In an August feature by Ellen Ullman, Tech & Learning Magazine compared leading brands of Student Response Systems by asking educators how they use the product and why. Check out the section on Qwizdom below.

Clickers. Audio response systems. Student response systems (SRSs). Whatever you call them, wireless response systems, which allow students to answer questions by means of handheld response pads, are the answer to some teachers’ prayers. SRSs take the guesswork out of instruction, helping teachers see exactly who understands the material and who doesn’t. But don’t let us sell you on these systems; let the proponents speak for themselves.

CLEVELAND CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL CLEVELAND, TENN.

WHAT DO YOU USE?
Qwizdom
www.Qwizdom.com

WHY DID YOU BUY THIS PRODUCT?
“I had seen similar products at a conference and thought they could be useful,” says Barbie Buckner, who teaches science at Cleveland (Tenn.) Central High School. “Students often give me the feedback I want, but Qwizdom shows me what the kids don’t understand, so I don’t have to re-teach entire lessons.”

BEST FEATURES
Buckner, who has used Qwizdom clickers for five years, loves the new Q6 because “it was designed with cell phones and texting in mind. The Q6 lets us use symbols, which is very important for math and science.”

I GET COMPLAINTS ABOUT…
“I had the Q6 before it was released, and it got stuck sometimes. The minor software glitches were taken care of for the release in May.”

HOW ARE TEACHERS USING THEM?
Buckner uses them to give tests and quizzes, to check homework, and to ask questions on the fly. “When I’m giving a lecture, I can use my Q7 [wireless tablet] to click one button and prepare a question. I can get feedback for myself or on the big screen. The kids love watching the graph change.”

WHAT KINDS OF RESULTS HAVE TEACHERS SEEN?
Buckner has covered more material in her chemistry classes since she started using clickers. “No more wasting time re-teaching what the students don’t need.”

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SCHOOLS THAT DON’T HAVE THEM?
“Do whatever it takes to get them. Today’s students are driven by immediate feedback and hands-on touch-and-click. It will revolutionize your classroom.”

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Gordon Lampley is Qwizdom’s Week 2 Tweetaway winner.  However, he does not want to keep the prize,  a copy of Qwizdom’s Connect software and access to Premium Services.  Gordon retired from teaching last year and won the prize for his former teaching partner of 9 years, Kathleen Ballenger.  Gordon taught middle school Math and Science for 34 years.  Most recently, he taught at South Stanly Middle School in Norwood, North Carolina where Kathleen still teaches. “I am tickled that we can transfer my prize to Kathleen.  I have spoken to her and she is excited about the possibilities,” said Gordon.

Kathleen is a Board Certified teacher that has been teaching 7^th grade Math and Science for 16 years. “So I hear Gordon won something through your Tweetaway contest and is giving it to me!” says Kathleen. “I’m very anxious to try out the software and especially the curriculum. My plan is to use it as an assessment tool, I’m also excited to play the games!”

Congratulations Kathleen!

Click here to learn more about Qwizdom’s connect software.

Isaiah Porter, 13, center, and Chris Chan, 13, right, feel the thrill of competition as they answer U.S. History questions using the Qwizdom Student Response System at school. The technology keeps kids engaged and encourages quiet students to participate at Los Alamitos School District schools.

LOS ALAMITOS–Oak Middle School has seen a significant jump in its state test scores since the introduction of a new learning technology that forces students to participate in classroom lessons and helps teachers better tailor their lectures, officials said.

Social Studies teacher Todd Schmidt acted as the guinea pig for the Los Alamitos Unified School District in using a hand-held, question-and-answer program called Qwizdom that he says helps students better learn and retain information.

“There’s this lofty goal that sounds unattainable, but (we can) actually achieve it: to get every student to answer every question, every time,” he said.

The technology allows the teacher to ask a question related to the lesson, then students plug in the answer on a hand-held remote. The teacher can see who has answered and who hasn’t.

Answers are projected onto a computer screen that uses kid-friendly graphs and games to keep students engaged.

Schmidt said Qwizdom specifically benefits students who are shy or not confident to answer questions out loud in the classroom because it allows them to participate anonymously.

“It is non-threatening,” he said. “I have proof that shows these kids are definitely getting it.”

And that proof comes in the form of better standardized state test scores, he said.

“We had a 20-point jump in Social Studies in theCalifornia State Test,” Schmidt said. “Los Alamitos is 75 percent proficient, which is three times the state average. Last year, we went up to 84 percent because we’ve been using these. I think next year our scores are going to be even higher.”

