Technology reaches classrooms

By: Maxwell E. Heiber

Posted: 3/14/05

Remote controls are being used as an aid to learning in UConn classrooms.

A professor teaching a large lecture displays a multiple-choice question and each student uses their remote to select their answer. Once students have been given enough time to respond, a histogram showing what percentage of students chose each answer is presented.

Dr. George Gibson first began using Personal Response Systems (PRS) in his Physics for Engineers and Physics of Music classes. Gibson said the system is useful for letting students know where they stand in relation to their peers and letting the professor know how well students understand the material before the first exam.

Gibson awards students one bonus point for answering a question and another bonus point for choosing the correct answer. He often has his students respond to a question, then discuss with their neighbors and respond a second time. Gibson said this "keeps students awake, engaged and talking.

"When you have a class of 50 or 100 people and you ask a question, the same five people answer," Gibson said. "This way everyone can participate."

According to Gibson, PRS is especially useful for physics classes. Students require practice to learn physics and "you can't learn tennis without a racquet."

One of the most striking results of using the system is a dramatic increase in class attendance. Gibson has seen the attendance of his Physics for Engineers class go from less than 50 percent by the end of each semester to about 95 percent.

It may take a professor an entire semester to fully integrate PRS into their classes. Formulating the right multiple-choice questions can be difficult. Questions that are too easy or too hard cannot provide useful information to the professor or students. It is also important for each question to not take up more than three minutes of class time.

"If I get the problem wrong, it will be good to know that there are other kids that are struggling with the same material," Paul Jacob, a 4th-semester Psychology major said.

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.