"Clickers" in a IL classroom setting; an experience

We recently got new classroom management software (allows for broadcasting screens for students and such) by Synchroneyes, and also we got "clickers," the inelegant term for "interactive response system. "

I have had a chance to recently try these out, and I thought it might be interesting and or illuminating to share my experience. I did a quick google on clickers and IL and some scattered links came up, so obviously it is being done. My particular experience was very interesting because it was for a first-year class, though some of them were upperclassmen and transfer students. Normally my preferred audience participation aid would be candy, but we had run out.

So I started by handing out the clickers and explaining that I would normally have candy. This seemed to amuse them. I noticed they were very pleased about being able to participate in the process. We talked about topics to research, and I opened up the Notebook software that goes with the clickers and entered in the topics they proposed, and had them vote. It seemed to go well, with the quiz question, a pie chart displays with answer percentages and a status count for votes.

I also had converted an activity where I show them magazine and journal covers and identify them as scholarly or not to use with the clickers. That seemed to work very smoothly.

I am now curious how other people are using this in their classrooms, and wanting to expand their use in other situations.