Modified: August 2009 web>clicker Getting Started Guide
Contents Getting Started 3 Overview 3 Guide Objectives 3 System Requirements 3 Step-By-Step Instructions 4 Step 1: Set Up Your Course to Enable web>clicker Votes 4 Step 2: Create or Import a Course Roster 8 Step 3: Conduct Polling 10 Step 4: web>clicker Student Registration and Voting 13 2
Getting Started Overview Welcome to web>clicker, a fully compliant, browser-based online response system that allows students to vote using laptops and smartphones (including iphones and ipod Touches). web>clicker combines the simplicity of i>clicker with the flexibility of laptops and handheld devices. Instructors can enable web>clicker via the standard i>clicker and i>grader software applications (using version 5.4.x of the i>clicker software). For students, web>clicker runs in standard browsers like Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer, including Safari for the iphone and ipod Touch. Mobile devices with a robust browser, such as iphones, can access web>clicker using a Wi-Fi network. Guide Objectives This guide will show you how to: Set up your course to enable web>clicker votes. Register a web>clicker and join a course as a student. Poll your students (both i>clicker and web>clicker users). System Requirements Windows: Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP operating system One available USB port (for the i>clicker receiver, which is required) Screen resolution of 1024 x 768 Firefox 2.0 or higher, Safari 2.0 or higher, Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher An Internet connection Macintosh: Max OS X version 10.4.1 or higher One available USB port (for the i>clicker receiver, which is required) Screen resolution of 1024 x 768 Firefox 2.0 or higher, Safari 2.0 or higher An Internet connection Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 3
Step-By-Step Instructions Step 1: Set Up Your Course to Enable web>clicker Votes Prior to enabling web>clicker for your course(s), you will need to download and install the latest version of i>clicker v5.4.x from one of the following locations: Windows: http://www.iclicker.com/download/webclicker_v542_win.zip Macintosh: http://www.iclicker.com/download/webclicker_v542_mac.zip NOTE: It is no longer necessary to make a separate copy of the MyCoursePC or MyCourseMac folder for each i>clicker course or section. A single copy of the new iclicker Win or i>clicker Mac folder now provides access to all your courses and sections. To set up your course for web>clicker: 1 Open the iclicker Win or i>clicker Mac folder. Double-click the i>clicker icon to start the application. Windows icon Mac icon 2 The Welcome to i>clicker window opens with no courses listed. Click Add Course. NOTE: The Add Course feature is new in i>clicker 5.4. Each course you create will be saved to its own folder within the iclicker Win\Classes or i>clicker Mac\Classes folder. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 4
3 The Add Course window opens. Add your course information and click Create. TIP: When adding your course information, use a course name that your students will recognize (e.g. American Lit-431-001). Your students will use this course name to locate your course. The course number and section number are not required; however, we recommend you include this information in order to make it easier for your students to recognize your course. 4 You will be returned to the Welcome to i>clicker window. Select the course you created and click Choose. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 5
5 The Main Menu window opens. Click Your Settings and Preferences. 6 The Your Settings and Preferences window opens. In the General tab, click web>clicker/sps Setup near the bottom of the screen. Windows Mac Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 6
7 The web>clicker/sps Setup window opens. a b c d e Enter your information in the registration fields. After you type the zip code in the Your Institutions Zip Code box, click Lookup. Select your school from the University Name drop-down list. Select the Allow web>clicker(s) to join this course checkbox. Click Submit. NOTE: web>clicker has a large database of North American universities and colleges, which should include your school and campus. However, if your school or campus is not listed in the University Name drop-down list, please contact review@iclicker.com to request that it be added. 8 A Registration Successful window opens. Click OK. 9 You will be returned to the Your Settings and Preferences window. Click Set For Course. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 7
