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Using i>clicker with BeachBoard

Table of Contents

Overview

i>clicker v6.1 provides you the convenience of downloading a class roster from BeachBoard rather than creating a roster from scratch. We recommend this option if you use BeachBoard to post your course grades. The following sections walk you through the steps for downloading a course roster from BeachBoard, registering student remotes, and exporting polling results for use with BeachBoard.

Create Your Course(s)

Warning

IMPORTANT: For i>clicker 5.3 users, it is no longer necessary to make a separate copy of the MyCoursePC or MyCourseMac folder for each i>clicker class or section. A single copy of the new iclicker Win and iclicker Mac folder now gives you access to all your courses and sections.

To create a course:

  1. Double-click the i>clicker icon to start the program.

    iclicker icon
    i>clicker icon
  2. The Welcome to i>clicker window appears with no courses listed. Click New.

    Welcome Screen
    Welcome to i>clicker / Choose your course window
  1. A New Course window appears. Enter your Course Name, Course Number, and Section Number. This combined information will serve as the unique identifier for your course.

    New Course Window
    New Course Window
  1. Click Create. i>clicker automatically creates a new course folder in your iclicker Win\Classes or iclicker Mac:Classes folder. The New Course window closes and you are returned to the Welcome to i>clicker window where you will see your course name in the list of courses. Select your course and click Choose.
  2. The i>clicker Home Page appears. Click the My Settings button.

    iclicker Home Page
    i>clicker Home Page
  3. The My Settings window appears. Click the CMS/Registration tab and select your course management system from the Course Management System list.

    Registration Settings
    CMS/Registration tab in the My Settings window
  4. Click Set for Course. You will receive an alert reminding you to download your CMS course roster before trying to export your student results from i>grader. Click OK. You will export your course roster in the next section.
  5. Close i>clicker.

Exporting BeachBoard course roster

Once you have created a course in i>clicker, you can download a course roster from BeachBoard and add it to your i>clicker class folder.

To download/export your Desire 2 Learn course roster:

  1. Log into BeachBoard and select the course for which you are using i>clicker.
  2. On the top navigation, click the Grades link.

    BeachBoard grades link
    BeachBoard grades link

  3. On the left-hand side under Grades Area, click Enter Grades.
  4. Locate and click Export Grades.

    BeachBoard grades link
    Export Grades

  5. In the Export Grades window, make sure you've selected (or unselected) the following choices:
    • Export Grade Items For: All users
    • Key Field: Org Defined ID
    • Grade Values: None (no checks in any of the check boxes)
    • User details: Last Name, First Name
    • Choose Grades to Export: None (no checks in any of the check boxes)

      BeachBoard grades link
      BeachBoard Export Grades settings
  6. Click Export to CSV.
  1. A separate window will open after you've selected Export to CSV and you will be alerted that your file isready to download. Click the filename to begin the downloadUsing i>clicker v6.1 with Desire2Learn 6

    BeachBoard grades link
    BeachBoard Download

  2. Save the file into your Classes folder within your iclicker Win or iclicker Mac folder (e.g., iclickerWin\Classes\Sample Physics Course or iclicker Mac:Classes:Sample Physics Course). When saving the file you must change the filename to gradesexport.csv.

    BeachBoard grades link
    Save As window showing filename
Note

NOTE: If you do not see your course folder in the iclicker Win\Classes or iclicker Mac:Classes folder, completesteps 2-7 under Create a Course above.

Tip

TIP: We recommend that you open the CSV file to make sure the file includes: student last name, student first name, and student CMS ID (If you open the file, close it without saving). The information should appear correctly but it is best to double-check your downloaded file to avoid confusion. IMPORTANT: Once the file has been downloaded, do not modify the CSV file as it will make the file format unreadable by i>clicker.

Registration Options

i>clicker offers you three straightforward registration options: a web option that can be done outside of class, an in-class option for your entire class, and a manual option for individual students. Minimal information is required of your students and all registration options are tied to your class roster. There are no site license or registration fees for the i>clicker software.

Warning

TIP: In-class and online registration are not mutually exclusive, and both can be used to register students in one class.

Web Registration (Option 1)

Online registration is recommended, especially for classes of fifty students or more. To register online, send your students to iclicker.com and have them click the Register Your i>clicker button.