The program also lets teachers better mold their lesson plans because they can see what students are grasping or what concepts may need more attention.

“Now, I know exactly what to hit,” Schmidt said. “It has impacted my teaching so dramatically… because I know they’re understanding and retaining the material.”

The program started in Schmidt’s classroom last year and this spring the district has been incorporating the hand-held devices into more classrooms and a variety of subjects including math, language arts and science, he said.

Contact the writer: jfletcher@ocregister.com

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Many classes have one: The shy student who knows the answer but hesitates to speak.

The fear of being picked on as the smart kid in class can be overwhelming for people throughout their academic years, including for middle school students.

But failure to participate in class could lower a student’s grade and prompt teachers to make assumptions about a pupil’s strengths and weaknesses, noted Samantha Morra, the technology coordinator for Glenfield Middle School.

Technology can help.

The instructor beams questions to students using her machine. Students reply by pressing a button on their respective devices.

Each device tracks a student’s individual performance, which helps teachers make accurate assessments on the child’s strengths and weaknesses in academic subjects, Morra said.

“Students that won’t raise their hand will respond with the personal responders,” Morra told The Times.

The Qwizdom device was one of many technological tools demonstrated by Glenfield Middle School students this past Thursday, May 6, when the school unveiled its Technology Learning Commons, the school’s computer lab, to the public.

The goal of the Commons is to “create a space that has a lot of the new technology and incorporate it with the curriculum,” observed Schools Superintendent Frank Alvarez.

About 20 Apple Inc. desktop computers line the Technology Learning Commons, located in Glenfield’s former woodshop. The computer lab contains gadgets of all sizes – from the Smart Board, a touch-sensitive computer screen, which is about 3 feet wide, to the Qwizdom tool with a 2-inch width.

The computer programs bridge social media with academic subjects such as social studies, history and science.

Computer classes have been conducted in the room since February. About 250 students use the facility on an average day, said Glenfield Principal Alex Anemone.

Some students anchor a daily webcast, Glenfield Primetime 2.0, in the greenroom adjacent to the computer lab. The show broadcasts school news and announcements online, said Anemone.

‘Digital storytelling,’ an activity that combines literature, still images and video on the computer, allows students to create modern book reports and history projects. The Commons cost $560,000 in capital funds, according to the school district Business Administrator Dana Sullivan.

Organizations, including the Glenfield Middle School PTA and the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence, contributed money to the project.

Qwizdom donated the 30 personal response devices, Morra said.

“When you think of the investment, it’s about providing students with the tools that they are going to need in this century,” Alvarez said.

connecting to world issues

Imagine if every time a student answers a quiz question correctly, then a hungry person gets food.

A computer program, Free Rice, one of the academic games offered in Glenfield, does exactly that.

In partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme, Free Rice poses multiple-choice questions to students, and fills 10 grains of rice into a bowl depicted on the screen for every correct answer.

“You’re donating to someone in need,” said Glenfield seventh-grader Harry Colville, while operating the program. “You feel like you’ve helped someone in the day.”

Money generated from corporations that buy advertising space on the computer program is used to purchase the rice.

Morra incorporates education on developing nations and issues of hunger and poverty into the computer curriculum. In February, students talked with their counterparts in Ghana, West Africa, through a Skype videoconference.

“You’ve had them move out of themselves, in their own little world, their own little drama,” and learn about another culture, said Morra.

The online conversation put poverty in perspective for one student, Morra said.

Morra recalled that the student had said: “‘I was able to talk to them as if they were in the same room as me. I will never think about Africa in the same way again.’”

connecting to kids with their technology

“We are creating a very engaging room for students that allows them to use the tools they use at home, that they’re immersed in,” Morra said. “A lot of these tools allow us to give students a voice.”

Colville, as with many of his classmates, often logs onto instant messaging software at home. He appreciates having a social media outlet in the classroom, particularly “for kids that don’t have [computers] at home.”

Learning in the Technology Learning Commons is mutual, said technology teacher Howard Weinrib.

“It’s one of the only subjects that the kids are teaching us,” Weinrib noted.

“We learn from each other.”

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Ed tech developer Qwizdom has started shipping a new wireless student response system, one that offers a 2.3-inch (diagonal) LCD screen and cell phone-style keypad for student interaction and formative testing on the fly.

The system, the Q6, is the latest in Qwizdom’s line of student response technologies, which also includes the entry-level Q2 and midrange Q4 student remotes, the Q5 instructor remote, and the high-end Q7 wireless presenter tablet.

