eclicker Host 2 Product Overview For additional information and help: support@eclicker.com Compatible with the iphone, ipod touch, and ipad running ios 5.0+. Apple, the Apple logo, iphone, and ipod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. ipad is a trademark of Apple Inc. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.
eclicker Host Introduction eclicker is a personal response system that allows teachers to poll their class during a lesson. It provides teachers with the real-time feedback they need to be sure their messages are being received. Developed for smartphones and laptops, eclicker leverages the hardware already in the hands of many students providing a low cost polling solution for the classroom. All you need to get started is the eclicker Host app running on an ios device, a Wi-Fi network, and students with internet-enabled devices to participate. Features Wi-Fi based classroom response system for up to 64 clients* Students can participate with any internet-enabled device Edit questions on your computer or ios device Add images to questions or draw your own Share question sets with other teachers via Bluetooth** Poll questions one-at-a-time or back-to-back Review historical polling data and email reports * 32 clients on the iphone or ipod touch ** feature not supported on the first generation iphone and ipod touch The eclicker system is made up of of two parts: the host and the client(s). Teachers use the host app to enter questions and begin the polling. Students participate in polls by entering the host s address in a web browser using any internet-enabled device. Additionally, there is a free client app available for ios devices that speeds up the process of connecting to a host over the Wi-Fi network. Questions can be edited on a computer @ http://editor.eclicker.com by first creating an account within the eclicker Host app (check the Settings screen). When done editing sync your account to download any changes. Setup The setup for eclicker is easy and takes just minutes. Before client devices (students) can connect to the host device (teacher) each client device must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the host device. If your school already has a wireless network, then you are ready to go. If your school does not yet have a Wi-Fi network in place, here are a couple low cost solutions: 1. Have a Mac? Use the AirPort card to broadcast a wireless network. A great, but under-utilized feature on Mac OS X is the ability to use the AirPort card as a wireless router. i. Click on the AirPort pull down menu and select Create Network. 2
ii. Enter a name for the wireless network (i.e. eclicker), and click OK. 2. Use your own wireless router (e.g. Linksys WRT54G) Any 802.11 b/g router will work. If the network will only be used with eclicker, there is little need to set up security; just plug the router in and you re ready to go. Consult the router documentation for further help setting it up, if need be. i. Tap Settings ii. Tap Wi-Fi iii. Select your wireless network and enter any credentials, if needed. 3
Once you have a wireless network setup, you should connect to it on your host device (iphone, ipod Touch or ipad) before launching eclicker Host.! After launching eclicker Host a list of connected clients is shown, but if your device is not connected to a Wi-Fi network you will see a Wi-Fi placeholder image instead. You will be prompted to connect to a Wi-Fi network, but if not, please exit the application and follow the directions shown above to connect to a Wi-Fi network. Your device s address is located at the top of the client list. This is the URL clients enter in their web browser to connect to the host. The client devices must be on to the same Wi-Fi network as the host device to connect. If clients are having difficulty connecting to the host please consult the troubleshooting section at the end of this manual. Once a client connects to the host their usernames will show up on the list. The yellow orb indicates the client has yet to answer any pending poll question. The orb changes to green to indicate the client has responded to the current poll. Up to 32 clients can connect to a host running on an iphone or ipod touch, and up to 64 clients can connect to a host running on an ipad. 4
Questions The questions tab is the home of your library of polling questions. Questions are sorted by subject and tags. Tags are a handy way to differentiate between different class periods or difficulty levels within a single subject area. To create a new polling question tap the + button ( New Question button on an ipad) on the right hand side of the navigation bar at the top of the screen. This will initiate the question editor where you can: enter question text, select an image for the question, enter answer choices and a correct answer, provide an explanation of the answer, categorize the question by subject and tags, and select the polling duration for the question. To enter question text tap anywhere inside the outlined text box. Your device can be rotated to the landscape orientation for easier typing. 5
An image can be displayed with a question allowing you to ask contextual questions. Images can be added to a question from your device s Photos library, by drawing an image, or from your device s camera (if it has one). Using the camera you can quickly grab a diagram out of a textbook for use with a question. To add an image to a question tap the row for the desired source. eclicker s image editor allows you to create new drawings, and edit existing images too. By adding annotations to images from the camera you can highlight what parts of the image are relevant to the question text. To draw simply drag your finger on the screen. The editor has sliders at the bottom allowing you change the line width, color, and opacity. To undo the last line segment either shake your device or tap the rewind arrow at the bottom right portion of the screen. Questions can up to have five answer choices. Common answer choices such as True and False can be inputted immediately by tapping the appropriate row. Answer choices can be removed from the question by swiping that table row. If the question has a correct answer select it by tapping the appropriate a letter. A check mark will appear next to the answer choice signifying it is the correct answer. If provided, an answer explanation is shown to students when the results of a poll are displayed. 6
Categorize the question for easy access later by choosing a subject and tags. A list of common subjects is provided, but you can also enter a custom one. You can enter multiple tags using a comma separated list (i.e. Physics, 1st Period). Select a poll time for the question. The default setting uses the default poll time, which can be changed in the Settings tab of the application. The default setting allows you to change the poll time for multiple questions without having to change them individually. 7
Question Sets Question sets are to questions as playlists are to MP3s. Use question sets to plan out a group of polls you plan to do in a class. Like questions, questions sets are categorized by subject and tags. To create a new question set tap the + button ( New Question Set button on an ipad) on the right hand side of the navigation bar at the top of the screen. Give the question set a title, a subject, and tags. After creating a new question set add questions to it by tapping on the + button on the lefthand side of the toolbar. You have the option of adding existing questions from your library or creating a new question. When adding questions from your library you will be presented with a screen that allows you to quickly browse your questions and select them to be added. Browse questions by subject or tag by selecting the desired option on the horizontal list at the top of the screen. To select a question to be added simply tap it. To deselect an addition tap it again. Questions that are already in the question set are grayed out. Questions in a question set can be ordered and removed by tapping the Edit button. 8
