User's Guide

4 Chapter 1InterWrite PRS – Classes
Loaner Clickers
Capturing and recording student Responses during a Session is what PRS
is all about and is the key to its successful use. If a student has forgotten
his Clicker, or it is malfunctioning, he won’t be able to participate in the
Session. Therefore, we recommend keeping a few Loaner units on hand
to be pressed into service when needed. The process of registering
Loaner IR Clickers for a Class is described in Chapter Three Classes, Class
Roster. Loaner RF Clickers can be configured by selecting the Configure
Clickers option from the RF Menu, described later in this chapter.
Response Map
Tab
During a typical PRS Session in an IR environment, a Lesson is presented
to the students in the Class. A Question and its Response options are
displayed at the top of the Session dialog and a Response Grid or At-
tendee List is displayed at the bottom in the Response Area. Students
point their IR Clickers toward an IR Receiver and press the number/letter
button that represents their Response Choice for the Question. The LED
on the Clicker flashes while it is sending the signal to the Receiver. To
acknowledge receipt of the Response transmission, the student’s name or
Clicker ID number displays on the top line in a Response Box in the
Response Grid. When the Attendee List is displayed in the Response
Area, the student’s name is deleted from the Attendee List to indicate a
successful transmission.
When a Class is quite large, the Response Grid will be quite large, too,
making it more difficult for each student to track his Response verification in
the Response Grid. A Response Map, created as part of the Class definition,
provides the means of assigning, or mapping, each student to a permanent
position in the Response Grid. The students, as well as the instructor, can
easily verify that their Responses were received and recorded.
In an RF environment, there is no need to display a Response Grid. Status
messages regarding transmissions are displayed on the LCD screen on
the RF Clicker, so students can confirm their Responses have been
received and recorded without having to monitor a Response Grid at the
front of the room.
Response
Window and
Chart Window
Default Settings
Tab
A Results Chart is displayed after the Question’s Timer has expired or the
Question is stopped. It charts the Response distribution among the
possible Response Choices. It’s a useful tool in an academic environment
because it makes it possible for an instructor to immediately assess the
students’ level of comprehension of the material being covered. The
Default Settings for both the Response window with its display of the
Question, the Response Choices, and the Response Grid or the Attendee
List and the Chart window with its display of response distribution are
part of a Class definition. Some of the default settings established here
can be changed on-the-fly at the beginning of a Session.