Here's classroom. No phoning (only clicking).

It's very common that unnecessary use of modern gadgets during the class at university is forbidden. For instructors, seeing a student playing with it while they are giving a lecture can be even intolerable. The article, "More Professors Give Out Hand-Held Devices to Monitor Students and Engage Them" by JACQUES STEINBERG, however, did introduce a new kind gadget which are surely be widely welcomed by all the instructors around the world.

The introduced device, looks like a TV remote, has its name 'clicker'. While each student hold one attending a class, it's can be very easy to report that they are present, by just clicking it. Also, it enables students to interact more effectively with the instructor. This gadget are designed to be used in several situation such as when students answer a quiz or tell the instructor that there is something they do not understand. However, the most useful aspect of this gadget seems to be a cultural one. That is, students will be occupied with the devices which will give them less chances to turn their attention to something irrelevant to the study. In other words, It shapes the student's study habits.

While Jasmine Morris, a senior student majoring in industrial engineering, view the gadget is as a good reinforcement for activities in a class, some students do not like it. They even tried to trick the attendance counting system by had one student hold additional four clickers own by the other four absent students. But the problem was stopped just when the instructor had warned them.

The writer conclude the part about an advantage of clicker by telling that it help student understand the material clearer than when they attended in traditional lectures, and several other details are given later , these include the name of the maker of the devices, sale volumes, and sample use of the devices.

As far as I am concerned, the most important factors needed in perfect learning environment is high amount of interaction, for example, students' signals and instructor's feedback.
Introducing modern technology into a group of people usually make it easier to send messages to each other. As greatly as internet or telecommunication have affected our everyday life, the clickers will affect the class exploit them.

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References

STEINBERG, J. (2010, November 17). "More Professors Give Out Hand-Held Devices to Monitor Students and Engage Them". The New York Times. Retrieved November 16, 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/education/16clickers.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=More%20Professors%20Give%20Out%20Hand-Held%20Devices%20to%20Monitor&st=cse