Spring Break
Technology reaches classrooms
Maxwell E. Heiber
Issue date: 3/14/05 Section: News
Jacob also said he would find PRS most helpful in science classes, where it is important for students to know where they stand.
Gibson was the first UConn professor to use PRS when he began using them in his Physics for Engineers class in Spring of 2003. Now professors in the biology, nursing and psychology departments are using PRS in their classes.
"Faculty members are showing success with the systems." The three different systems being used are incompatible, but Gibson expects the technology to "converge very rapidly," said Dan Mercier, the director of instructional design.
Personal Response Systems using infrared technology are most common now, but according to Mercier the university will ideally move to a standard, radio frequency-based system. He said there is "still research to be done with good pedagogical use of the system."
Infrared systems assign each student an anonymous serial number and students know their responses have been received when a box corresponding to their serial number lights up. Radio frequency systems alert students that their response has been received on the remote control itself, which is easier for students. Radio frequency systems are also better suited for quickly handling a large number of responses.
The current remotes allow students to press buttons corresponding to letters "A" through "D." Future systems may allow students to enter numerical answers, which would lead to greater flexibility. Gibson said he believed that in the future remotes may come bundled with textbooks sold at the Co-op.
Gibson was the first UConn professor to use PRS when he began using them in his Physics for Engineers class in Spring of 2003. Now professors in the biology, nursing and psychology departments are using PRS in their classes.
"Faculty members are showing success with the systems." The three different systems being used are incompatible, but Gibson expects the technology to "converge very rapidly," said Dan Mercier, the director of instructional design.
Personal Response Systems using infrared technology are most common now, but according to Mercier the university will ideally move to a standard, radio frequency-based system. He said there is "still research to be done with good pedagogical use of the system."
Infrared systems assign each student an anonymous serial number and students know their responses have been received when a box corresponding to their serial number lights up. Radio frequency systems alert students that their response has been received on the remote control itself, which is easier for students. Radio frequency systems are also better suited for quickly handling a large number of responses.
The current remotes allow students to press buttons corresponding to letters "A" through "D." Future systems may allow students to enter numerical answers, which would lead to greater flexibility. Gibson said he believed that in the future remotes may come bundled with textbooks sold at the Co-op.