Clicker

Jerena Tan
Samantha Lim
 wireless
Student response unit student Real time
response assessment
network
‘Clicker’
TurningPoint software
 12

PROBLEMS:
Poor feedback mechanisms

1. Yellow and green are not

sufficiently distinct
2. Blinking light
unstable Ambiguous feedback
instead of acceptance - User does not know
whether feedback is
his/hers
 Users: NTU students

-Shy, afraid
to speak up
in class Increase in-
-
low class class
participation interaction

-Do not want

to cause
disruptions
to lecture
 Instructor seeks
answers from
students

in-class
interaction

X
Enquiries Feedback/Participation
 Now

Objective
assessment
of
participation

Subjective Depends
on
lecturer’s
memory
 Solutions
• High level goal • Allow student-to-
– Enhance in-class teacher communication
interaction – Participation
– Objective – Enquiries
participation • Addition of buttons solely
assessment for these purposes
 Solutions
Low level goal Modify current feedback
– Resolve current mechanism
usability problems – Distinct
• Change the colour of the
feedback light
– Unambiguous, specific
to user
• Include a small screen
Task analysis

Interviews
 Our interviewees
• taking the course HP308 Psychology in the
Workplace
• Psychology Year 3 majors.
• own devices which contain Bluetooth or
wireless devices i.e. mobile phones and mp3
players
• Have experience using the remote control
 Interview Questions
1. Do you have a clicker?
2. How many classes require you to use your clicker? What are those classes?
3. How many times do you use your clicker a week?
4. What tasks do you perform with your clicker?
5. How did you learn to do them?
6. What are the time constraints when you use your clicker? For instance, do you have to ‘click’
within a certain period of time? What is the time period?
7. What are some problems you experience with your clicker?
8. If you change your answer, does the clicker provide any feedback?
9. What do you do when problems happen?
10. Do you think adding a small screen on the clicker to display which answer was chosen and
whether it is accepted would improve the current design?
11. If the clicker can be redesigned to include more functions, what would you like them to be?
12. Given that we NTU students are usually shy about asking questions or providing our answers
in class, would you like to be able to ask and answer your lecturer’s questions using the
clicker?
13. Given that the current system for assessing class participation is subjective, would you like to
have the clicker record and quantify the number of times you participated in class and allow
you to view the tallied numbers via Edventure?
 Summary: usability problems
• lack of feedback
– unsure whether the answers got through or even
whether they had clicked the correct answer.
– resulted on clicking on the same answer
repeatedly
frustrated.
– fear that their answers would not be accepted

affect their assessment scores
 Summary: thoughts about our
implementations
• Overall, our implementations were viewed
favourably
– inclusion of a small screen
– better feedback
– Tallying of participation scores and viewing via the
Edventure
– for students to post queries on various slides.
• Exceptions: participation
– raising hands and speaking up directly in class
Task analysis
 TA
1. Who is going to use the system?
This system was designed for both lecturers and students.
On the part of students, they possess the clicker
focusing on them

2. What tasks do they now perform?

answering multiple-choice questions for general surveys and quizzes

3. What tasks are desired?

invention of the clicker program
increase class participation and interaction.
However, it has been shown to be single-directional from lecturers to students.

4. How are the tasks learned?

learned over a period of time.

Instructions were provided at the start of the class when clicker was first introduced

learned to use it through numerous practices.
5. Where are the tasks performed?
TA
lecture theatres or seminar rooms

6. What’s the relationship between user and data?

The relationship between the users and that of the data are results that determine
part of their final score in a module.

7. What other tools does the user have?

• basic computing skills,
• experience using remote control
• basic idea of how wireless devices work.

8. How do users communicate with each other?

• students and lecturers communicate via the clicker.
• communication is one-way: lecturers to students
• no form of communication available between student users.
 TA
9. How often are the tasks performed?
performed on nearly a weekly basis, depending on the lecturer.

10. What are the time constraints on the tasks?

• depends largely on the lecturers
• A time limit of ten seconds is usually set for each question

11. What happens when things go wrong?

• Presently, there are no backup strategies.
• lack of adequate feedback from the UI prevents users from noticing their
errors
 Interface design
Feedback mechanisms
1. Small screen
2. Feedback light colour/frequency
Participation
Enquiry sending
 Small screen
• resemble a calculator screen
– dark grey
– display text in white.
– Its low cost
for production in large numbers

provided at low or no cost to the whole NTU
student population.
• It will display the following:
– What channel is the device connected to
– Which response was selected and whether it is
accepted
– Slide number
– Errors in response selection
 What channel is the device connected to

• Reminder:
– remind the user to change to the
appropriate channel.
• Error prevention measure:
– especially if the user uses the
clicker at many classes and has to
change channels frequently.
 Which response was selected and
whether it is accepted
• improve the current user
feedback
• reduce fear associated with
the ambiguity of the system
state
• eliminate the need to submit
response multiple times
• improve user experience
 Error messages
• error prevention
measure
– submission of a response
that is unavailable
– reminder to the user to
double check the
responses available and
input the desired
response
 Slide number
• the new interface allows the user to
input response for slides which has
passed.
– allows irreversible system functions to be
reversible
– extending time constraints from 10
seconds to the time period of the whole
lecture.
• available for participation and
enquiries only
– not to defeat the purpose of placing time
constraints on a quiz.
 Feedback light: response OK
• when a response is sent: emit a
steady blue light Intuitive
– more distinct from green than yellow
– clear feedback