Web Registration Page
iclicker.com registration screen showing Captcha Verification Image

Warning

TIP: The key to successful web registration is deciding what student ID will be used and sharing those directions with students before they register their clickers online. Consider including instructions in your syllabus that describe and/or give examples of the student ID so your students follow the proper registration protocol.

To complete the student registration form, students must:

  1. Enter their first name and last name in the appropriate fields.
  2. Enter their student ID. This student ID must match the one that is in your Roster.txt file or your CMS roster file.
  3. Enter their i>clicker remote ID. The remote ID is the 8-character alphanumeric code printed below the barcode on the back of their remote.

    iclicker Serial Numer
    Sample i>clicker remote ID

  4. Enter the letters or numbers in the captcha security image on the screen. This verification image is a slightly distorted series of characters used to prevent spam bots from submitting the form.
  5. Click the Enter button. An on-screen message confirms that registration was successful. The student’s ID is now tied to their unique i>clicker remote ID.

After your students have registered online, you need to synchronize i>grader to update the information in your class folder (see Synchronizing Web Registrations).

Warning

NOTE: If a student has not voted with their i>clicker remote, the online registration will not synchronize with your i>grader application. The student must vote at least once in class. We recommend that you ask at least one clicker question, such as an attendance or ice-breaker question, on the first day of class in order to capture remote IDs before requiring your students to register.

Warning

TIP: Students can use a single i>clicker remote for multiple classes and only need to register on the web once. If a student makes a registration mistake they can simply register a second time.

In-Class/Roll Call Registration (Option 2)

This registration option is only recommended for small classes with fewer than 50 students. The two registration options (Web and Roll Call) can also be used in combination.

To use Roll Call Registration:

  1. From the i>clicker Home Page, click the Start Session button to start a session.
  2. The i>clicker Session Toolbar appears. Click the Options button Toolbar Options Button.
  3. Select the Roll Call Registration menu option. The roll call window appears.

Roll Call Registration
Roll Call Registration window

  1. Instruct students to press the letters on their i>clicker remotes that correspond to the letters in the columns to the right of their names in the Register Now window. The letters must be pressed in left to right sequence.
  2. When a remote is registered, the remote ID appears next to the students name/ID (e.g., Song, Patrick, 90B, #1A081909B).
  3. When registration is complete, click Close to end the registration.

The registration window will continue cycling through the student names until all registrations are complete or you decide to close the registration window.

You can control the speed at which your students’ names appear by changing the number in the Allow __ seconds for viewing option in the bottom right corner. You can also change the student information that displays on screen in the My Settings, CMS/Registration tab. (You must close the Roll Call Registration window before changing the student information.)

Note

NOTE: The student list will change to greeen and yellow five seconds before students names disappear. This gives students warning that a new batch of names is about to be displayed. It is best for students to wait until their names appear again rather than try to register when the screen is green and yellow.

Tip

TIP: Students that accidentally register their clicker to the wrong name should press DD to clear the incorrect registration and restart their registration process.

Synchronizing Web Registrations

Once your students have completed the registration form at iclicker.com and you have held at least one i>clicker session, you may update your course registration information using the Sync... button.

Note

NOTE: You must be connected to the Internet to synchronize web registrations.

To synchronize web registrations:

  1. Click the Sync... button in the bottom right corner of the i>grader Home Page.

    igrader Home Page
    i>grader Home Page with Sync... button
  2. A Synchronize Web Registrations window appears with a description of the synchronization function. Click Continue to proceed.
  3. i>grader synchronizes your roster information with your students' online registrations. After synchronization is complete, click Close to return to the i>grader Home Page.

    If an inconsistency between your roster and the web registrations exist, you will be prompted to resolve it before synchronization is completed. The software will alert you to any discrepancies between your roster and the web registrations. Your choices for resolving registration conflicts include:
    • Ignore: no registration information is associated for that particular student.
    • Accept: allows the student ID to be included in i>grader and associates the student with the correct remote ID.
    • Cancel: exits the registration process and leave i>grader unchanged.
    Example: A student registers his i>clicker online, entering remote ID 143B436C and student ID 67-890. Upon synchronizing, you are notified that this student's student ID does not match any record in your roster file. You realize that the student has both mistyped his last name and entered the student ID in a slightly different format from the student ID in your roster file (with a dash in the middle). Because you can be reasonably sure that this is the correct student, you select his name from the list of students in the roster and click the Accept button. This action associates the correct student ID 67890 with i>clicker remote ID 2796B1.
Tip

TIP: Students can register multiple times without affecting the synchronization process. If you are unsure if a web registration matches the student's roster, you can always ignore the registration, ask your student to register online again, and run another web synchronization process at a later time.

