Wifi Revolution

In an organizational behavior class at Northwestern University, Prof. Bill White no longer needs to call out roll when class is about to begin. White already knows who is in attendance and who is not based on the click of a wireless device. The students were issued the device as part of their class materials.

A recent New York Times piece focused on the benefits of the palm-sized devices. Aside from notifying the professor when the student is present in class, the device is also used by the student to answer multiple-choice quizzes worth 20 percent of their grade; or to signal to the professor that they have a question over the material.

These devices are currently being used by more than half a million students on several thousand campuses. The biggest impact overall could be cultural as those who hoped to catch a few winks in the back row will no longer be immune to observation. The devices also make it more difficult to respond to text messages or e-mail.

While some students – especially at Northwestern – tend to see the use of such devices as a Big Brother tool, there are others who appreciate the impact they can have on their study habits and performance in class.

This is not to say that the use of the “clickers” has always been honest. In fact, one Northwestern professor noticed that not long after he assigned the clickers, one student had several displayed in front of him in class. It seems the owners had skipped the class, but sent on their clickers as if they were actually in attendance. The attempt didn’t work – but the students were somewhat admired for their attempt at creativity.

While this technology is relatively new – preliminary studies suggest that engaging students in class through such a device increases their understanding of the material that may be otherwise conveyed in traditional lectures. And, because they are so similar to mobile devices, they seem like a natural transition for a student.

The clickers are going beyond the university setting and finding uses in middle and high schools, as well as at corporate gatherings. In each situation, the responses received from the audience go to a computer at the front of the room and are instantly translated into colorful bar graphs displayed on a giant monitor.

Turning Technologies created the remotes used at Northwestern, which sell for $30 to $70 a piece. The company expected to ship more than a million clickers this year, with roughly half destined for about 2,500 university campuses, including community colleges and for-profit institutions.

Is this the wave of the future on the college campus? If it improves attendance, understanding and grades, why not adopt this technology? As someone who skipped a few college classes in her day; this technology probably would have nipped that habit in the bud.