Community reviews for Plickers

I loved using Plickers for quick, formative assessments and for reviewing content. But since they've decided that being an easy tool educators isn't good enough and they needed to become a "pay to play" service, I see a lot less utility in them. I even bought a set of cards to use in the classroom because I loved it so much last time I used it! But I doubt I'll end up using it much, if at all now. Guess it's back to Kahoot!

I like the way this is used in the actual class, but it is very difficult to set up. There is no import of questions from any other source, so previous resources, and all the time spent on creating them, becomes a waste. Most annoyingly, you cannot select more than one question to put in a queue. You have to go to each individual question, select it, then select the class queue to put it in, and you can't even select more than on CLASS at a time. Technical support is quick to answer your questions/problems/suggestions, but they are not quick to integrate suggestions. I have been using this for a few years and I keep mentioning the above issues to no avail. They did create "sets" of questions, but that does not address these issues and they still have to be created anew. This could be a superb tool, but it is not at present.

The new stuff Plickers is doing is BS. Seriously, just five questions? Seems like it's harder to use now in the classroom than it was before. This is a great tool that's getting ruined.

It is a great tool for the low tech teacher. It is sad it is not free anymore.

I use Plickers for quick assessments at the end of lessons, as well as for longer end of unit assessments. It allows me to enter in all of my questions by lesson and organize them in files by unit and grade level. I teach the same units every year and can use the same questions over and over. Classes are easy to set up. You just have to assign each student a number. I see all classes in my K-5 school. I have had success using Plickers with grades 3-5. I have been using the same set of paper Plicker cards for all of my classes going on three years now. Other teachers in my PLC use the same assessment method and we use the built-in reports feature to compare our data. The scoresheet feature enables you to print a beautifully laid out color-coded spreadsheet listing student percentage, as well as the results of each question. You can also export scores to a .csv spreadsheet or print individual reports for each student. A question history report lets you know which classes you have used each question with and how they answered. I use that to compare pre and post-test scores. Overall, Plickers is a very useful tool. It is easy to use, free and highly accessible. There are just a few drawbacks. First, questions are limited to True/False or up to four multiple choice answers. I sometimes just have to find creative ways to word my questions to make them fit this format. The only other thing that I don't like is that it can be time consuming for me to create spreadsheets to compare data across an entire grade-level, especially when I am comparing pre- and post-assessment scores. The Plickers website has a ton of resources to walk you through any questions you may have. They even have a presentation kit with downloadable files (slide show!) to share with your colleagues. Give Plickers a try. Your students will thank you for it.

Overall, I like the concept and simplicity of setting up my own questions and virtual classrooms using Plickers. I also like that I can do a quick cursory overview of how the lesson went and use the data to differentiate my instruction. The limitations of Plickers is that it does not allow for open-ended questions or student generated answers. With so many tools available that offer what Plickers does and more, it makes it difficult to choose this tool over another. Plickers does mediate the challenge of needing student devices when they have none or the school policy does not allow them. Unfortunately, I feel it can limit students in their ability to develop the capacity to use their own personal devices as learning tools. Important 21st Century skills include integrating technology into our learning culture, which includes students owning the learning and mastering the important skills of creative and innovative use of devices. Finally, setting up the use of Plickers is a bit time consuming with having to print up the cards and laminate them for future use. However, once that is done you'll have a set you can re-use again and again!

Overall, I really enjoy plickers as a way of interacting with a whole group as it integrates technology, without necessarily focusing solely on it or overshadowing the content. I also enjoy that it gives each student a tangible way to be involved. A few potential obstacles to making Plickers a usable tool might be the need for a computer/projector an device to scan the Plickers. I used my personal cell phone, which was fine except that it tended to drain my battery fairly quickly. This was a greater concern at the secondary level given that the activity would be replicated throughout the day. Technically speaking, it's fairly intuitive to use, though some initial set-up is required especially if card numbers will be assigned to specific students. Additionally, the actual questions need to be entered into the library, but the ability to organize questions into folders and reuse or edit them is very helpful. An update that would be even more useful is the ability to share questions with other users. This collaborative effort might reduce some of the behind-the-scenes work required to use Plickers with a class. When I used Plickers to spark discussion, there were no "right" answers, so it seemed there were fewer technical issues. However, when used as a review tool, I did encounter a few occasions when the cards were scanned or answers recorded incorrectly. Another common issue was students keeping the Plicker cards facing forward, which meant that perhaps the camera caught a different choice than they intended. With explicit instructions and practice, this became less of an issue. While use of this tool limits questions to multiple choice type responses, I see that as motivation to write high-quality questions. One thing I didn't find as intuitive or useful was the ability to transfer the data collected within the Plicker website to another platform. Granted, I could export it as a .csv file or see reports for individual students, but to print that seemed to negate the benefit of using the technology in the first place. Given the few glitches with scanning, I mainly used Plickers in class, but not necessarily for assignments that were scored. One final drawback related to content-specific questions is that some students may be pressured or rushed to make their selection with very little control over strategies such as skipping an unknown question and returning to it later. Despite some drawbacks, the fact that Plickers are available and free is certainly a benefit to teachers and other presenters.

Overall, while this tool is limited in its use, my students and I really enjoy this resource. Plicker is limited in that you can only do multiple choice responses. Moreover, if you laminate the Plicker cards in regular laminate, there can be a glare and the Plicker card will not scan. You need to laminate the Plicker using matte laminate (Amazon has matte laminate Plicker cards). Plicker will also take between 5-15 minutes to set up depending on how many questions you are creating and the amount of students you have in your classroom to distribute the cards to (unless you have the students keep their cards in their desk). However, once you have created the questions (which you can do in advance), the questions can easily be displayed through a SMARTboard. Therefore, you need a smart phone or table with a camera, the free Plicker app, access to the Plicker website, and a projector from your computer such as a SMARTboard to use this resource. As mentioned earlier, what I love most about Plickers is the data collection. I can print the data out to show parents and keep track of progress, it allows for a time to correct misconceptions, and it is organize and color coded. Additionally, Plicker allows for each student to respond but keep their responses private from each other. I have found this is a more comfortable way for students who are shy or unsure to answer. Lastly, the scan takes a matter of seconds if the students are holding them properly. Overall, a great resource to ask multiple choice questions and gain quick data on your students' understanding.

Plickers is a great tool for classrooms where students don't have their own devices. My students fight over who gets to hold my phone and scan the class' responses, and they love seeing their name get checked off when their response is recorded. Once they see the breakdown of responses, we are able to have much richer conversations arguing the merits of different answers. Although it takes some time to set up the classroom and print the cards, the efficiency of the data is extremely helpful and the engagement makes it a worthwhile tool for classroom use.

I like using this tool. My biggest issue was downloading the app on my phone because I had limited data capabilities. I am currently looking into better uses for the stool with my students.