Definition

The remote control device that transformed couch potatoes into channel-surfing athletes without ever leaving the cushions. That magical rectangle you can never find when you need it but always sit on when you don't. In education tech, the handheld response system that lets professors pretend they're hosting a game show while checking if anyone actually did the reading.

Example Usage

Students clicked their clickers to answer the multiple-choice question, allowing the professor to immediately see that 60% of the class was just guessing.

Source: Educational technology terminology

Related Terms

Intermediate

Experiential Learning

Learning by doing, which is what every human did naturally before someone decided to give it a fancy name and charge tuition for it. It's the academic rebranding of trial and error, now available for $40,000 a year.

🎓 Education / Academia
Intermediate

Holistic Education

An approach to education that nurtures the whole student -- mind, body, and spirit -- mostly because the mind alone wasn't generating enough tuition revenue. It sounds spiritual because it requires a leap of faith to believe it works.

🎓 Education / Academia
Intermediate

impacted program

An academic program with more qualified applicants than available spots, requiring special admission beyond general university acceptance. Like a nightclub with a velvet rope, except the bouncer checks your GPA instead of your outfit.

🎓 Education / Academia
Advanced

learning community model

A cohort-based approach where students take multiple courses together, theoretically building peer relationships and academic support networks. Forced friendship with pedagogical justification.

🎓 Education / Academia
Advanced

brown envelope research

Academic research covertly funded by industry or special interests who have a stake in particular outcomes, often disguised to appear independent. The findings mysteriously align with the sponsor's commercial interests while maintaining a veneer of scholarly objectivity.

🎓 Education / Academia
Beginner

course pack

A compilation of photocopied readings assembled by professors, sold at campus bookstores for prices approaching that of a regular textbook. It's how academia circumvents expensive textbooks by creating expensive custom anthologies instead.

🎓 Education / Academia

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