In a meta-analysis of 225 studies that spanned various class sizes, course levels, disciplines, and pedagogy, our researchers found that active learning has a positive income on student performance. Our research also identified common barriers among professors to implementing these active learning strategies, which we sought to ameliorate in the development of our classroom tools: Achieve & iClicker. Read on to learn more about the research behind positive outcomes in active learning classrooms as well as how to implement active learning techniques in your classroom. Download: Research-Backed Strategies for Implementing Active Learning For Better Student Engagement ... View more

As this term draws to a close, you may be looking backward to see what worked and what needs work for next term. Here are some ways you can use iClicker to gather feedback from your students and ways you can use the iClicker data you’ve already gathered to reflect on your lesson plans: 1. Use iClicker Assignments to ask students for course feedback You can easily ask your students for feedback by creating an iClicker Assignment and asking students to respond, perhaps as an extra credit assignment. You can allow students to respond with short answer for detailed feedback, though you’ll want to remind students that their feedback is not anonymous. We’ve created a PDF of questions you can use to gather your students’ ideas. 2. Use iClicker Anonymous polling questions for informal course evaluations You may also want to “take the pulse” of your class in your last class meetings by using our Anonymous question mode to get some frank feedback from your students. Using multiple-choice questions will keep students focused and make feedback collection quick. We’ve created a deck of iClicker questions you can ask your students in order to get some quick and easy feedback. 3. Review your iClicker activity, looking for trends and patterns You don’t have to do a fancy deep-dive into your data to learn a few things from your iClicker trends. Was attendance set to autorun? If so, you can look over your attendance data to look for your days of lowest and highest attendance. If you use iClicker polling regularly, you can look and see if polling has had any impacts on your attendance rates. You should also consider how much feedback you’re giving students and how difficult your questions are. Consider this activity along with a look back at your larger lesson plans to see areas where iClicker could be an even more dynamic tool in your classroom.   ... View more

Colleges and universities know that winter traditions bring a sense of literally sophomoric fun to the season. Explore some wild winter traditions with your students in this month’s trivia deck. Access the Trivia Deck ... View more

On-Demand Calling all English professors! Check out this demonstration on how Achieve, our course management system, and iClicker work together. Achieve is proven to increase student performance, engage students both inside and outside of class, and it's designed for students of all levels. Achieve includes special active learning resources for English professors. Check out this tour of the Achieve environment and learn ways you can use iClicker and Achieve in your English classroom. View the Recording Here! View the Recording! ... View more

On-Demand Calling all chemistry professors! Check out our demonstration on how Achieve, our course management system, and iClicker work together. Achieve is proven to increase student performance, engage students both inside and outside of class, and it's designed for students of all levels. Achieve includes special active learning resources for chemistry professors. Check out the tour of the Achieve environment and learn ways you can use iClicker and Achieve in your chemistry classroom. View the Recording Here! View the recording! ... View more

The introduction of a group project assignment can be met with a chorus of groans from your students. Group projects are often necessary for our classes. They’re also good preparation for your students’ futures in the workplace. Most students picture their future work life as highly independent but the truth is, most jobs rely on employees working in groups constantly. Here’s how you can use iClicker to manage group projects more effectively and help your students value the learning experience more. Sorting Into Groups Instructors often turn to group work when they want their students to gain experience collaborating with new people. However, when students self-select their partners, they generally pick the same students with whom they feel most familiar. Using iClicker to form groups can shake up a classroom and inspire new relationships in the classroom. Try an activity where you open a multiple-choice poll and click on the results before your students vote. Challenge your students to “balance the bars” Once the bars are balanced (and this can take a while!) ask all the students who voted A to gather in one spot, all the students who voted B to gather in another spot, and so on. This can break your class up in a new way and easily segue into a more dynamic group. iClicker is Ideal for Groups of Two Peer Instruction (PI) is a proven way to move students from passive observation to active learning. With this student-centered type of instruction, students learn by explaining core concepts to each other under the guidance of their instructor. Encourage students to Think, Pair, Share. First, challenge them to Think with an iClicker question. Instead of revealing the correct answer, ask students to Pair with another student who has a different answer. Challenge students to come to a consensus on the correct answer, then Share their results with the class. When you display the results the first time, instruct your students to find peers who picked a different answer. This enlivens your classrooms and encourages students to make connections with more of their classmates. Managing Polling Activities in Groups Often students work on problem sets or complex challenges in group settings. Unfortunately, some groups see finishing the exercises as the goal instead of exploring the materials deeply and coming to a consensus. On the other hand, some groups dawdle and fail to finish the work due to shyness or other factors. With iClicker, your students work on one question at a time, keeping the class in sync with each other. To keep answers from the same group together, use Short Answer as your response type and ask students to respond with their group name at the start of their response. This will easily group responses together while requiring every student to stay engaged in the group activity. Using Assignments for Group Work iClicker Assignments makes it easy to keep group work separate from the polling questions you’re already asking in your classes. With Assignments, groups of students are able to work through a set of iClicker questions on their devices at their own pace. Students can work through a lab activity, answer a set of discussion questions, or conduct a peer review of course writing and they can do it in groups, no matter where the group is located. iClicker Assignments work for groups in your physical classroom or with breakout groups online! ... View more