10 You will be returned to the Main Menu window. 11 If you want to add more courses and enable them for web>clicker, exit i>clicker by closing the Main Menu window. Then repeat Steps 1-10 for all courses with which you wish to use i>clicker and web>clicker. Step 2: Create or Import a Course Roster The i>clicker system can be used as a simple tool to give you instant, anonymous feedback in class, in which case registration is not necessary. However, if you (like most instructors) want to give credit to your students, you will need to: 1 Associate each of your students with their unique i>clicker and web>clicker IDs. This is accomplished during Student Registration (see Step 4: web>clicker Student Registration). 2 Decide on the grading details for each session of your course (see Section Four of the i>clicker User s Guide for complete details on setting points rules for i>grader). TIP: Research studies show (Caldwell, J.E. Clickers in the large classroom: Current research and best-practice tips. Life Sciences Education, 6(1), 9-20, 2007.) that students participate and vote using clickers more consistently when clicker points are worth at at least 10% of their overall grade. When clickers are worth 5% or less of the total course grade, students take voting less seriously and participate less frequently. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 8
IMPORTANT: Course rosters can either be created manually or imported from your course management system (CMS). We describe the process of manually creating a roster below. You will only want to use the below option if you are not using a course management system to house your course grades. If you use Angel, Blackboard, Sakai, Moodle, or Blackboard Enterprise Vista or Campus Edition (WebCT), you should import your roster directly from those systems. Please read the course roster export/import directions for your CMS (available on www.iclicker.com). This will ensure that your i>clicker scores can be easily imported into your course CMS. To manually create your course roster: 1 Open the iclicker Win or i>clicker Mac folder. 2 Open the Classes folder. This folder is created when you create a new course in i>clicker. Within this folder you will find a folder for the course you created in Step 1: Set Up Your web>clicker Course. 3 Open the [course name] folder and locate the Roster.txt file. 4 Open Roster.txt with Notepad or any other text editor to edit the roster file. NOTE: The Roster.txt file enables you to associate each i>clicker remote ID or web>clicker ID with a student so that you can identify your students response data. Your students will use the same student ID that you create in your roster when registering their i>clickers and web>clickers. 5 List each student in your course. Follow the format last name, first name, student ID. Separate each field by a comma and list only one student per line. For example: Altier, Renee, raltierr415 Selen, Mats, mselenm129 6 When you have added all your students, save and close the Roster.txt file. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 9
TIP: If you have your course roster in Excel format, you can avoid re-typing your entire roster. Make sure the columns in your roster follow the format in step 5 above (last name, first name, student ID) and that there is only one student per row. Then save the document as a.csv file, name it Roster.csv, and save it to your iclicker Win\Classes\[course name] or i>clicker Mac\Classes\[course name] folder. Open your iclicker Win\Classes\[course name] or i>clicker Mac\Classes\[course name] folder. Delete or rename the Roster.txt file. Then rename the Roster.csv file to Roster.txt. Open the file and spot-check it to make sure it is formatted correctly. To import a course roster from your course management system: Refer to the user guide for your specific CMS, which is located in the Support > User Guides section of www.iclicker.com. Following the instructions provided for your specific CMS, save the CMS roster to your iclicker Win\Classes\[course name] or i>clicker Mac\Classes\[course name] folder. Step 3: Conduct Polling The steps to conduct i>clicker polling remain the same with the introduction of web>clicker. If you ve used i>clicker in the past, you won t have to change anything. web>clickers and i>clicker remotes can be used simultaneously in the classroom. When you begin polling, students with web>clicker subscriptions use their web>clickers to vote while students with i>clickers use their handheld devices. To poll your students: 1 Open the iclicker Win or i>clicker Mac folder. Double-click the i>clicker icon to start the application. 2 The Welcome to i>clicker window opens with your course(s) listed. Select the course for which you want to poll students and click Choose. NOTE: Make sure the course you select is enabled for web>clicker. Courses enabled for web>clicker will include an asterisk (*) will be included next to the course name. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 10
3 The Main Menu window opens. Click Start Session. 4 The Main Menu window disappears and the floating toolbar appears in the top-left corner of your screen, indicating that i>clicker is active. You can reposition the toolbar anywhere on your desktop. Windows toolbar (polling inactive) Mac toolbar (polling inactive) 5 When you are ready to pose a question, advise your students to turn on their i>clicker remotes and/or log in to web>clicker. 6 Present the question (either verbally or visually) and click START on the toolbar. TIP: If you use a program to display your question (e.g., PowerPoint), make sure it s the active application when you start polling. Each time polling begins, i>clicker captures an image of the active window and stores it along with polling results for later review in i>grader. NOTE: If you have pre-loaded questions into i>clicker using the questionlist.csv file, those questions will appear in web>clicker. This feature allows students with special needs to either view or hear the questions. For additional instruction on using the questionlist.csv file to pre-load questions into i>clicker, refer to the i>clicker User Guide or online help. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 11
