You probably don't think of them as a radical new technology, but some people are convinced that when clickers are as widespread in classrooms as slide shows, a tremendous positive growth in learning will occur. How do clickers work? Read more.

"If I ask a question, and half the class gets it wrong, I can work on that right away, instead of waiting for a test," said Felicia Corsaro-Barbieri, a chemistry professor at Gwynedd-Mercy College. "The misconceptions are being cleared up immediately rather than later." It also gives the usually silent majority a voice. "It can be very intimidating in front of 400 people to raise your hand and answer the question," said Nicholas Staich, a Temple senior who is a teaching assistant for Hodge. "There is a security in anonymity. That ability to contribute without having to worry about people laughing at you is something that most students have never seen before."

We first saw clickers in action (mobile response devices) in the TEAL first-year physics classroom at MIT, and wrote this article for Campus Technology magazine.