Participation in the 214 Lectures now requires the use of "I-clickers". These are radio-frequency remotes, keyed to each individual student, which will allow anonymous (to other students, but not to the staff) responses to questions asked in Lecture. Past research has shown these to be very effective at improving student/lecturer interactions, which in turn are known to improve student learning (which is what we care about) and, consequently, student grades (what you care about).
The bottom line: You need to get one at the bookstore (new or used), and bring it to every lecture (yes, including the first one).
Registration
i>To register your iclicker, use the course Gradebook
Points
We will give one point of credit (out of 1000 total for the course) for every lecture in which the student participates using the i-clicker. "Participate" means answering at least 50% of the questions (not necessarily >correctly, though) asked in that lecture.
NOTE: Although we encourage you to attend the lecture to which you are assigned (to keep the sizes balanced), you can get clicker credit at any of the lectures on a given day. However, each student can get credit for at most one lecture per day. (This means that no two 214 students should share the same clicker -- only one of them will end up getting credit.)
The awarded points (before final normalization) should show up (intermittently) in the gradebook.
Miscellaneous
The batteries should easily last the entire semester. In any event, if they are starting to go, the clicker will flash, letting you know; you should still have enough power for another few lectures after that, i.e., there's no good excuse for not getting new batteries.
If you have other questions, chances are they will be answered here.