Personal Response Systems

Using PRS at Duke

Arts & Sciences Information Science & Technology (A&SIST) supports the use of the Interwrite PRS. The interwrite PRS uses a usb receiver that can be plugged into a laptop and radio frequency transmitters; the transmitters work up to 150 feet from the receiver. There is hardware available to be checked out by Trinity College instructors.

Additionally, CIT has Interwrite PRS 32-unit classpack for demonstration and training purposes. Contact us for more information.

Overview

What Is It?

Student response systems are used by faculty members during class to poll students or give a short quiz. Typically, they are used in larger, lecture-style classes and can involve hardware-based systems (where students are given a hand-held device similar to a remote control) or software-based systems that use existing hardware such as laptop or hand-held computers. They are also sometimes referred to as “personal”, “audience” or “classroom” response systems.

Who Uses It?

Student Response Systems can also be used in smaller class sizes, although many of the types of activities that can be done with the systems can be readily accomplished by more traditional methods, such as class discussions or informal “show of hands” or paper-based polling and quizzing. However, an instructor might use such a system to have students answer questions in small group collaboration.

These systems are generally not suitable for more advanced collaborative work, such as students commenting on exchanged papers, since they are only capable of numeric responses and short text messages. (The use of in-class laptops might be a better option for these types of activities.)

PRS remote PRS clicker PRS in Classroom Classroom PRS use

How Does It Work?

At the beginning of class, an instructor hands out transmitter units or hand-held computers to the students. Alternately, students may own their own transmitters. With prompting from the instructor, students input answers or comments into the devices during class. Hardware-based units usually allow for multiple-choice- and yes/no type of questions; some allow students to weight answers based on their confidence.

The capabilities of software-based systems depend on how they are programmed, since they are usually customized. The instructor can view the results on a laptop or workstation; the results can be displayed for the students if projection is provided in the room. With some software-based systems that use hand-held computers, such as Wake Forest’s ClassInHand, the results are displayed on an instructor’s hand-held computer.

Depending on the system’s capabilities, faculty may be able to display questions and options “on the fly” during class. (With some software-based systems which work through a wireless Web connection, questions would need to be set up in advance using Web-based forms.)

Instructional Technology Uses

Personal repsonse systems can be used for very easily for informal, formative assessment in the classroom. They also provide a way to promote student-teacher and student-student interaction, even with large classes. Below are links to a number of published articles on the use of personal response systems to promote interactive teaching:

Additional Information

As seen on TV
Article from The Guardian on the use of personal response systems in higher education.

Rutgers University Department of Physics and Astronomy Student Response Systems
Web site describing a project to install and use a student response system in a large lecture hall; includes some information on pedagogical uses of the system and results of the project.

Interactive Classroom
Presentation that looks at various interactivity options for the classroom, including student response systems.

ClassInHand is Wake Forest University's software for PocketPCs that allows instructors to poll and quiz students.

Audience Response is a hardware-based system that can integrate with PowerPoint and other applications.

Fleetwood Group Reply is a proprietary system that uses wireless controllers to give feedback to an instructor using a main controller console.

eInstruction is a manufacturer of student response systems.

The Numina II SRS is a Web-based student response system developed by University of North Carolina at Wilmington faculty, Pearson Education (Prentice-Hall), and Hypercube. The system uses wireless network access in conjunction with handheld computers.