Student response systems, also known as classroom clickers or personal response systems, are wireless handheld devices designed to allow students to answer questions, provide feedback, or otherwise interact in classroom activities. They’re used to deliver formative assessments (often to help gauge whether the class has absorbed the material and is ready to move on to the next lesson) and to help encourage participation from students who may otherwise be reluctant to engage in classroom discussions or activities.

Student response systems in general are tied together through an instructor unit or through a computer and integrated with a classroom AV system to display real-time aggregate results on a whiteboard or projection screen. Or they can simply be used to collect and store data on a computer.

The Q6 advances Quizdom’s remote-style handheld line with a larger 1.8″ x 1.5″ LCD display capable of showing questions and multiple choice answers on a single screen without scrolling. The devices use 802.15.4 RF technology, which is self-negotiating and designed to eliminate device conflicts, allowing for up to 1,000 devices per host. It also offers a wireless range of more than 300 feet and runs off two AA batteries.

According to Qwizdom, the device integrates with a variety of software applications and resources, including hundreds of thousands of existing curriculum resources, Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote (for Mac OS X), and Qwizdom’s own Connect software. Connect is a platform that provides authoring capabilities, standards-aligned curriculum resources, access to instructional materials, an assessment engine, and diagnostics and reporting.

The Q6 includes a keypad similar to those found on mobile phones, including a number pad and arrow keys. It supports a wide range of question/answer types, including multiple choice, multiple mark, numeric (decimals, fractions, and mixed expressions), rating scale, sequencing, text edit, text input, and yes/no.

Further information about the Q6 is available here.

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You might think you’re in a high-tech corporate boardroom, but in fact this is just another day in Marianne Shibly’s 4th to 6th grade English Language Learners (ELL) classroom at Gregory Heights Elementary School right here in Burien.
On Thursday, April 29th, Gregory Heights principal Phil Robinson and teacher Marianne Shibly hosted an open house to demonstrate what is being called the “21st Century Classroom.” The purpose of the event was to share with representatives from other Highline School District schools, parents and members of the press how technology is being used to support teaching in a multi-language classroom.

The students in Mrs. Shibly’s classroom come from a variety of cultures, but are united by the fact that English is not their first language. In some cases, they also lack grounding in basic learning skills that would also put them at a disadvantage in a regular classroom setting. In the ELL class they receive the teaching they need to ultimately transition into classes with their peers at Gregory Heights.

The technology is a fundamental part of the learning experience for these students. Funding through several special grants has allowed this classroom to be equipped with a digital video projector, net books for each student and a Student Response System (SRS) that allows each student to interact with a central classroom computer using a small, hand-held “clicker.”
Using a wireless control pad, Mrs. Shibly can display a question on the screen. Students then key in the answer on their own hand-held. As responses come in, the screen shows the percentage of students responding, and which students still need to key in their answers.

When the teacher is ready, a touch of a button shows the correct answer and various displays of how the students answered. In just minutes, Mrs. Shibly can assess how the classroom as a whole is grasping the lesson and which students need additional instruction on the topic.

Compare this to current techniques that involve paper handouts, manual grading, and perhaps returned to students days later when the class has already moved on to new material, and you can begin to see how technology – properly applied – can lead to a more nimble classroom situation.

The SRS system being used at Gregory Heights is from Qwizdom, a Washington-based company that not only provides the hardware and software, but also curriculum that teachers can draw from that is geared to Washington State teaching standards. Teachers can also create their own custom content, and that new material can be shared over a network or via e-mail.
Currently, Mrs. Shibly’s classroom is the only class at Gregory Heights that is completely equipped with the new technology. Plans exist to roll out these teaching tools for additional classrooms, but the current budget crunch facing all schools has delayed implementation.

In the mean time, across the Highline School District teachers and administrators can visit Gregory Heights to learn how they can apply this technology within their own new and existing facilities as budgets allow.

The demonstration clearly showed that students are excited and engaged by these new teaching tools. You might even go so far as to say the children are having fun in class. In this case, that seems to be a very good thing.

Here’s a photo slideshow of the demo:

Click here to view the photo slideshow.

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The following review was posted to anseo.net on April 7, 2010. A link to the original post is available below.

The Qwizdom Q7 slate is a wireless slate that can be used to interact with a computer. The company who sell these slates (Qwizdom) sent me one to check it out.  With the NCTE are recommending schools should invest in slates before moving into the world of Interactive Whiteboards, it was a good opportunity for me to see whether a slate could do almost as much as an interactive whiteboard.

