By Kate DumondReporter

Clickers are being used in larger classes in order to make taking attendance and grading quizzes easier for professors.

Because of the student transfers due to hurricanes Katrina and Rita ,classes such as sociology and chemistry have increased tremendously in size.

“It is easier for the teachers to take roll and grade quizzes. If the professor were to take roll, it would take 20 minutes in some classes,” biological sciences department head Marilyn Kilgen said.

With the old clickers students had to raise them up in order for them to work.

“The new clickers have helped stop cheating,” Kilgen said. Although I am sure that there have been cheating incidents. It would be the same problem with scantrons; students could just look over.”

The old clickers did not operate on a radio frequency, while these do. The only problem with the new clickers was the new software, which did not work with the new clickers. Some students were having trouble making their answers go through, so the staff reinstalled the older version of the software on the computers.

Some students have a problem with the price of the clickers.

“I have a huge problem with the price of them. It is ridiculous,” Sarah McCoy, freshman from Belle Chasse, said.

The new clickers cost $17.50 plus an additional $18 to activate them.

Because professors use the clickers in classes with large amounts of students, they are able to interact with the students to see who understood the lecture.

The clickers are only used for quizzes and roll, not for tests. Students are able to go back and change their answers.

“It (the clicker) helps you interact more with the lecture. It helps the professor know who is getting the material and paying attention,” Marly Rome, biology sophomore from Gramercy, said.