Classroom Response Systems 2Teaching with Technology November 2007
There arethree generalcategorieso activitiesand equipmentinvolved inusing aclassroomresponsesystem:
Instruction andquestioning Response anddisplay Datamanagementand analysis
W o r k i n g D e f n i t i o n
A classroom response system (CRS) is anysystem used in a ace-to-ace setting topoll students and gather immediate eed-back in response to questions posed byinstructors. A non-technical example o a CRS is an instructor asking students toraise their hands to agree or disagree witha given question. A slightly more sophisti-cated practice involves the use o coloredashcards, with each color correspondingto a possible response in a multiple-choicequestion.Over the past 30 years, technologistshave developed and refned electronicresponse systems that allow students tokey in responses using transmitters (alsocalled “remotes” or “clickers”). Themain advantages o electronic responsesystems over non-technical methods orgathering eedback are the anonymity o responses, and the ability to immediatelyproject response graphs overhead or theclass to see. Electronic response systemscan also store response data or utureanalysis and assessment.There are three categories o activitiesand equipment involved in using a class-room response system: presentation andquestioning, student response and display,and data management and analysis.
Instruction and questioning
Sotware or most classroom responsesystems has been designed to integratewith common presentation sotware, likeMicrosot PowerPoint. Some additionaleort is required to develop questionslides, but since many instructors alreadyuse presentation sotware (particularlyinstructors in large lecture courses, wherethe use o CRS is most appealing), theextra eort is minimized.The kinds o questions posed by theinstructor can range rom simple actualrecall to questions designed specifcally toreveal and challenge common misconcep-tions in a given topic. Development o eective questions is crucial to the successo teaching with CRS, and is discussed indetail in a later section.In class, the instructor presents con-cepts and materials, interspersed withslides asking or eedback rom students.Questions are typically in true or alse ormultiple choice ormat. Question slidescan be placed in line with regular lecturepresentations so instructors can gathereedback on the y, without switchingapplications during the presentation.Students are typically given a short periodo time to key in responses.
Response and display
Students key in responses using smallremote transmitters. These transmitterssend signals to a receiver that is con-nected to the instructor’s laptop or lecternPC. Sotware on the instructor’s machineinstantly tabulates and graphs studentresponses, and these simple graphs can bedisplayed on the ollowing presentationslide. One o the more compelling aspectso using CRS is that students can com-pare their own responses to the responseso other students in the class, which canencourage a level o metacognition thatmight not otherwise occur.Once students see the distributiono responses, many instructors take theopportunity to encourage discussion, ask-ing students to reconsider the question ingroups and to reach an agreement aboutthe best response. Instructors oten ol-low the discussion with a second cycle o questioning, response, and display beorewrapping up the presentation o a givenconcept. This approach is oten reerredto as “peer instruction.”
Data management and analysis
Most classroom response systems allowinstructors to export and save responsedata or uture analysis and assessment.Some systems also integrate with coursemanagement systems, like Blackboard.This integration allows instructors tosave and track student responses over thecourse o the semester, and simplifes theassessment process.
Instructors can projectresponse graphsoverhead or the classto see, so studentscan compare their ownresponses to those o their classmates.
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