For those of you who have never seen a slate, it looks almost exactly like the slates your granny (or great-great granny) would have used in school – well smoother and more plastic than that – but you get the idea.  Using a stylus, one can wirelessly “write” on the slate and the mouse should follow suit.  To click, you simply press down on the nib of the stylus and there’s a right-click button on the stylus for those who need that.

The thing that makes the Q7 slate stand out for me, is all the little gadgets on the slate.  My only other experience of a slate before this was a blank canvas and I pointed and clicked and that was it.  There’s a full keyboard on this slate, loads of tools such as cut, copy and paste and then lots of other buttons that would be useful for presenting – virtual pencils, highlighters, line drawing and other stuff you’d usual find on an IWB.

The slate is also designed with quizzes in mind.  On the bottom of the slate are buttons with options usually associated with quizzes, for example, the choice of Y or N for “true or false” style questions and A, B, C or D for multiple-choice-style questions.  The software that comes with the slate is called Actionpoint, which seems to work with PowerPoint and other Microsoft products.  I’m not sure if the software works with other Office programs such as OpenOffice.org or Star Office.

I asked a couple of children in my school to try the slate out for drawing a picture in MS Paint.  The younger child (1st class) found it difficult to match up what he was “drawing” on the slate to what was appearing on the screen and he was fairly frustrated with it.  The older child, (5th class), also was frustrated initially with it, but got used to it after a few goes.  As for me, I would say I probably had the same feelings as the 5th class child.

I was impressed with the Q7.  I’d probably describe it as a “slate on steroids” as it’s got so many extra strengths over a normal wireless slate.  While I prefer the interaction of an interactive whiteboard for primary school children, if I was going to invest in a slate, I’d be looking very closely at this.

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A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found most teenagers average over 7.5 hours a day (or about 53 hours a week) using some form of media technology. Because of the constant growth in new technologies and 24-hour accessibility, parents and teachers may worry that their teens’ time and attention is being squandered. Television has evolved into hundreds of channels, there is a plethora of video games to choose from and teens can connect to the Internet from just about anywhere using their Ipods and cell phones. Instead of focusing on the negative impacts of all this screen time, however, let’s take a look at the positive aspects.

In the classroom

Students learn best when they are active participants. Many teachers utilize video and computer games to enhance and reinforce skill acquisition in the classroom. Today’s educators have access to tools of technology that can provide students with enormous educational opportunities. “Critical to the success of any technology is the manner in which it is strategically integrated into one’s classroom instruction,” notes Dr. Brian Chinni, supervisor of curriculum, instruction and assessment for the Montvale Public School System.

There are many ways teachers can utilize technology in classrooms. There are games and simulations that enable students to explore and create materials that they could not work with directly. For example, Immune Attack enables students to learn about the human body in a kind of guided exploration. Discover Babylon promotes exploration by allowing students to time travel through Mesopotamia using skills in reading, math and writing. There are a number of Web sites that offer students similar benefits. Web sites such as forguts.com allow students to perform virtual dissections. Chemsense.org gives students the chance to experiment with chemical processes. According to the Center for Implementing Technology in Education, multimedia technologies available today give students a chance to interact directly with information on a whole new level, going beyond the classroom and changing, recreating and developing content as they develop their understanding of the scientific method.

“Perhaps the most transformational technology has been that of the interactive whiteboard,” says Chinni. “(They are) utilized specifically in conjunction with powerful interactive instructional software applications.” In Montvale schools, these applications include a Web-based learning platform called EduWave, designed for use from kindergarten through Grade 12 and beyond. Discovery Education is a multi-media based learning system with CDs, DVDs, print resources, video streaming and on-demand applications. This system puts over 2,000 core-curriculum standards-based videos at teachers’ fingertips. Study Island offers writing applications, special needs support, traditional assessments and interactive games based on the content standards, as well as real-time progress reports and test preparation activities for the HSPA and the NJ ASK. The activities are designed to keep students engaged and motivated, using several thousand questions that change constantly. Two of the benefits of using these programs are that students can move at their own pace, and many of these applications can be accessed in and out of the classroom. “This instructional technology has literally changed the way we teach and learn in every Montvale classroom,” says Chinni.

In addition to classroom learning, students are also using technology to stay informed of their academic progress. “Our students know they can visit their grades online to see how they are doing,” explains Lesa Brinker, director of curriculum, scheduling and technology for the Hasbrouck Heights Public Schools. “No one is in the dark about how our students are doing academically.

