User's Guide

36 Chapter 3
In the PRS Overview in Chapter One, two types of PRS hardware systems
were described:
• Radio Frequency Receivers and Clickers that feature two-way
transmissions
• Infrared Receivers and Clickers that feature one-way transmissions
Although the Class has the same function in both transmission environ-
ments—identifying and naming a group of students—its implementation in
each environment is different enough that it will be discussed in two
separate sections of this chapter.
The first section describes the operation of the Class in the RF environ-
ment. The second section covers the implementation of the Class in the
IR environment.
When PRS is started up after at least one RF-Type Class has been pro-
filed, it goes into what can be thought of as Classroom Mode. A Start RF
Class dialog, which lists all defined RF-Type Classes, displays first. When
you select the RF Class you want to start and click OK, the RF Receiver
begins broadcasting the selected Class. Powered-on RF Clickers will find
the Class, either through Autoscan or Quick Jump, and join it. Each time a
Clicker joins the Class, the Joined counter on the Status Bar of the PRS
window is incremented. When everyone has joined the Class, you are
ready to begin a Session.
You do not have to have an RF Receiver connected to
your computer in order to define an RF-Type Class. You
can define the Class on one computer and transfer it to
the computer connected to the RF Receiver when you
are ready to start the Class and run a Session. For
purposes of this discussion, it will be assumed that the
Class is profiled on the computer to which the RF
Receiver is connected.
Classes – RF Class
When PRS detects an RF Receiver connected to the computer, it goes
into RF Mode. Upon startup of a new installation of PRS, you will be
reminded that you have not defined any RF-Type Classes and, as a result,
have no Classes to start. The remedy is to either set an existing Class to
the RF Type, or define a New Class. What this suggests from the begin-
ning is that in the RF environment, the Class is central to the process of
presenting a PRS Session. You will start the Class, students will join it and,
after the Session is finished, you will stop the Class.
The Class
in the
Environment