Friday, April 30, 2004

A follow-up on yesterday’s post about the New York Times article on the new “clicker” technology that I use in my tax classes: Jim Maule (Villanova) has posted on his blog a thoughtful explanation of why he supports the technology. Here’s the opening paragraph:

It hasn’t yet been 72 hours since the NY Times article about Prof. Paul Caron’s use of clickers in his courses at the University of Cincinnati Law School and already the reactions are beginning to reverberate throughout the law academy.

Jim addresses the concern expressed by Ann Althouse (Wisconsin) that the clickers interfere with student classroom autonomy. The former law student who runs the popular JD2B site notes that the technology “engages students during lectures and cuts down on solitaire and IM’ing (yikes!).” Exactly!

Update, Part II: More Althouse (anti-clicker by a self-described “cranky old retro lawprof”); more Maule (pro-clicker).