Applying students' dexterity with texting to use of electronic hand held devices in the classroom

Without precautions, many electronic devices can prove distracting to students in the classroom, including the use of cell phones and gaming paraphernalia. However, one way that instructors can fight back is by adding electronic hand held devices to their list of classroom resources. The purpose of this presentation is to share and learn more about electronic hand held devices that are available to students and school teachers, namely, the student remotes and the classroom response systems. Student remotes enable the deployment of certain innovative and effective classroom technologies. Specifically, these data collection systems allow simultaneous feedback from all students, without open disclosure of individual responses; thus, facilitating class participation. Focus areas are identified through analysis of students' responses entered in their hand held remote device. Thus, the instructor receives immediate feedback to facilitate effective teaching and learning during each class session. Instructors are provided the evidence needed to make decisions about re-teaching, and whether to encourage further practice of the materials taught in each particular classroom session. Increased efficiency and economies of scale may be realized with this immediate feedback. Student remotes can enable direct but anonymous student input at every point during the classroom teaching session, and can also be used for pre-and post-test classroom assessments. Another advantage is the preparation of students for use of electronic devices likely to be deployed on their future jobs. Students' perspective and opinions regarding the use of remote electronic hand held devices in their classroom will be shared with session participants.