Set up i>clicker to Work with Blackboard
Before using i>clicker with Blackboard, you must specify the version of Blackboard you are using. You only need to do this once for each course.
To specify your Blackboard version in i>clicker:
- Double-click the i>clicker
icon within your iclicker Win or iclicker Mac folder to start the i>clicker application. - When you open i>clicker, you will see the Welcome Screen with no courses listed. Click the New button to add your course.
NOTE: If you already see your course in the course list, go to step 5. - An Add Course window appears. Enter your Course Name, Course Number, and Section Number, e.g. CIOL, 101, 006. This combined information will serve as the unique identifier for your course.
- Click the Create button. i>clicker automatically creates a new course folder in your iclicker Win/Classes or i>clicker Mac:Classes folder. The Add Course window closes and you are returned to the Welcome screen with your course name in the list of courses.
- Select your course from the course list and click Choose.
- The Main Menu screen appears. Select the My Settings option.
- On the General tab, decide if you want to designate an "instructor's remote."
The blue instructor remote looks and functions exactly like the white student remote until the instructor designates it as the instructor remote. Then, rather than interpreting the five choices (A, B, C, D, E) as student votes, the receiver recognizes the 5 options as control commands, thus allowing the instructor to control polling and the presentation from anywhere in the room. Instructor remotes come with stickers that can be affixed to the remote as a guide to the control commands.
To designate any i>clicker remote as an “instructor’s remote,” instructors must enter the remote ID in field #5 (Designated Instructor’s Remote) of General Settings and Preferences. The remote ID is the unique 8-character serial number found on the back of each i>clicker remote.
- Click the CMS/Registration tab near the top of the My Settings window.
- Under the CMS/Registration tab in the Course Management System section, select the radio button beside Blackboard and the option of Version 8 (and above).
- Decide on your grading policies, and click on the Scoring tab in the My Settings window.
You can set participation points and requirements for earning them at the top of the Scoring page. You can set performance (question based) points for responding and for a correct response in the middle of the page.
TIP: Research studies show (Caldwell, J.E. “Clickers in the large classroom: Current research and best-practice tips.” Life Sciences Education, 6(1), 9-20, 2007.) that students participate and vote using clickers more consistently when clicker points are worth at least 10% of their overall grade. When clickers are worth 5% or less of the total course grade, students take voting less seriously and participate less frequently.
- When you have made your selections, click Set for Course (Windows) or Set for Term (Macintosh) on the bottom right corner of the CMS/Registration window and close i>clicker.
- If you haven't yet used the Import Roster feature in i>clicker integrate, the following message appears:
- Click OK. In spite of what this message says, you do not need to manually download your gradebook."