Extern Name: Elleisha Richins School: City College of New York (NY) Project: Qualitative Market Research   What are you most excited to learn or experience during your externship? During the externship, I hope to learn more about the academic publishing world and the different fields inside it, and how one can go about getting started in this career. What skill/talent are you most excited to showcase during your externship? I am excited to showcase my skill of being attentive to detail, which allows me to maintain a high level of thoroughness when executing tasks and being a good team player. To learn more about Elleisha Richins’ project sponsor, Christine Brune, click here.  ... View more

  Sponsor Name: Christine Brune Department: Editorial Project: Quantitative Market Research What are you most excited to learn or experience during the externship? The Social Sciences team is super motivated to have this opportunity! I would be delighted to sponsor the extern, on behalf of our team. We want the extern to feel they are a valued contributor to our team during their time with us. We want them to interact with others in our group and beyond in order to learn about publishing in general, and the Social Science team’s connection to the rest of ML. This experience would demonstrate that ML’s primary focus is on helping students learn most effectively and enjoy the learning experience. Two possible ideas relate to gathering input about (1) our new Desmos graphs for Economics, and (2) writing components for our Psychology Achieve courses.   Learning how to interpret graphs, and using graphs to present information, are integral to the Principles of Economics course.  To learn more about Elleisha Richins, the Enterprise Editorial team’s extern, click here.  ... View more

Extern Name: Thais Rivas School: Arizona State University (AZ) Project: Event Planning & Qualitative Market Research What are you most excited to learn or experience during your externship? During this externship, I am most excited to learn how to engage with students and help them make the most out of their educational experience. We never stop learning, and learning from students themselves on the best steps to take to further their educational knowledge will be a valuable experience.  What skill/talent are you most excited to showcase during your externship? During this externship, I am most excited to showcase my creative and artistic talents as well as learning the skills, talents, and passions of other students. To learn more about Thais Rivas’ project sponsor, Kate Nurre, click here.  ... View more

  Sponsor Name: Amanda Pollard Department: Customer Experience Project: Support Case Analysis What are you most excited to learn or experience during the externship? I think developing the talent of the future is critical to Macmillan Learning's success as a company. Additionally working with an extern will not only allow my team and me to impart skills and knowledge on the extern, but it will allow the extern to bring a unique perspective to our work and challenge us to think differently. To learn more about Kiera King the Enterprise Customer Experience team’s extern, click here.  ... View more

Extern Name: Kiera King School: Columbus State University (GA) Project: Support Case Analysis What are you most excited to learn or experience during your externship? I am looking forward to contributing to a project and learning the ins and out of how these projects are structured and executed. What skill/talent are you most excited to showcase during your externship? I am excited to showcase my knowledge and experience in data analytics. To learn more about Kiera King’s project sponsor, Amanda Pollard, click here.  ... View more

  Sponsor Name: Jim Willis Department: Engineering Project: Platform Performance Analysis What are you most excited to learn or experience during the externship? Site Reliability Engineering is the intersection of Software Engineering, Infrastructure, and Operations.  An extern would have a full 360-degree view of developing software products. To learn more about Ester Brown, the Enterprise Engineering team’s extern, click here.  ... View more

  Extern Name: Ester Brown School: University of New Orleans (LA) Project: Platform Performance Analysis  What are you most excited to learn or experience during your externship? During the externship, I am most excited about my project, which includes working directly with AWS Cloud and Python. Also, I look forward to applying the knowledge I've acquired throughout my college career in a work environment created for me to succeed, learn, and grow as an engineer. What skill/talent are you most excited to showcase during your externship? I am ecstatic to demonstrate my technical and professional skills as a future leader in the industry. Overall, as a Macmillian Learning extern, I desire to showcase my adaptability, aptitude, and leadership.  To learn more about Ester Brown’s project sponsor, Jim Willis, click here.  ... View more

Sponsor Name: Laura Arcari & Michelle Clark Department: Editorial Project: Quantitative Market Research   What are you most excited to learn or experience during the externship? We are interested in sponsoring an extern because it is vitally important for us to connect with individuals who represent the diverse identities of the student audience who use our textbooks; in order to scout for the talent we might later be able to hire full-time; and most importantly, as a way to provide skills, training, and exposure to a young person considering a publishing career. Hiring an extern who works remotely is important to us, as the scenario might draw a more inclusive pool of candidates who may not live in expensive cities such as Boston and NY. Finally, hiring an extern for projects in composition, one of Macmillan Learning’s major profit centers, is a sensible move that aligns with our company ethos. To learn more about Ayanna Williams the Enterprise Editorial team’s extern, click here. ... View more

Extern Name: Ayanna Williams School: Troy University (AL) Project: Qualitative Market Research What are you most excited to learn or experience during your externship? I am excited to network with professionals who are already in my aspired career field!  What skill/talent are you most excited to showcase during your externship? I am excited to showcase my skills in advertising, writing, and management.  To learn more about Ayanna Williams’ project sponsors, Laura Arcari & Michelle Clark, click here.   ... View more