When polling is active, the START button toggles to a STOP button and the toolbar expands to show a timer and vote counter. Windows toolbar (polling active) Mac toolbar (polling active) NOTE: web>clicker polling results are received by the i>clicker software via the Internet. Votes from web>clickers will appear in the vote counter and the histogram, along with those from i>clicker remotes. However, web>clicker votes will not appear on the LCD screen on the base; only votes from i>clicker remotes will appear here. 7 To stop polling, click STOP on the toolbar and i>clicker will no longer accept votes. 8 To view your student responses, click DISPLAY on the toolbar. The student response graph opens. Windows Mac More information about the student response graph is included in your i>clicker Quick Start Guide. 9 Results and polling information from web>clickers and i>clicker remotes are compiled in your i>grader software and in your data files. Tips for using i>grader are included in your i>clicker Quick Start Guide. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 12
IMPORTANT: If you are using a sub-frequency in class (e.g., BB or CA) with i>clicker, you will still need to instruct your students using i>clicker to change their frequency code. Instructions are provided on the back of the clicker and via the software. Students using web>clicker will not have to change their frequency. It will be important to let your web>clicker users know they don t have to follow any on-screen instructions to change their frequency. Step 4: web>clicker Student Registration and Voting Students with web>clicker subscriptions use the same process to register and create web>clicker accounts as students who use i>clicker handheld remotes. To experience the web>clicker registration as your students will, follow the instructions below. To register for web>clicker (student experience): 1 Open a web browser and go to https://webclicker.iclicker.com. 2 The Login to web>clicker page opens. Click Activate web>clicker. 3 Type your activation code and click Activate Now. NOTE: An Activation Code must be added to web>clicker before you can create a web>clicker account. Activation codes are ordered by your instructor and are typically available for sale in your campus bookstore. Please ask your instructor for information on where to purchase your Activation Code. Sample Activation Card Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 13
4 The Create a web>clicker account page opens. a b c d e f g Enter the required information in the registration fields. Use the same student ID that your instructor directed you to use (it could be your standard email ID or your Blackboard ID, for example). After you type the zip code in the School or University Zip Code box, click Lookup. Select your school from the drop-down list. Type the code that appears under Type the code shown below. Click Register. A Registration Confirmation window opens and provides a summary of your account information. Print this page for your records. Click Return to Login. 5 You will be returned to the Login to web>clicker page. Enter your username and password. Select the Remember Me checkbox to bypass the login process for future visits. Click Login. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 14
6 The Choose your instructor page opens. Select your instructor from the instructor list. 7 The Choose your course page opens. Select your course from the course list. NOTE TO INSTRUCTORS: If you cannot see your course when registering, verify that you have enabled web>clicker for your course. See Step 1: Set Up Your web>clicker Course. You must enable web>clicker for each i>clicker course you create. 8 The Welcome to web>clicker page opens. You are now ready to begin using web>clicker to answer polling questions. The Waiting for voting to begin message will display until your instructor starts the polling session. Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 15
9 When your instructor starts the polling session, the message will read Select An Answer. To answer the question, click the letter that corresponds to your answer. 10 Once you select your answer, you will see a message indicating that it was received. You can change your answer until your instructor stops the polling. When your instructor stops the polling session, the message on your web>clicker screen will read Voting Has Stopped. NOTE: At i>clicker, creating a classroom response system that is easily accessible for every student and every instructor is of utmost importance. web>clicker was built in consultation with California Law, Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Section 508), and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. Still have questions? Contact i>clicker support. Email: support@iclicker.com Toll-free Phone: 1.866.209.5698 Questions? Contact support@iclicker.com or call toll-free 1-866-209-5698 16