I am not a technical guru and do not know how fix every problem encountered with the clickers. The people who are experts are at CPS, the company that produces our clickers, you may contact them via the 1-800 number listed on their website here:
Also we live in this beautiful internet age with search engines like google, Yahoo, Bing etc. working for us. Please do not forget to do a little research on the net if you encounter a problem with your clicker.
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO REGISTER YOUR CLICKERS AND REGISTRATION KEYS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT CLICKERS
1. Do I have to purchase the clicker and pay the registration fee?
Yes. However, if you bought the Colander textbook from the bookstore this semester, then it came with a code that entitles you to register your clicker for this class for free.
Please also note that we are not using the brand “iclicker”, but we use “the CPS RF” brand
2. I am registered in the 11:00am (12:30pm) lecture will my clicker work in the 12:30pm (11:00am) lecture?
No. Each lecture is housed in a separate database. If you registered your clicker for the 11:00am (12:30pm) section, then your clicker will only work if in the 11:00am (12:30pm) section.
3. I registered my clicker with my original TA, then I switched TAs, or I registered my clicker with the wrong StudentID, do I need to re-register my clicker?
No. It is important however that your StudentID is of the form xxxxx-yyyyy where xxxxx is your current TAs UVA computing ID and yyyyy is your UVA computing ID.* As an example, my UVA computing ID is rt2w. If this is incorrect for any reason you may login to your account on www.einstruction.com and edit your student ID so that it is up to date. This will simply update your account in my database, and will not cause any of the points you earned over the semester to be lost.
*Some UVA computing IDs are 6 characters in length.
4. What is my class key?
The class key is E-Mailed out to the entire class at the beginning of the semester. There is a unique class key for the 11:00 and 12:30 lecture. Please contact me if you cannot find the original E-Mail with the class key.
5-(A) I turn my clicker on and it just says “joining…” what should I do?
The primary reason clickers say “joining…” and never actually join the lesson at the beginning of the semester is because they are not registered (or have been registered improperly) for the lecture you are trying to use your clicker in. Please make sure your registration was successful and that you are registered for the correct lecture. In a few cases, clickers have been registered properly, but they simply fail to function correctly. If this is the case, I am sorry to say, you will need to go to the bookstore and purchase a new clicker and register it all over again in order to get clicker credit. I recommend contacting einstruction (via their 1-800 number) so you may get registration fees waived
(B) I turn on my clicker and it says TMA Mode. Should I freak out? No. TMA mode means you are connected and good to go
6. I forgot my clicker today, is there any way I can receive the clicker points?
No. It is your responsibility to remember your clicker for every single lecture.
7. My clicker is not working today because … is there any way I can receive the clicker points?
No. It is your responsibility to make sure your clicker is working properly for every class. (Spare Batteries aren’t a bad idea!)
8. My clicker’s screen isn’t turning on?
This has happened to a number of clickers and the cause may just be that the batteries have been sitting on the shelf in the bookstore for too long. Try removing the back of the clicker, taking out the batteries shaking them, and then reinserting them into the clicker. This has proven successful on numerous occasions. If that doesn’t work, try installing new batteries.
9. How many clicker questions have I gotten correct so far?
You can logon to www.einstruction.com and access your answers for all of the clicker questions, the correct and answers, and your total score. It is your responsibility to keep track of your points over the course of the semester.
10. Do you have a printout of the old clicker questions? Which clicker questions did I miss? What was the correct answer to clicker question #2 today?…
You can logon to www.einstruction.com and access your answers for all of the clicker questions, the correct and answers, and your total score.
11. I checked the einstruction website and it says that I “did not respond” to a question.
There is a problem with the online study-guide and it says this for all of the numerical answers, and some of the multiple choice answers. For, the most part the numerical answers have been graded correctly and this is just a glitch in the einstruction software. The good news is, when you view your grades the accurate number of questions you answered correctly on any given day shows up. Sometimes this clickers encounter a problem where they freeze and do not properly submit the answers one question. If this is the case, I am sorry and I cannot give you points back for this. There are extra questions built into the semester exactly for glitches like this. Also, CPS is aware of both of these problems and is working hard to fix them.
12. Some of the days are listed twice, am I receiving “double points” for those days?
No. Just because they are listed twice, does not mean you are receiving twice the points. I have been working with the CPS people over the course of the semester and there may be multiple entries for some days because of reconfigurations made to the database. My gradebook is accurate with one grade per day. I would love to give you all bonus points though!
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13.My batteries were out/something happened and the clicker did not send my answer: I am sorry to inform you that we are not offering make up for these glitches. This is why we built extra questions into the semester.
****Any clicker grading disputes must be brought to my attention within a week of the clicker question being asked in class. Because of the very large size of the class this is for my own sanity. There should not be many of these, and I will NOT give out extra points just because a student asks. For the most part it is your responsibility to make sure your clicker is working during class (not after). Also, if you already have full credit for the clicker questions for the semester there is no reason to bother me about a clicker grading issue.****
Comments:
- When there are clicker questions there will typically be an announcement on the board in the front of the lecture hall. If you see such an announcement it is best to log it as soon as you arrive, to avoid accidentally not getting in on time when we start the first question (your clicker will not join once a question has started). It is also best to answer a question as soon as you know the answer or think you know the answer because it is also possible to change an answer after an answer is already submitted. There have been instances where students waited till the last second, and their response was not counted (there is nothing I can do about this).