User's Guide

3Chapter 1 InterWrite PRS – Classes
Classes
The general makeup of the Class is defined in the Classes section. A Class is a
group of people, an audience, who, during a Session, respond electronically
to Questions that assess their knowledge of a subject, or poll their opinions.
Each Class definition consists of:
• Information about the Class – a Name that uniquely identifies it and a
Type that describes the hardware environment in which it will take place,
•a Roster of participants, students, that will be associated with the Class,
•a Response Map, which is used to assign each student a specific location
in a virtual seating chart, the Response Grid, and
• Default Settings for the two windows that can be displayed during a
Session. The Response Grid window is where response transmissions
from IR Clickers are acknowledged. The Chart window is where
response distribution is graphed.
The primary function of the Classes section is to uniquely name a Class and
type it. When PRS is used in an RF environment, the RF-Type Class is the focal
point of operation. The options on the RF Menu (described in the Menu
section of this chapter) illustrate this point. An RF Class Type is started and
stopped. RF Clickers scan for a specific Class and join it. A Class Roster does
not have to be in place when a Class is started. A Roster based on transmit-
ted Student IDs is derived from Session results. The IR-Type Class must be
associated with a Roster, which can be associated with a Response Map.
Students are identified in PRS and most Course Management Systems by
their Student IDs. In an RF environment, the Student ID is saved in the RF
Clicker’s memory and is sent with each Response transmitted from the
Clicker, ensuring that the Response is associated in PRS records with the
Student ID, and thereby, with the student. In an IR environment, there is no
way to enter a Student ID into the IR Clicker’s memory, so the IR Clicker ID,
which is transmitted with each Response, is used to establish the link to the
Student ID. This can only be accomplished through the use of a Class Roster.
Class Roster
The Class Roster identifies the students in the Class and connects their
names and Student IDs to their IR Clicker ID numbers. A Roster can be
created locally in PRS as part of the Class definition. The student’s name,
Student ID, Clicker ID number, and other information are entered into a
student profile form, and each profile form is added to the Roster. Or, an
existing Roster can be imported into the Class definition. Rosters derived
from Blackboard (Chapter Seven), Rosters derived from the PRS Web
Registration Application (Chapter Seven), and Rosters used with other Class
definitions can be imported into a new or existing Class definition. In the RF
environment, the Class Roster is used primarily to link the transmitted
Student ID with the student’s name.