I>clicker 6

Synchronization

Guide for Instructors

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What does synchronization mean? Why sync? How do I sync? These are questions

instructors new with i>clicker often ask. As synchronization requires a number of how-tos

both within and outside of i>clicker, it is important to understand how different elements

work together to enable a successful synchronization.

What does synchronization mean and why sync?

If you just want to use i>clicker to get anonymous feedback in class, the experience is

almost like “plug and play”. However, in most cases, you will want to know which students

answered your questions and what responses they gave so you can assign credits for

participation or performance.

To associate students with their responses submitted through i>clicker, you need to have

students register their i>clicker remotes, each distinguished by a unique code known as

remote ID. There are two main options for registration – in-class roll call registration and

web registration. As roll call registration takes up class time, instructors teaching larger

classes would necessarily prefer web registration. This is where synchronization comes in:

when students register on a web server, the established association between student names

and remote IDs needs to be “transferred” to i>clicker. This ‘transfer” process is known as

synchronization. Synchronization functions through mapping of the same information from

the online registration database to the i>clicker software.

In order for the mapping to occur, three things need to happen:

1. Your i>clicker software must point to the web server that hosts student registration

data. This means entering the server URL (to be provided later) in i>clicker settings.

2. Your i>clicker software must hold the same information as the online registration

database, i.e. student names, student IDs, and i>clicker remote IDs. This means

you’ll need to create and place in your course folder an i>clicker compatible roster

file (Roster.txt) that contains student names and student IDs. To capture students’

remote IDs, you’ll need to conduct at least one polling session in class.

3. The Final step is to activate the mapping by pressing the Sync button located in

i>grader. This will enable i>clicker to search the online database to match student

names/IDs with the corresponding remote IDs.

See the diagram on the next page for a visual illustration of how i>clicker synchronization

works.

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I>clicker Synchronization

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How to Sync?

As you can see in the visual illustration, major steps for synchronization are highlighted in

blue. This section will show you how to complete each of the four steps so you can be ready

to sync. Please note that the four steps can be done in any order. For example, you can

conduct polling sessions before students register – all previously recorded responses will be

retroactively assigned to your students once you sync. You can even re-sync to

accommodate late registrations. Nevertheless, we recommend syncing after the add/drop

period has passed to avoid multiple updates.

Instructions will be given in the following order:

1. Students register

2. Enter the server URL

3. Create a roster file

4. Conduct a voting session

1. Students Register

At Concordia University, we require students to register their i>clicker remotes in their

MyConcordia Portal, NOT on the US-based i>clicker company website. This is in

accordance with our university’s policy on the protection of student data.

To register online, students will need to:

1) Log into the MyConcordia Portal at http://www.myconcordia.ca.

2) In the MyConcordia menu, select “Student Services”.

3) Select “I>clicker Registration”.

4) Type their remote ID in the field provided and click “Enter”.

2. Enter the Server URL

Please note that with i>clicker 6, you’ll need to enter the server URL for each section or

course in which you will be using i>clicker.

If you have already downloaded the i>clicker software and created the course for which

you will be syncing, you can skip steps 1 through 6.

1) Download i>clicker 6 from https://www1.iclicker.com/downloads-release-notes/ and

then unzip the downloaded zip file.

2) Double click the i>clicker icon in your iclicker Win v6.4.2 or iclicker Mac v6.4.2 folder;

click “Run” to open the software.

3) In the Welcome to i>clicker window, click “New”; in the New Course window, enter your

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Course name, Course number, Section number and then click “Create”.

4) In the Welcome to i>clicker window that reappears, select your course title and click

“Choose”.

5) On the i>clicker home screen, click “My Settings”.

6) In the “My Settings” window, select the “LMS/Reg” tab.

7) Make sure “General” is selected under Learning Management System (LMS).

8) Under Web registration, in the box marked Server URL, copy and paste the following

address: sqlhttp://agena.concordia.ca/clickerregistration/register.asp?c=

9) Click “Set for Course”.

3. Create a Roster File

Every time you create a new course, a sample roster file (Roster.txt) is automatically

generated in your course folder.

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As you can see from the screenshot below, an i>clicker roster file must have one line for

each student with each line containing, from left to right, last name, first name and student

ID separated by commas.

You can type the required student

information into this text file

following the sample entry (Be sure to

delete it afterwards). However, it is

easier to generate an i>clicker roster

from an existing class roster if you

have a larger class.

Note that a class roster downloaded from the Student Information System (SIS) does not

lend itself to this purpose as it has students’ first and last name in one column. We

recommend obtaining a student list by downloading a user report from your Moodle course

site.