Any unregistered clicker IDs that remain after this step (i.e., you continue to see records with red clicker ID numbers), likely belong to students who have not yet registered online. Check with your students and synchronize again later. If there are problems synchronizing only one or two students who have registered online, you can also run a Roll Call registration or register these students manually. You can repeat these steps as often as necessary.

Tip

TIP: We suggest setting a deadline, no matter how loose or long, for web registration. An end date will allow you to confirm all students are registered and assist you with classroom and i>clicker management.

Uploading Grades from i>grader into BeachBoard (Desire2Learn)

Uploading grades from i>grader into BeachBoard (Desire2Learn)

To upload grades into Desire 2 Learn:

  1. When you are ready to upload your i>clicker polling data into BeachBoard (Desire2Learn), open i>grader. Make sure the Output formatted for: text in the bottom right corner lists Desire2Learn. Click Export Export Button.
  2. The Select session to be exported window appears. Click the checkbox(s) next to all sessions that you wantto export or click Select All.

    Select Session to Export Window
    Select session to be exported window
  3. The student scored are saved in your course folder, within the Classes folder in a file called Uploadfile.csv (e.g., iclicker Win\Classes\Sample Physics Course\Uploadfile.csv or iclicker Mac:Classes:Sample Physics Course:Uploadfile.csv.
Note

NOTE: Only one Uploadfile.csv can exist in your course folder at once. If you wish to export data into more than one file during a single i>grader session, you will need to move or rename the previously created Uploadfile.csv before exporting a different selection of sessions. When you no longer need the information in the exported file, you may leave it in your course folder and it will simply be overwritten the next time you need to export.
  1. Log into BeachBoard (Desire2Learn) (and into your course) and go back to Grades.

    BeachBoard Grades link
    BeachBoard Grades link
  2. On the left-hand side under Grades Area, click Enter Grades.
  3. Locate and click Import Grades.

    Select Session to Export Window
    BeachBoard import grades
  4. Click the Browse button and find the UploadFile.csv file in your course folder (e.g., iclickerWin\Classes\Sample Physics Course or iclicker Mac:Classes:Sample Physics Course). Select UploadFile.csv and click Open.
  5. The Import File field should now contain your Uploadfile.csv. Click the check box next to Create newgrade items when an unrecognized item is referenced. Click Next.

    Select Session to Export Window
    BeachBoard import File field with csv
  6. At the Step 2: Create New Grade Items screen, remove the check in the Create New Grade Item checkbox for the Total row (unless you want to add a column in your BeachBoard (Desire2Learn) gradebook for al li>clicker points).
    For each individual session row, keep a check in the Create New Grade Item check box. The Type should be Numeric. Click Next.

    Select Session to Export Window
    BeachBoard Create New Grade Items
  7. At the Step 3: New Grade Item Properties screen, make sure to select the following:
    • Category: None
    • Max. Points: Match the maximum number of points in your gradebook.
    • Can Exceed: You can choose not to set the Max. Points and then select the Can Exceed checkbox.
    • Bonus: Select if you are treating i>clicker scores as a "bonus" item in the gradebook.
      Click Next.

      Select Session to Export Window
      BeachBoard New Grade Item Properties
  8. At the Step 4: Errors and Warning Found screen, confirm that there are no error or warnings and click Next.

    Select Session to Export Window
    BeachBoard Errors and Warnings Found

    Note

    NOTE: If you did not check Create New Grade Item when an unrecognized item is referenced, you will receive a warning. You MUST make sure you select that box in order to avoid import problems or warnings
  9. At the Step 5: Preview Import screen, review your imported data and select Import.

    Select Session to Export Window
    BeachBoard Preview Import screen
  10. You will be returned to the grade book, where you can see your new i>clicker scoring data has beenupdated.D2L Scoring updated with i>clicker data
  11. Repeat the above steps each time you wis to import iclicker scores into your BeachBoard (Desire2Learn) course.

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