In addition, Brinker says the district uses Qwizdom at both the middle school and high school. This interactive learning system uses two-way infrared communication, providing instant assessment and feedback for every student.

Online anytime

A study by the Pew Research Center shows teens aren’t just wasting time online. Their study found 31 percent of online teens get health, dieting and physical fitness information online. A surprising 62 percent of online teens also get political news and current events online.

Teens are also taking advantage of Web sites that offer unexpected benefits. Freerice.com gives visitors a chance to do something benevolent while achieving academic growth. The site offers questions in five subject areas: art, chemistry, English, math, and four foreign languages. For each question answered correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated through the United Nations World Food Program in partnership with the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

At teflgames.com, learners of English as a second language can play games and try a variety of activities at different levels to improve their English. Many educational programs made for television have companion Web sites that offer teens unique opportunities to explore topics they may find intriguing. Sites like americanpresidents.org/ and pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/ offer a more in-depth examination and the chance to review videos online.

In addition to videos and extensive biographical information on www.biography.com, this Web site also features a very unique activity called “Dead Celebrity Soulmate Search.” This online game asks visitors to answer a series of questions, and then matches each player with a famous name in history. Hints are given about the player’s “soulmate” and a factual biography is available at the end of the round.

Another benefit of computers is that they offer teens a chance to develop their writing skills because of the ease of editing and revision. In addition, there are many online resources teens can use to practice and improve proficiency. Teens who visit teenink.com will find opportunities for online publishing.

Not just games

The positive aspects of video gaming include developing problem-solving abilities and pattern recognition, creating and testing hypothesis, using inductive reasoning and logistics and building hand/eye coordination. While games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit are getting kids off the couch at home, they have also been used in special education settings where physical movement can be integrated into learning activities.

Many video games offer another world in a box. Experts say the benefits include the fact that they offer players a chance to step into another identity. Teens find it appealing because they can learn what it’s like, for example, to be a marine biologist or an Air Force pilot. Games like America’s Army and Cooking Mama allow teens to try out characters and activities in the safety of a virtual environment.

Into the future

An increasing number of high schools are using an online system called Naviance to help students prepare for secondary education. “It’s a fabulous resource for students to research colleges,” says Laura Moore, a guidance counselor and the Naviance Site Manager for Ridgewood High School.

There are three different aspects to Naviance. “The first occurs in junior year and that’s college research and planning,” explains Moore. “The second feature of Naviance occurs during senior year when they actually go through the college application process. They do everything online.”

Students can put in all the criteria for their search, such as the size of a college, its location, athletics, academics, etc. and get back a list of schools. “The nice thing is,” says Moore, “after they get the list, they can get a college comparison. It not only compares colleges. It will also compare students to the college. They can see the average GPA, and SAT and ACT scores for students from their high school that have been accepted at each school. Students can also produce a scattergram, a chart that shows this information in a graph with an X and Y axis.”

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unning a successful school, getting corporate sponsorship, providing quality curriculum, with energetic teachers and the technology to back it all up, needs the right person at the helm. I doubt many can say no to “Ms. Miriam” when it comes to her kids, teachers, and school. Makes sense that kids travel from all over—some taking 3 buses, to attend there—and that the school population increases each year. Every space in the building is used. If you’re looking for a school example where success breeds success, Archimedes Academy stands at the top of the list.

Archimedes has partnered with Qwizdom, IBM, and Vision Ed Inc. Its computing technology runs the playing field with IBMs, Dells, and Macs. Furthermore, the staff maintain blogs and use Google Docs with students. While it is a math, science, and technology school, educating the whole child is the ultimate goal. Students learn fencing, ballroom dancing, and are even part of NYC Golden Gloves competition. And yes, their teams compete and win robotics challenges, too.

Teachers are called by their first names—Mr. Andy, Mr. Josh and even Ms. Miriam for Principal Lazar, but in three very different classrooms, I observed respect, kindness and an excitement for learning. There’s a pride of uniform, school, and participating. On my way out of one class, I dropped some equipment that I was carrying, and was immediately surrounded by helpers.

When observing a school or classroom, far beyond the technology, I look to see if kids enjoy being students there, as well as whether teachers enjoy teaching there. The Archimedes Academy answers yes to both. Whether you call it student-based, project-based, or experiential learning—it’s happening at Archimedes in the Bronx. And if Principal Miriam Lazar isn’t on a speakers list somewhere—she should be. What she’s doing needs to be shared. Look for my Archimedes visit video, soon to be posted at http://www.scholastic.com/administrator/.

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