Question sets can be shared with another device via a Bluetooth connection*. From within a few meters distance of each other, both devices must initiate the sharing sequence. The device sharing the question set starts by tapping the action button on the toolbar while viewing the question set to be shared. The device receiving the question set starts by adding a new question set. * This feature is not supported on the first generation iphone and ipod Touch. From the device sharing the question set... From the device accepting the question set... 9
Polling Questions can be polled individually or sequentially when part of a question set. To poll an entire question set hit the play button on the right side of the toolbar when viewing the list of questions. You are more likely to poll an entire question set sequentially if you are using eclicker as a review for a quiz and have multiple questions you would like to poll back-to-back. To poll a single question, browse to that question and hit the play button. You are more likely to poll a single question at a time if you are pausing throughout a lecture to get student feedback. After a poll has been started a countdown timer will appear in the upper left-hand corner of the application. Connected clients will automatically see the question appear. To end the poll early and display the results hit the Done button. After a client responds to the pending poll question their orb turns green on the Clients tab list. Their selected response is also displayed. This allows you to monitor each client s activity and ensure they are participating in the poll. 10
Results & Rankings When a poll runs out of time, or if you end it early by hitting the Done button, the aggregated results are displayed. The segmented button on the top right allows you view the polled question and view the response from each client. If you are polling an entire question set a new countdown timer will appear. At the end of this wait timer, the next poll will begin. The Rankings tab is not automatically displayed, but you can select it to see a list of clients ranked by their performance. The rankings are determined by the number of correct answers. Rankings are always enabled for the host application, but they are by default turned off for clients. To allow clients to see the rankings with the results of each poll turn them on in the Settings tab. Tap the Report button to email a summary of the rankings that can be opened in a spreadsheet or text editor. 11
Sessions Each time eclicker Host is launched all polls that occur during that use of the application are part of a session. The Sessions tab is an archive of every session so you can view data from your previous polls. Tap the Report button to email a detailed text log of every question polled during the session and the responses from each client. 12
Settings & Accounts In the Settings tab you can change a variety of options that control polling, sound effects, the host server, and eclicker accounts. Under Polling you can change the default poll time, the time delay between sequential polls of a question set, and whether or not clients can view the rankings with the results. Under Sound Effects you can choose to mute the sound effects associated with various events in eclicker. Under Server you can change the HTTP port used by the host server. For most users there is no need to change this setting. Some wireless networks block traffic on HTTP ports as a way to prevent unauthorized web traffic on the network. If clients are having trouble connecting to the host please consulting the Troubleshooting section at the end of this product overview for more information. Under Account you can create a new account or login to an existing account. Creating an eclicker account is optional, but it is highly recommended. With an eclicker account you can edit questions on a laptop or desktop computer via the eclicker editor website (http:// editor.eclicker.com). After creating an account login to the website and edit your polling questions. When editing is completing sync your account on the device to download any changes. Accounts also make it possible for multiple users to share the same host device while keeping their data separate. 13
editor.eclicker.com The eclicker editor website allows users with an account to edit questions and question sets on their laptop or desktop with a web browser. You can even view poll results from past sessions. Because typing on the iphone or ipad can be cumbersome this is the best option for editing a large number of questions. It also allows multiple users to share the same host device while still having access to their polling data when it is in use by someone else. After creating an eclicker account in the Settings tab of the iphone application enter the URL for the editor website (http:// editor.eclicker.com) on your computer s web browser. Enter your username and password at the loading screen and login to begin. The editor website is divided into similar sections as the iphone application. There are three tabs on the top toolbar: Questions, Question Sets, and Sessions. Under Questions you can quickly create new questions or edit existing ones. Questions are organized by subject and tags in a list on the left side of the screen. When viewing a question click the image to enlarge it. 14
Under Question Sets you can create new and edit existing ones. When editing the questions in a question set you can add new questions by dragging and dropping them from your library. Under Sessions you can view the results from past polls. Note: you must sync your account with the eclicker server from your device to view the latest polling data on the website. 15
Client With eclicker 2 any Wi-Fi enabled device with a web browser can be a client and participate in polls. To connect to a host clients enter the host address URL in their web browser. The host address is listed at the top of the Clients tab list. Upon connecting to a host clients are presented with a login dialog where they can enter up to five usernames. When the host starts a poll clients are presented with the question and answer choices. Clients simply click an answer choice to respond to the poll. At the end of the poll the results and correct answer (if provided) are displayed. 16
Troubleshooting If clients are having trouble connecting to the host device it is most likely because your wireless network is restricting web traffic. Many network administrators restrict web traffic to select HTTP ports to prevent unauthorized use of the network. To fix the problem you will need to contact your network administrator to find out which HTTP ports are unrestricted. In the Settings tab of the application you can then change the host server s HTTP port to one that the network allows. If changing the server port still fails to fix the problem then your network might be restricting web traffic in a more aggressive manner. In this situation please contact us at the email address below so we can work with you and network administrator to get eclicker working on your wireless network. For additional help please contact: support@eclicker.com 17