Plickers

Hailey Moore

Fall 2017

Introduction

Plickers is a free app available on Android and Apple. It is used by teachers of all grade levels. This app engages students in formative assessment, and instantly gives feedback to the teacher about student comprehension. Students hold up their free printable answer cards for multiple choice or true/false questions, and the teacher scans the cards using their mobile device. The answers are recorded in the app and teachers can adjust their lesson accordingly.

Step by Step Guide

Below is a Google slide presentation going through all of the steps on how to sign up for Plickers, create classes and folders, and how to display questions and scan answers.

Plickers Step By Step GuidePlickers Step By Step Guide Hailey Moore

Screencast

Dec 4, 2017 5:36 PM.webm

Youtube Tutorials/Tips

FAQs

Can I still use Plickers without internet connection?
- Yes, you can use the mobile app offline to scan your students' answer cards. However, you cannot sync your data to the website or display questions on the Live View page without internet connection.
Is there a way to remove questions from the Library without fully deleting them?
- Yes. You can archive questions you no longer need but want to keep for future reference by clicking on the arrow next to the question and pressing "Archive question."
Do I have to print new cards for every class?
- No. You can use the same card sets for multiple classes. When you click on one class, the answers whill only be recorded for that particular class and that particular student.
Can I organize or group multiple questions at one time?
- Not currently, but there will be future updates that will allow for faster organizing.
Can I have more than 63 cards assigned to a class?
- Unfortunately 63 is the maximum amount of cards that one class can hold.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

You can instantly assess what your students are understanding, and adjust your lesson accordingly.
Answers scan very quickly; it could take less than 30 seconds to scan a class of 30 students.
Free to sign up and print the cards.
Internet connection is not required to scan answers.
Cost-effective alternative to electronic clickers.

Cons:

Scanning could be affected by things like class size and room lighting.
Students may lose their Plickers cards, and the teacher may have to keep reprinting them.
You can only add up to 63 students to a class, so large university lecture classes would not be a good candidate for this app.
It can take a long time to queue questions, since you have to queue them all individually.
The Library can become cluttered fast if you do not organize questions effectively.

Sample Classroom Activities

Here are two examples of ways that you can integrate Plickers into your own classroom.

Kindergarten Mathematics (Guided Practice)

Standard

(K.MD.A.2) Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has “more of”/“less of” the attribute, and describe the difference. For example, directly compare the heights of two children and describe one child as taller/shorter.

Description

After the teaching/modeling portion of the lesson, the teacher will use Plickers to complete the Guided Practice. The teacher will have students grab their assigned Plickers card and face the Smart Board. Using the Live View feature, the teacher will display a photo of two objects that have a measurable characteristic in common. The teacher will say what the two objects are, and give a description. The teacher will ask the students to decide which of the objects is bigger/smaller, shorter/taller, heavier/lighter, etc. The students will choose from these two types of answer choices:

A: Object 1
B: Object 2

The teacher will scan the students' answers, and make note of which students are struggling and which students are answering with no problem. After the answers have been recorded, the teacher will tell students the correct answer and explain why it is correct.

3rd Grade English (Review/Closure)

Standard

(L.3.1e) Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses.

Description

As a review for the day's lesson, the teacher will have students take out their Plickers cards and face the Smart board to answer 10-15 questions. The lesson focused on different types of verb tenses (past, present, future) and how to choose the correct verb tense for the sentence. The teacher will display the questions using the Live View feature, and students will hold up their answers for the teacher to scan. Here is an example question:

The boy _______ to his house (past tense)
- A: ran
- B: runned
- C: will run
- D: run

The teacher will use this review to formatively assess which students are understanding the lesson.

Google Sites

Report abuse