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Welch
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Turning Technologies Clicker... Errors?

Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:41 pm

The Clicker is a device that schools (Universities anyhow) are using for test answers. Instead of having you write down the answers on an A through E bubble answer sheet and turning it in the teachers have a receiver unit setup. This receiver unit is supposed to operate on a certain frequency in which case each student has a little "Clicker" (Looks like a mini remote). The teacher will give the students a set amount of time to answer each question and they are meant to respond by pressing the right answer on the "remote". Some of you out there are probably taking classes and know all about these devices. I'm curious if any of you have had issues with them not recording the correct answer. In this case my girlfriend took 5 total quizzes in class using the device and the first two she got 100%.... no problem. The last three quizzes the teach just not posted them and she was 100% sure she got 100% on 2 out of the three and missed only 1 answer on one of them. The scores reflected something completely different showing one of her scores at 22/30, she clearly knew the material as the teach goes over each answer after the question is asked and the students are given the allotted amount of time (30 seconds).

My concern is that with 80 students in this class ALL required to use these clickers, I'm wondering what the chances are that the signal is getting mixed up with someone else's improperly tuned or configured clicker. The first few quizzes in her class more than half the class did not have their clickers since they were still waiting for them to arrive after ordering online, now everyone has one.

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Re: Turning Technologies Clicker... Errors?

Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:51 pm

We use something called the "iclicker" in the biology department. I haven't heard of misrecorded test results though.
 
Contingency
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Re: Turning Technologies Clicker... Errors?

Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:04 am

FCC Info

Doesn't appear to provide much in the way of feedback. Fat-fingering causing an offset or a contact not always registering are more likely to be a cause. Previous tests were shorter, and the test taker is more likely to pay attention due to the novelty of the device.

Edit: I'd have the test taker familiarize herself with the LED codes, to verify that her answers are being accepted.
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Welch
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Re: Turning Technologies Clicker... Errors?

Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:26 am

Contingency wrote:
FCC Info

Doesn't appear to provide much in the way of feedback. Fat-fingering causing an offset or a contact not always registering are more likely to be a cause. Previous tests were shorter, and the test taker is more likely to pay attention due to the novelty of the device.

Edit: I'd have the test taker familiarize herself with the LED codes, to verify that her answers are being accepted.


That is more than likely to be the cause, I'm going to have her read the "manual" and confirm paying very close attention to her answers when she presses them. I also suggested that she if at all possible find a way to prove that she pressed the correct button so that if this happens again, she can confirm that the device is not functioning properly. She did say that it gave her a green light after she chose her answer. Just seems very odd that the school would not have the student do some other form of paper fill in as well in case something like this were to happen.
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Re: Turning Technologies Clicker... Errors?

Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:56 am

**REMOVED**
Last edited by Kevin on Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: EDIT BY MOD: Spam removed, user banned, left post to explain necro.
 
Welch
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Re: Turning Technologies Clicker... Errors?

Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:37 pm

I think she went to test it on her own with the professor and it worked fine. Then again testing these things in class where there are 30 or 50 students isn't the same thing as testing it in an empty room where your standing next to the professor testing it out.

I'd be willing to bet money that if modified you could probably cheat for someone else using this device.... Modify it to send out a signal for not 1 but two people. The device simply has to transmit a signal at the time of the proper answer. So if you modified your device to send a signal for you and a friend and you were the one with the majority of the answers, you could be all the way across the room from each other and it would be difficult to say you cheated from one another. You then answer things to the best of your knowledge and your idiot friend gets the same grade as you. He/She stands there and clicks away like they are actually taking the test :P.

I'm interested to see if this would be possible or if there are other checks and balances that professors use to counter this sort of idea on cheating.

Keep in mind I'm not suggesting anyone do this, or that I myself would do it. I'm simply posting this out of interest in the technology itself.
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Re: Turning Technologies Clicker... Errors?

Wed Nov 23, 2011 1:59 am

If it transmits a signal, it can theoretically be captured and reverse engineered, but the stakes would have to be a lot higher than e.g. a math quiz to make it worth the trouble. Digital spread-spectrum and per-session device keying is more than sufficient to keep the device effectively inaccessible to casual hacking.

Similarly, interference between devices is not at all likely, although a sufficiently strong RF barrier or interference signal could prevent it from registering (not likely if the device is returning feedback). If any errors really are occurring upstream of the user's thumb, a software glitch would be the most probable reason.
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