Download a student list (.csv) from Moodle course site

1) Log in to the MyConcordia Portal and select your course under My Moodle Courses. If

you do not see the course you are looking for, click the “More courses” link.

2) In the Course administration block, click “Grades”.

3) In the Grade administration block, under User report, click “Export” and then select

“Plain text file”.

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4) On the Export to Plain text file page, in the Grade items to be included section, uncheck

all items in the list by clicking the “Select all/none” link.

5) Click Export format options to expand the section menu; make sure “comma” is selected

for Separator and leave all other items at the default.

6) Click “Download”.

Note that the xxx.csv file you downloaded from Moodle has students’ first name in the first

column and last name in the second; it also contains student information other than names

and IDs (see an example below). To be i>clicker compatible, this file needs to be edited.

Convert the downloaded .csv file into an i>clicker roster

1) Open the xxx.csv file; rearrange the columns following the last name, first name,

student ID order and remove any extraneous columns and rows, including headers.

After cleaning up, it should look like the left screenshot below:

2) Save the changes and close the file.

3) Rename the xxx.csv file to Roster.txt. Now you should have a text file that looks like the

right screenshot above.

To change a file name on a PC, move your mouse over the file and right click, select

“Rename” from the menu, and then type the new file name; on a Mac, select the file, hit

the “Return” key, and then type the new file name.

4) Open your course folder, delete the existing Roster.txt file; cut and paste the “Roster.txt”

you just created.

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Now if you open i>grader, you should see student names appearing in red:

You can choose to display student names or student IDs by selecting from the “Student

Name” dropdown menu on the top menu bar. Of course, if you have conducted one or more

voting sessions before creating the roster file, you will also see remote IDs listed in red in

the same window.

Please note that if you have an existing student list in an Excel file instead of a .csv file, you

can convert it to a .csv file by following the steps below:

1) Open the Excel file.

2) Click on the File menu and select “Save as”.

3) Choose “CSV (comma separated)”as the file type and then click “Save”.

4. Conduct a Voting Session

Make sure your base is running firmware v5.04 or above before conducting a voting session

in class. You will be prompted by i>clicker if your firmware needs to be upgraded.

1) Plug in your base.

2) Double click the i>clicker icon in your iclicker Mac v6.4.2 or iclicker Win v6.4.2 folder;

click “Run” to open the software.

3) In the Welcome to i>clicker window, select your course title and click “Choose”.

4) Double click “Start Session” on the i>clicker home screen. The Session Toolbar will

appear in the top-left corner of your screen. You can reposition the toolbar anywhere on

your desktop and it will always appear on top of any application you use to pose your

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question.

5) On the Session Toolbar, click the down arrow next to the start button and select a

question type from the dropdown menu.

6) Present your question and answer choices.

7) Advise your students to turn on their remotes.

8) Click the start button to begin polling. When polling is active, the start button switches

to a stop button and a timer appears. A counter on the far right of the toolbar displays

how many students have voted.

9) To end the polling session, click the “stop” button.

10) If desired, click the “Results” button (the graph icon next to the stop button) or press

the “B” key on the instructor’s remote to show a graph of the class responses.

Note that after you conduct a polling session, your students’ remote IDs will appear in red

on the i>grader main screen. If you have already created the roster file, student names will

also show up in red, as shown in the screenshot below:

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Now that you have completed all four steps (student registration, server URL, roster, and

polling), you are ready to press the “Sync” button, which is located at the bottom of the

i>grader main screen (see the screenshot above):

The following two screenshots show how i>grader looks before and after syncing. As you

can see, before syncing, student names and student remote IDs appear separately in red;

while after syncing, successfully registered remote IDs have disappeared from the screen

and successfully registered student names have turned black. Those unregistered or

unsuccessfully registered remote IDs and student names remain in red.

Before Syncing

After Syncing

Since the roster does not sync automatically, we recommend setting a deadline for

registration. If you have unregistered students after syncing, you can either ask the student

to go to the MyConcordia portal to (re-)register and then press the “Sync” button again or

register the student yourself in i>clicker. To learn how to manually register individual

students and remove unwanted remote IDs, please refer to the I>clicker 6 Registration

Guide for Instructors.

Troubleshooting Tips:

If you are unable to sync successfully, check if you have done the following:

1) you are connected to the Internet

2) your roster file is correctly named, formatted and placed in the right course folder

3) you have entered the server URL for this particular section or course (this step has to be

repeated for each section or course)

4) you have used voting at least once in class