that uses a set of unique QR codes each with four sides labeled A, B, C, or D. The teacher assigns each student a QR code number. As questions are presented, students rotate the QR codes to select their answer choice. When students are ready to answer, they just rotate their QR code to select an answer and raise their cards. The teacher then uses a camera on a phone or tablet with the Plicker app to scan the QR codes which records each student’s unique response. The results appear real time on the screen and on the teacher’s handheld device. The app is even smart enough to only capture a student’s answer once! Reports are available so that you can refer back to the results when planning interventions.
Check Plickers out in action:
How do you get started with Plickers?
To use Plickers, you will first need to visit www.plickers.com to setup a free account and download the app to your phone or tablet. Next you will need paper to print cards, a wi-fi connection, a laptop with projection, and your phone or tablet. Load your rosters to create classes and the system will automatically assign cards to students. Create your questions by typing them in directly or uploading images of questions. Assign questions to classes, give students their assigned cards, live view, phone app, let’s go!
What are the possibilities with Plickers? Numerous.
It no longer takes rocket science to use an instant feedback system. Students and teachers get the real-time feedback needed for instruction to be effective. Ever asked a question to your class to only hear the same few students respond? Do you really know whether or not every student in your classroom understood? Try Plickers to step up your checks for understanding and use those individualized checks to drive your instruction. Yep…formative assessment!
I’ve attached some getting started documents including a “how to” quick sheet, an overview presentation, and a set of 40 Plickers (2/page).HowtousePLICKERSasanIMMEDIATEASSESSMENTTOOLforteachers (1) PlickersCards_2up (1) HowtousePLICKERSasanIMMEDIATEASSESSMENTTOOLforteachers (1)