Tips & Tricks: Giving Students Great Study Tools

[Natalie_Dougall]

With iClicker Study Tools, students are able to take your iClicker polling questions and make them into flashcard packs and practice tests. Let your students know this feature is included with iClicker and read on for more ways you can create iClicker questions worth studying.

Make sure your iClicker questions connect clearly to formal assessments. 

Students enthusiastically review their iClicker questions when they know they are inspired by the ones they will encounter on their quizzes and exams. Your past formal assessments are also great places to find potential polling questions. What questions did students miss the most on your midterm last semester? Be sure to ask iClicker questions that are at the same difficulty level and the same question type they’ll meet on your quizzes and exams.

Keep some slide design principles in mind.

There’s a lot of overlap between a well-designed presentation slide and a well-designed flash card. Use a large, clear font and make sure it contrasts well with your background. You’ll also want to think about what your slides will look like on students’ phones, since that’s where they’ll review your questions. You should also try to include simple graphics when appropriate to trigger the picture superiority effect.

Ask a variety of question types.

The type of question you ask your students impacts how they’ll interact with them through Study Tools. If you ask a multiple choice question, flashcards will show a simple A-E response on the back of the card. If you ask students short answer, numeric and target questions, your students will see much more detail on the back of their flashcards. Introducing a variety of question types also takes advantage of interleaving, a method where instructors mix topics and question types to improve learning outcomes.