This year Queensborough Community College will be commemorating its 50^th Anniversary with year-long events and many celebrations of the past, present, and future. We have a rich history, remarkable for many successes, including numerous graduates who have come back to work here. The current chairs of the ECET and Physical Education Departments, the Executive Director of IT, the director of the Academic Computing Center (me – the class of ’67), the College’s Web Master / Blackboard Administrator, our Digital Content Manager, our College Web Artist, and many more, are all Alums.

In addition, Queensborough is proud to have unique Supplemental Educational Resources in its world-class Performing Arts Center (QPAC), the Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives (KHRCA), and the QCC Art Gallery, all with special 50^th Anniversary events scheduled during the year. The College’s notable Presidential Lecture Series continues as well, with Dr. Michio Kaku, from City College-CUNY, oft called the Rock Star of Physics.

Technology has always played a large role at the College. Two of the first degrees offered by Queensborough were Electrical and Mechanical Technology A.A.S. Degrees. In Engineering, Math, and Business classrooms, technology has gone from slide rules, to beefy programmable function calculators, all the way to graphing calculators on the iPhone. As a College we have run the gamut of computers. From IBM Mainframes to Digital Equipment and Data General Minis; from personal computers to laptops & netbooks, Queensborough has been there every step of the way. The first program I “wrote” as a Queensborough student involved placing jumpers on a board. I remember loading “binary machine language” thru a set of front panel switches, and when we moved to paper-tape input and teletype output we had hit the big time. From SWTPC (a cheroot if you can get that one), to TRS-80s, to IBM PCs, from Apple II to iMac and Mac Pro; from paper tape, to cassette tape, to reel-to-reel tape, to punch cards, to floppy then hard disks, we’ve had it all. Ahhhhh, technology in education!

Please visit and join Queensborough’s 50th Anniversary Website and help us celebrate. Tell us your own technology stories – it promises to be fun!

I recently attended an excellent Webinar entitled “Clickers: Keys to Transforming Classrooms & Engaging College Students” given by Dr. Douglas Duncan, University of Colorado, Boulder – via Higher Ed Hero. In his presentation Dr. Duncan covered mostly pedagogy with only a sprinkling of tech-talk – very informative; highly recommended.

Many College’s including Queensborough are adopting clickers for both Administrative and Academic purposes. We use them to record votes in our Academic Senate, and a number of teachers use them often during class. Clickers can be used anonymously to help you gauge comprehension, and, as Dr. Duncan recommends, as a stimulus for peer collaboration and peer instruction, participation counted as (small) part of a students grade.

Getting clickers into the hands of students presents a few challenges. The College could just give them to students, but where is the money for that? Much like a calculator for some courses, we could require that students purchase them, but there is concern that students will expect all teachers to use them, and, at least early-on with something new like this, that’s not realistic. Some publishers package clickers with adopted textbooks. That sounds good, and as a bonus they typically come with sets of questions related to the textbook subject matter, but then you have different clickers in use across the campus, with some students having more than one variety, and that’s a nightmare. Standardization of clickers across the campus is essential. The simple solution, this from Dr. Duncan’s presentation, place a locked clicker box in each classroom, teachers and techs have a key.

This semester, at the request of a number of faculty members and students, Queensborough will be purchasing clickers for loan to teachers who take our clicker workshops and then want to try them in their classroom. Our workshops will impart sage advice from various sources including our own experienced faculty who are teaching the workshops, and Dr. Duncan’s Webinar.

Are you using clickers?

Clicker Resources
Queensborough’s Preferred Student Response System: i>Clicker
(http://www.iclicker.com)
        – reason: simplicity for student and teacher & low cost
 

Video
Clickers in the Science Classroom – see the power of peer instruction and clicker use: http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/clicker_flash.html   (4 minutes)

Articles
Tips for Successful Clicker Use (pdf)
(http://casa.colorado.edu/~dduncan/clickers/Tips.pdf)

Cal State Long Beach Pushes i>Clicker for Student Response
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/05/27/cal-state-long-beach-pushes-iclicker-for-student-response.aspx

Bridging the Participation Gap – clickers beyond the lecture hall
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2009/08/01/hardware-software.aspx?sc_lang=en