Plickers

 The educational technology tool I am going to explain is called Plickers. Plickers is a free platform that allows you to survey your students or give interactive assessments in class in an engaging way. Plickers uses scannable QR code cards that are used to collect answers from students and give educators live, real time data. I am going to walk you through how to use Plickers in the classroom, step by step. 

Before You Get Started

Creating A Free Account

There are a few steps you are going to want to take before you start using Plickers in the classroom. The first step is to go to Plickers.com by searching Plickers or going to this link. From there, you will be brought to a screen that looks like this to create your account. 

You can sign up using Google or another email. Once you have created an account, you will be brought to this screen. This website is great because there is a guided "getting started" tutorial that will take you through these first steps. For those of us that don't like website tutorials, you can keep following along with my instructions below. 

Once you are on the screen shown above, click on the dropdown menu that the arrow is pointing at. This will give you a few options related to different issues or questions you may have about this platform. For now, we're going to focus on two key things to get Plickers up and running in your classroom. 

Getting Plickers Cards 

First, click on the option that says "Get Plickers Cards". The cards are essential to using Plickers in the classroom. You have two options to get these cards. 

Option A (the cheaper and quicker option) is to download the cards on the screen below and print them out for use. You can even laminate them if you access to a laminator to make them more durable. 

Option B is a little more time consuming and costly but requires less work on your part as the teacher. If you go to this link, you can purchase laminated Plickers cards from Amazon for about $30. If you're trying to avoid spending any money on this platform, I would stick to Option A. 

Getting the Plickers App 

Next, you need to download the Plickers app on your phone. The app is available on IOS or Android devices for free. The app is essential because it is used to scan the cards and provide the real time data. I personally have an Iphone, so this is how the app appeared to me in the app store. Simply go to your app store and search Plickers and you should see this app. Once you have downloaded the app, log in with the same information you used to create your account. 

Creating a New Class

Now that you have created an account, downloaded the app, and purchased or printed the Plickers cards, you're ready to start using Plickers in the classroom. You need to start by creating a class on the website. Start by clicking on "New Class" on the main screen. 

First, you'll need to name your new class. There are a few ways to add students to your new class. You can do it manually by naming the class and then adding in student names on the next screen. Alternatively, if you use Google Classroom, you can import from Google Classroom to quickly add students. Once you have a class created, you can work on adding a set of questions. 

Creating a Set

Next, you'll need to create a set of questions. This can be on anything you are working on that you would like to quiz your students on or survey them. When you click on the New Set button that the arrow is pointing toward, you'll be brought to a screen where you can customize the questions. Here you have a lot of freedom to make the questions. You can add pictures, videos, and GIFs.

Once you are satisfied with the amount of questions, you can add it to the queue by clicking on this button. Select the class you'd like to do the question set with. 

Using Plickers With Your Class

Click on the Blue Icon in the image above to start playing a Set with your class. Once you begin, you should open your app and you will see the set in the Now Playing section on the app. You'll be able to use the app to control the questions and scan the cards of your class. 

When using Plickers, each student should be assigned a card according to the order you put the students into the class or alphabetical order if they are alphabetical in the class list. Each of the sides of the square on the card has a letter and the orientation of the card determines how it will scan in. Students should hold up the card so that the top of the card has the letter of the answer they'd like to choose. This may take some practice to ensure students are using the cards correctly. After you finish a set, you can see the data of which student answered each question correctly and use that to inform your instruction. The Plickers platform is a way to do an engaging activity with your class and gather data. If you get stuck or have questions about a specific part of Plickers, you can click this link to explore the Plickers help page.