Add classroom clickers to the laundry list of current renovations and updates underway at Iowa State University. 

Turning Technologies has announced it will discontinue the support of the TP5 software — the current software used by Iowa State — leaving the university to find a new source for clicker technology. 

The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT), along with Information Technology Services (ITS), tested alternative clicker solutions in select classes in the fall of 2015 and a new system will have to be implemented at the conclusion of the spring semester. 

Ultimately, the university will likely end up switching providers and has been looking at the possibility of implementing a smart-phone supported system even before the announcement from Turning. 

“The concept of [clickers] has changed,” said Lesya Hassall, program coordinator for CELT. “We’ve been looking at what is out there in the market because technology is always changing.”

Clickers do all sorts of things these days, Hassell said, with functions including answering multiple choice questions, matching, short answer and calculations.

Over the past year, ITS and CELT have been looking at how the current clickers are being used for teaching and learning. This has made the transition less abrupt, although support staff has had to help students and teachers work around issues since the discontinuation was announced in February.

CELT and ITS are looking to have the new software system in place before summer classes start, and sources say that an announcement could come as early as Thursday. 

“We’re finalizing details of the change as we speak,” Dan Ryan, director of communications and marketing for ITS, said in a release.

Tophat is one of the companies being looked at, said Jim Kurtenbach, vice president and chief information officer. Its software works with most smartphones. 

Clickers aren’t the only technology currently being evaluated, Kurtenbach said. Bubble sheet testing alternatives, new Dell computers, campus communication, alert systems and technology security are all part of the ongoing improvements and evaluations being made at Iowa State.

“For the past year we have been heavily focused on identifying ways to collaborate and improve our efficiencies in operations,” Kurtenbach said. “We want technology to work for us, not us working for technology.”