Saturday, March 22, 2008

Just a click away

Magdalena schools put technology at students' fingertips

Audry Olmsted El Defensor Chieftain Managing Editor

Okay kids! It's time for your test. Get out your ... clickers?

That's right. Some middle and high school classes in Magdalena are doing away with the paper and pencil theory of doing their daily work and have moved into the decidedly 21st century idea of using remote controls to log in their answers on tests and other assignments. The goal is to provide teachers more time to spend with their students teaching rather than grading mounds of paper and also to tell instantly whether or not the students really understand what they have been studying.

Leslie Clark, demonstrated for school board members this week the Classroom Performance System. The system is new this year to the school and uses remote controls, referred to as clickers, to give answers to questions.

"It's a great tool. I have nothing but great things to say about it," she said.

Clark spent the past summer at New Mexico Tech and saw the CPS system being used by one of the professors. Her initial reaction? "These are the dumbest things I have ever seen!"

But, once she started seeing what the system really did, Clark said she realized how it makes the life of a teacher so much easier.

The software the teachers use with the classroom is compatible with the textbooks they already use. They can use tests and quizzes already prepared or can create an assignment on their own. The clickers can also be used to take attendance.

Clark demonstrated the CPS system for school board members, the community and this reporter this week, by offering an impromptu Earth Science quiz on earthquakes for us to take using the clickers.

The quiz was already loaded into the system and the five multiple-choice questions were each timed. Numbers on the bottom of the computer screen corresponded with the clickers being used and they would light up when the person holding that clicker had selected their answer.

When the quiz was finished, Clark pressed a button and voilà! Our scores were displayed on the screen. Unless people memorized the clicker number of the other people around them, the results were fairly anonymous as the scores were displayed next to the number. In theory, only the teacher knows which child belongs with which clicker in the classroom.

Clark was also able to convert the scores into a graph. Based on the results, she was also able to tell immediately which areas the students ... er ... public had problems with and was able to bring up study guides to help.

"It's an awesome tool in that respect,' said Kenny Vance, computer facilitator and math teacher, referring to the fact that teachers can tell instantly what area of the subjects they need to go over again. "It helps me know right where the kids are at."

"The thing I like best about this is I can do testing strategies," Clark said.

Superintendent Mike Chambers said the system could be used for testing and for understanding since teachers will know instantly where the students in the classroom do not understand what they are learning.

Clark said a big draw for the CPS system is that the grades are calculated instantly, which leaves her more time to work with the students who struggle in different areas of their studies.

"It is absolutely a time-saver," she said. "I cannot tell you how much more time I have with my students."

The CPS system gives the teacher and students the option of doing multiple choice, completion, shot answer or essay questions.

Magdalena received five sets of the CPS system and a set of 20 clickers per class. Each clicker is numbered and each student in the class is assigned a clicker. Currently it is math and science teachers in the middle and high school who are using the CPS system.

Chambers said the eventual goal is to make it available to every teacher at the school who request it. He said they would be required to show how they would utilize the CPS system in the classroom.

aolmsted@dchieftain.com

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