Using cell phones in class -- Socrative

My school today legitimized the (responsible) use of cell phones on campus.  In honor of that momentous event,* I posted the following to our faculty folder.  I first found out about socrative through AP Physics consultants Dolores Gende and David Jones, so thanks to them... hope you consider using it, and I hope that your cell phone never rings during assembly.

* which produced a level of rejoicing on dorm more appropriate for the destruction of a Death Star

Hey, folks... in the spirit of sharing, consider checking out "socrative" via www.socrative.com.  It's a free service that uses cell phones or any web browser as "clickers" for classroom surveys, questions, and quizzes.  Students respond to the questions on their phones, and the results are aggregated on the teacher's page so that they can be projected on-screen.  For those of us of a certain age, think of it as the ending to America's Funniest Home Videos where they polled the audience about their favorite, and displayed the results -- just using cell phones.

At the site, log in with your gmail account, or create a unique socrative account.  Tell it to ask a "quick question."  The website displays a room number, which students enter on their phones; then the students can participate.  (The students do not need an account.)  This sets up for use the first time in about two minutes.

I don't always use clickers.  But when I do, I use socrative.  (At least, I do now that cell phones are ubiquitous.)

GCJ