Installing and Using A Personal Response System in the Classroom

A classroom Personal Response System (PRS) allows students to individually respond to questions in the classroom. This facilitates the use of checkpoints during a lecture to assess the students’ skills inventory and to foster discussion. This talk will address two aspects of using a PRS: installation and utilization. Issues to be considered for installation include choice of vendor, and whether to tether the IR controller, pick the IR controller up when entering the classroom, or sell the IR controller to the students. A major issue to be considered when using a PRS is whether the students are anonymous or registered, as the PRS installed at UD can allow for quizzes and tests to be administered to the class. The current PRS system at UD was installed during the summer of 2004 and will be demonstrated during this talk. We will also present some data on the students’ response to the PRS that was used for courses in the fall term of 2004.