Now, before you get your hopes up, I'm not talking about TV remote controls.  This blog is about a different kind of clicker.  One that is showing up all over the country in middle and high school classrooms and on college campuses.  This clicker is used by students during class to register attendance, instructor lead questions, and more.  These hand-held devices are simplistic in function, you can only use them for the purpose of the classroom, you can't surf the web or check email on them.  But that is part of the beauty and success of it!  Read this article in the New York Times for more details.

Of course, there can't be new technology or technique introduced without new debate.  This one centers on the college student's percieved invasion of rights--you know the ones that guarantee college students the right to skip class and/or sleep their way through lecutures.  Apparently, these little clickers make the skipping and slacking less possible and--what a pity--makes the college student more responsible! 

Instructors can more closely monitor attendance in a large lecture hall where before it was nearly impossible.  They can easily administer quizzes without having to grade hundreds of individual papers.  These clickers actually help the students do what they are in college to do--learn!  For those who resent them: (instuctors or students) check your motivation.  Maybe it's not the clicker you resent but the rationale behind them.