Plickers

Plickers, or "paper clickers," is an inexpensive yet powerful version of the traditional clicker-based student response system. Instead of having to purchase an expensive set of electronic student clickers, Plickers lets you print off analog student response cards that interact with the Plickers app on the teacher's smart phone or tablet. This digital/analog hybrid data collection system is a great solution for classes with only one device.

Getting Started with Plickers Uses for Music Class
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Getting Started with Plickers
First, you will need to set up your Plickers account (free!). Once you have created your account and logged in, the Plickers website will guide you through a brief orientation to the main menu bar. From here, you can create questions, see reports of student performance, set up your classes, and see live data as you record their answers:
 * When you add questions to your library, you can add images to your question, designate correct answer choice(s), eliminate answer choices, etc. You can also designate specific questions to specific classes.
 * When you set up your class, you can enter student names individually or by copy/pasting an entire class list. Plickers will automatically generate student numbers based on how the names are ordered in the list.
 * The Live View lets you enter full screen, make the text bigger or smaller, etc. You can set the area on the right to show who has already answered or to create a bar graph of answer distributions.

Next, you will need to print off your class set of Plickers cards (free!). You have many options - large class size, large font, large cards, etc. Whichever cards you decide on, you may want to consider laminating them so they will last. NOTE: one possible issue with lamination could be glare from the lighting preventing your camera from reading the card). You can also purchase a pre-laminated set on Amazon if you are willing to make the investment. Each card is unique so students can't copy each other's answers, even when they are all holding their cards up in the air. This also lets you track individual student data - just ask students to get the card that matches their classroom number.

Finally, you will need to download the Plickers app (free!) on your device (iPhone, iPad, Android tablet, etc.) If you didn't already set up an account on the Plickers website, you can do it from the app; otherwise, sign in with the same account. The mobile app allows you to pull up answers from your library or create new questions from within the app. When you are showing the Live View on the computer for the students to see the question, it will show the question you select from your app. You need to tap the camera icon at the bottom of the screen to start scanning the room to gather student responses.

For more help with Plickers, check out Plickers Support.

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Uses for Music Class
Plickers can be used for any multiple-choice assessment (diagnostic, formative, and/or summative). The variety of cards options (large print, large letters, etc) make Plickers accessible to students 1st Grade and up (maybe even Kindergarten!)

Plickers are a great option for assessment because it makes grading very fast, which is a major advantage for music teachers who teach several hundred students each week. They also give data about which distractors are commonly chosen. By adding student names, you can track individual data over time as well as whole class and whole grade level data.

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