(Ebook) Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments by Derek Bruff ISBN 9780470288931, 0470288930

(Ebook) Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments by Derek Bruff ISBN 9780470288931, 0470288930

I learned about this book by reading Derek Bruff's excellent blog of the same name. When I decided to take the plunge to using a classroom response system (CRS or "clickers") in my introductory mathematics course, I sought out this book first. I'm very glad that I read the book and recommend that anyone new to teaching with a CRS peruse it. Bruff gives a great overview of the most important areas of using clickers in a variety of college courses. His personal experiences and information from the published literature are augmented with examples from the many, many interviews he conducted when writing the book. The interview subjects cover many disciplines, and Bruff does an excellent job of helping readers from all disciplines find a take-away from each example. By reading this book, I picked up new ideas about how to use clickers in my course and also found myself re-evaluating my early thoughts on how I would use them. The book does a nice job of discussing common questions instructors have about incorporating clickers (How much class time does it take? What do I do with all my content?) that will be of greatest interest to those considering clickers but who haven't yet decided if they really want to use them. However, it is also very useful to those who have decided they are definitely using clickers but aren't sure exactly how they will be incorporated. Bruff's discussion of the pros and cons of various methods of grading for clicker questions was particularly informative and based on both the literature and his interviews. I consider this a must-read part for anyone new to using clickers in their courses. Instructors already using clickers in their courses may get less from this book than they would from reading Bruff's blog posts, where he reviews articles from the literature and provides links to what others are doing. However, experienced clicker users who just use them to quiz students for summative assessment should take time to read Teaching with Classroom Response Systems, as it will open their eyes to many new possibilities for how they can help their students learn more through the use of clickers.