• Submission of a subsequent
different response
stop emitting
light
– re-enter the response

• The double entry serves as a

feedback to the user that the
previous response is being
removed and as a confirmation
measure as to change of response.
 Feedback light: error
• Current UI has no error preventive
measures Intuitive
• emit a blinking red light
– allows error correction to be made
within time constraints.
• Blinking frequency
– capture the user’s attention
• red
– relies on the user’s knowledge
warning and error.
– maintain simplicity of design
– eliminates the need for instruction or
labels
 [] button
• replacing the current [?] button with []
• enquiries submission and participation will share the same button
• refinement contains the minimal critical features required for user
recognition
– allows the system to match the real world where the user participates and ask
questions in class by raising hand
• Mode button
– in order to send Enquiry to a previous slide, the user should first press the [] button
to change mode then press the slide number.
– information will be reflected on the small screen as well
• System constraints
prevent mode error
– Participation and Enquiry are mutually exclusive.

Intuitive
 Adjustments to TurningPoint
software
• Wireless network: Abolish time constraints
• Screen: Participation mode feedback
• Edventure
 Adjustments to TurningPoint software:
Wireless network- Abolish time constraints

• Time constraints discourages student participation and

submission of enquiry,
• networks to all slides to be turned on concurrently,
– allowing submission of responses after the slide has passed
• allows the system to be better matched to the real world
– no time limit to when students pose questions to the instructor.
– the user will require some time to digest the lecture content and
decide that further explanation is needed
 Adjustments to TurningPoint software:
Screen- Participation mode feedback
• natural mapping of function button layout to
screen
– Immediate association
– Reduce search time
• Display of the number of participation and
enquiry responses to student users is
important
– the bandwagon effect
• the tendency to perform a behavior when
many other people do so.
• boost enquiry submission and
participation
 Adjustments to TurningPoint software:
Edventure
• Displayed under “View Grades” in Edventure
– based on the Gestalt law of similarity.
– view participation and quiz as a group (assessment)
– ease user search
Scenarios and storyboards
 Sample: Easy tasks
• Easy Task 1: You would like to select ‘A’: Yes
regarding the question “Did you have
MacDonald’s for lunch?” Submit your
response ‘A’ using the clicker.
• Easy Task 2: You pressed the 5/E button in
order to respond to the question with the
answer ‘none of the above’. However, there
are only 4 options: A, B, C, D for this question.
Change your answer to option B instead.
 Easy Task: (Easy Task 1)

Your professor decides that there is a HP308 quiz for the day. There are a total
of eight multiple-choice questions, with each question consisting of options
from 1 to 5. Each question is flashed on the screen for a time period of ten
seconds. Each question needs to be answered within the stipulated time. The
first question is, ‘Fredrick Taylor is a psychologist who introduced Scientific
Management during which period of time?’ The answer for this question
could be one of these 5 options: 1-5. You need to answer the question and
can do so by selecting the response that you deem most appropriate, by
pressing one of the buttons: 1/A, 2/B, 3/C, 4/D or 5/E on the Clicker. You

believe 1 is the correct answer. Answer this question using the clicker.
 Turning on and setting channel

Flashing green &

red

Key in channel
code

Press and
release
 Sample: Moderate tasks
• Moderate Task 1: Your lecturer is explaining
some concepts on the current slide. You have
some enquiries about it. Use the clicker to
signal that to your lecturer.
• Moderate Task 2: Your lecturer posted a
question to the class. You like to participate by
answering the question. Use your clicker to do
so.
 Moderate Task: (Moderate Task 2)
The lecture is now in progress. As usual, your professor likes to
ask a few questions to the entire lecture of forty students to
ensure that all of you understand the concept. She is currently
going through a slide on engineering psychology is a hybrid. The
professor poses this question verbally: “Why is it that engineers
and psychologists have to work together?”, and expects you to
use your Clicker to signal that you want to attempt to answer her
questions. To try to get chosen to answer the particular question,
press [] button on the Clicker, so that the professor will know
that you wish to answer the question and that you may have the
chance to do so.
 Sample: Difficult tasks
• Difficult Task 1: You have some questions
about a concept in a slide which has passed.
Use the clicker to signal to your lecturer
regarding that.
• Difficult Task 2: You have been using your
clicker to ‘participate’ in class. Check your
participation score thus far on Edventure.
 Difficult Task: (Difficult Task 1)
In the progression of the HP308 lecture, you begin to grapple
with the concepts of ‘efficiency rules for manual labour’ in slide
5. Before you could fully comprehend the concepts and ideas to
why steps are done in this concept (Slide 5), your professor has
moved onto the next slide to discuss the following concept of
‘person-machine systems’. You feel that there is a need to clarify
your queries in slide 5. You can do so by clicking the [] button
and entering the slide number, which in this case is 5, to let the
professor know that there are queries on this slide.
Slide 5 Slide 5 Slide