iClicker cloud polling for CS484/684

Class participation mark (5% of the class total) will be based on iClicker polls during lectures. Such surprize-polls will not be announced in advance and will happen approximately twice a week (could be less or more frequent, some classes may have multiple polls while some may have none). Typically, each poll will be a single multiple-choice question, which can be stated either verbally (e.g. for yes/no questions) or written on a board/slide stating the multiple-choise options. The questions will be related to the material presented immediately prior to the poll and you should be in class to participate. The polls may take place starting the second lecture. You will be given at least 30 seconds to answer the poll question. The main aim of such polls is to obtain an instant feedback, but also to get class participation records. Each correct response earns 1 performance point, incorrect response earns 0.75 performance point, but no response earns zero. Note that iClicker also separately collects "particiapation points" for answering at least one poll during each class session, but those are ignored for CS484/684 grading. The final iCklicker mark (out of 100) will be based on your total performance points as indicated by the formula below allowing 20\% slack, in part designed to accomodate for technical glitches, forgetfulness, sickness, etc. There will be no other forms of accomodation.

min{ 100, 120*(performance points/number of polls) }

To participate in the polls, you should first join CS484/684 on iClicker cloud using the link below.

https://join.iclicker.com/QSNJ    (REGISTRATION for the course on iClicker cloud, needs to be done only once at the beginning of the term)

You will be prompted to sign-in to an existing iClicker cloud account, or to create a new account (see NOTE 1). Newly created accounts will automatically get a trial "polling" subscription allowing you to participate in the iClicker cloud polls for the first two weeks for free. For the polls you can use either a phone app or a web-app on your laptop (see NOTES 2 and 3). Past the first two weeks of the free trial, a small fee can extend the cloud polling subscription to six-months to cover the whole term. All cloud polling subscription plans are listed here.

You do not need to own an "iClicker remote" for CS484/684 (see NOTE 4). If you do not have such a device, just skip the rest of this paragraph. In case you already have some recent model (e.g. iClicker2, iClicker+) it might include a five-year cloud polling subscription allowing you to use the phone app or the web-app for CS484/684 polls. Claiming such a subscription may require some additional registration of your remote with your iClicker cloud account, though you can not use your "iClicker remote" (device) itself for the polls in CS484/684. You are on your own to figure out how to claim this form of the cloud subscription and it might be easier to pay a small fee instead, see the paragraph above.

NOTE 1: It is student's responsibility to make sure that the first and last names for your iClicker account are identical to your names on LEARN. Your iCLicker account should also have your uwaterloo user ID (email) specified. Failure to follow these requirements can make it impossible to match your iCLicker points with the records on LEARN at the end of the term. This creates a risk that your final grade will not include any participation marks.

NOTE 2: You should bring either a phone or a laptop to each class to be able to participate in the polls. Install the iClicker cloud phone-app or bookmark the web-app on your browser in advace at the beginning of the term, so that you can participate in the surprize polls on a short notice during any lecture. You can find instructions on using the apps here or on the iClicker's youtube channel.

NOTE 3: To facilitate your participation in the surprize polls, it is recommended that you use the (phone or web) app to join each CS484/684 iClicker cloud session asap after the prof initiated such a session at the start of a lecture (the blue iClicker icon must be visible on the prof's screen).

NOTE 4: The univercity is phasing out the support for "iClicker remote" devices. CS484/684 can not support them as some of the rooms no longer have the necessary equipment. You can participate in iClicker polls only using iClicker cloud apps on your phone or laptop, as above.