Reviews

Click for Learning
Interactive, February/March 2001

It must be more than ten years ago, when I was writing for Acorn User magazine, that I received a copy of a program called Switch Clicker, which I was asked to review. Well, not only is Clicker still around today, but there is also an online bank of resources to supplement it.

Before we look at the Clicker Grids for Learning website, though, it's a good idea to have a look at Clicker itself. What is it exactly? In fact, it's difficult to pen a description that actually does it justice.

At its simplest, Clicker is an on-screen keyboard which can replace the conventional keyboard we are all used to seeing. Clicker puts a virtual 'grid' onto the screen. This consists of a number of cells, and clicking the left mouse button on the cell will have exactly the same effect as pressing a key on the keyboard... You can easily build your own grids to do a whole range of functions. Grids can be virtually any size, and the legends in each of the cells need not be single letters: there can be groups of letters, whole words, phrases and even whole sentences. Clicking on a phrase would place that whole phrase into the word processor in one go. So, for example, you could have a selection of sentence openings and clicking on one of them would enter it into the word processor.

Pictures and Sounds
Also, the cell contents need not be words: you can have pictures. Click on a picture of, say, an orange, and the word would be entered... And there's even more. What appears as the legend in a cell need not be the output. For example, you could have misspelt words appearing in the grid cells, but the output could be the correctly spelt word. Sounds can also accompany cells in a grid, so that when a cell is clicked on, a word or phrase is spoken as well as printed.

Clicker is non-subject specific and grids can be made for any subject, for any age and for almost any purpose... I produced some grids to help students learn French and German vocabulary. Grids were created with French or German words in the cells, but, when they were clicked on, English words were entered into the word processor. We also did them the other way round - English words on the grids, but outputting French or German words. With this arrangement, students could build sentences by clicking on the words in the cells in the right order.

Clicker has great value for special needs, since anything you can do with a mouse can be done with a simple on/off switch. This means you can do all your word processing using a single switch. This could be a toggle switch, but it could also be a foot operated switch or even a vacuum operated switch which could be placed in the mouth. With this software, almost anyone, regardless of their disability, could operate a word processor.

Clicker Grid for Learning
This brings us to the Clicker website. Creating grids is actually quite simple and a lot of fun, but it can take time collecting the resources and perfecting the idea. Before embarking on the task it's worth checking out what others have already done. The Clicker website has a selection of grids which can be freely downloaded. Visit the site and you'll find 14 categories of grids, including 'Access and Communication'. 'Early Years', 'Literacy', 'Numeracy' and 'General Knowledge', as well as specific subjects like geography, history and science.

Click on the plus sign by the side of the category you're interested in and the grids available will be listed. Clicking on a grid title displays a picture of the grid set and the intended age range. Downloading time is variable and largely dependent on the number of pictures included. If you don't want to spend time downloading, however, you can order a CD-ROM containing the current collection.

Also available from the site are grids for Wordbar, which is a version of Clicker for older students. In addition, there are details of a range of resources...

Conclusions
This is a superb resource for Clicker users and one which is growing rapidly. Teachers are invited to submit their grids for inclusion on the site and this will help the site grow even faster.

Clicker is quite simply a superb resource which can be used in so many ways, and the Grid for Learning website is a perfect complement to it. It should be in every primary school in the country. It should also be in every special needs department in all secondary schools.

Geoff Preston

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