Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Student Response Systems - Pros and Cons

While walking down the hall this morning, several people stopped me to share their thoughts on the CPS units demonstrated at the faculty meeting yesterday. This your forum to share your thoughts, concerns, comments, or questions.

10 comments:

beth said...

am all for CPS units. The use of student clickers, would be an asset in the 5th grade classroom; review games, getting ready for test, and spring tesing.
I would like to make sure that we stick with the SMART technology. I think it would be more conducive(for teachers and students)to stick informational software/technology that we are already integrating(and familiar with.) Maybe I am a new teacher-who has many systems to learn, or maybe I am brand snob- that I likes to stick with one (program) distributer. :)

Christine Wigand said...

It does looks very fun and helpful. It is something I would use in the classroom. I would, however, still like to see money spent on providing more training on the things we have or to put more student computers in the classroom. All the tech stuff that we have been shown over the past few months is great and all of it would be helpful to students and teachers, but it won't do any good to have it if the teachers don't use it because they don't know how.

Unknown said...

I see the need to upgrade to the newer ones if we keep the CPS units. I really want to see how to use the sentos. I am concerned with the number of clicks it takes to get to what you need. How can we transfer the grades into our gradebook (FAWEB)? I think I may need to update my software, because my screen does not lok like hers.

Unknown said...

These are some questions and comments I made during the presentation yesterday...Do we have Senteo interactive notebook already or do we need to purchase it? I like the immediate feedback of who needs some additional information. This would be beneficial to our grade level for reading quizzes. I am concerned however about using both paper/pencil and cps units, necessary to do both, as stated yesterday? I want time saving, not additional. Can you export grades from page or will they need to be put in manually? I really like it, but am a bit intimidated by the number of different screens you have to click to get to where you want to be...probably just my inexperience with it. I do better understanding it when I can try it myself, instead of just watching. Will we get this chance before making a decision on what we like better? Thanks for the blog!

Julie said...

I am with Beth, I think we should stick to one brand. I like the idea of the clickers, but would be more interested if they were from smart technology. It would worry me to spend all of the at money and then need to upgrade in a few years.

Unknown said...

I thought it was interesting. I do not think I would use it very much in the art room. Maybe we could wait until everyone is fully versed in how to get the most from the technology we already have.

Unknown said...

I have seen the system demonstrated in more detail at a computer class at AASU and I think it is a great resource. However, it would not be as useful in Kindergarten until the later part of the year.

Brenda said...

I love the idea of having clickers, but was overwhelmed by how many clicks it took to use (around 25 by my count). We need something that is integrated and easier to use like the clickers made by Smart. It we purchase something that is hard to use, then it will just sit on a shelf gathering dust. Ease of use and integration with what we already have should be top priorities.

Amanda said...

I could not agree with Christine more! I am very excited about the CPS units and I think that they would be a great tool to have in the classroom. I still feel that the majority of our staff is trying to figure out how to use the technology that we already have. It is one thing to know how to use the technology and another thing to know how to intergrate it into our everyday teaching. I think that we should continue to spend our time and money trying to learn the technology that we already have at SCPS.

Amanda

Katie Peavley said...

Ok... I really thought that the clickers were neat. I'm not sure that I would use them every day though (like I use my SMARTboard). I am pretty sure that they are pretty pricey. Quite frankly, with the ecomony the way it is, I think that money could be used in other areas. I think maybe buying a few sets or even sets for all of the upper grades and a few in the lab that we can 'check out' when we need them... I don't know. When I hear the cost and I think about how I would use it (or not use it) in class, I feel like I'm wasting. We're supposed to be good stewards of this money, right?!