Its-teaching And Learning University Of North Carolina-chapel Hill 2006-2007 Classroom Response System Evaluation
This document was uploaded by user and they confirmed that they have the permission to share it. If you are author or own the copyright of this book, please report to us by using this DMCA report form. Report DMCA
Overview
Download & View Its-teaching And Learning University Of North Carolina-chapel Hill 2006-2007 Classroom Response System Evaluation as PDF for free.
More details
- Words: 1,221
- Pages: 4
ITS-Teaching and Learning University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 2006-2007 Classroom Response System Evaluation This evaluation recommends a single classroom response system as a campus standard for those courses requiring students to purchase the devices themselves. For these courses, we recommend adopting eInstruction CPS. Its features, its ability to integrate with existing campus systems, and the quality of support provided by the vendor meet our selection criteria.
Background With an objective of increasing the interactivity of large enrollment courses, individual instructors and departments at UNC-Chapel Hill have been using classroom response systems. A response system is used by an instructor to pose questions to the class. Students use handheld devices, commonly referred to as clickers, to transmit their answers to a transceiver attached to the instructor’s presentation computer. Student’s answers to questions are tallied almost instantly. The instructor can choose to display to the class graphs of the collected responses. A few instructors began using these systems as early as the 2000-2001 academic year. Early adopters struggled with reliability issues as the technologies employed by response systems have evolved. As various textbook publishers and other response system vendors continue to vie for individual instructors and departments as customers, some students have reported having to purchase as many as three different devices during the course of their undergraduate careers. Educational institutions who either agree to recommend a single vendor’s system as a standard or to purchase a certain number of student devices from a vendor receive discounted pricing on these products.
Objective The purpose of this evaluation was to recommend a single system as a campus standard for those courses requiring students to purchase the devices themselves. The recommended system strikes a balance between cost to students, quality and breadth of vendor support, and features making it an effective instructional tool.
Products As of Fall 2006, all competitive vendors offered radio-frequency devices. The five systems in our evaluation all use this technology, with equivalent reliability: TurningPoint, eInstruction, iClicker, Interwrite PRS, and Quizdom. (A product comparison matrix is included in this document.) During the Fall 2006 semester, TurningPoint, eInstruction, and iClicker were used in instructorled courses with large enrollments (75-400 students).
16/03/07
ITS-Teaching and Learning UNC-Chapel Hill
Selection criteria To develop and refine selection criteria, ITS-Teaching and Learning distributed an online survey to faculty currently using a response system and consulted with Student Government about the usability of the five devices and pricing models used by the vendors. ITS-TL also contacted other universities who had or were in the process of evaluating response systems themselves. The primary selection criteria are listed below. Refer to the product comparison matrix for detailed information about each product. Available question types. Of those eight faculty who responded to our faculty survey, four reported using a variety of question types (refer to comparison matrix for a description of these types). Ease of use for instructor. Both the usability of the product’s software and ease of student registration are factors. Ease of use for students. The largest factor for ease of use is the design of student devices, with LCD display being the most significant feature. When students earn course credit for the answers they submit, confirmation through the device that these answers were successfully received significantly increases students’ comfort in using the technology. Blackboard integration. Integration with a course management system facilitates both the registration of student devices with courses and data exchange from instructor’s software to an online enterprise system. Quality and range of support from vendor. In addition to providing text-based user guides, vendors should have weekday phone support, online help request forms, video tutorials, usercommunity discussion boards, and real-time, webcast tutorials. Cost and pricing options. With four of the systems, a student pays a flat fee for a device. With eInstruction, there are two fees: the cost for the device and the cost for device registration. The cost to the student for device registration depends upon whether the student decides to pay a onetime fee or a semesterly fee (capped at three semesters). Therefore, a student pays only during those semesters that he or she uses the clicker. During the 2006-2007 academic year, Student Stores Textbooks received orders from instructors for two systems, eInstruction and iClicker. Standardizing on either of these systems would have permitted a buyback programs to be instituted more quickly, in this case by May 2007. With a buyback program in place at this time, the devices that students purchased this academic year, before the standardization agreement, could be used during Summer Session 2007 onward or could be resold to other Carolina students.
16/03/07
ITS-Teaching and Learning UNC-Chapel Hill
Information current as of Feb 1, 2007; subject to change CPS
Non-discounted prices Student device
Device registration fee Instructor transceiver
Types of discounts
TurningPoint
iClicker
---------------------------$48 net $25 net $16 net $15 single semester, capped at three none semesters; $50 flat rate none $350 $199 discounted prices on discounted registration student devices and fees, free instructor free instructor instructor transceivers, transceivers transceivers kits
---------yes
yes
Supported OS Core question types (refer to
both
both
both
Add. software required License PowerPoint add-in Instructor transceiver
2
Transmission band Power supply Instructor remote
16/03/07
3
none $525 $249 discounted prices on student devices and discounted prices on kits, instructor transceivers, free instructor transceiver kits
----------
PowerPoint proprietary yes ----------
no open-source no ----------
2.4 GHz USB
2.4 GHz USB
no
no
900 MHz USB yes (student remote, reprogrammed)
----------
yes both for standalone client, PC only for PowerPoint plug in 1
no proprietary yes ----------
---------$35 net
none $300
Installation required
next page for categories)
PRS
---------$39.90 net
---------no (can run from USB key)
Instructor software
----------
Quizdom
yes both, plus Linux (programmed in Java) 4
no proprietary yes ---------802.15.4, Zigbee, same freq; self-negiotiating system 16 channels, patent pending USB yes (dedicated remote)
4 no proprietary yes ----------
2.4 GHz AC (USB in beta) yes (student remote reprogrammed)
ITS-Teaching and Learning UNC-Chapel Hill
---------yes 2 AA 360 hours with normal usage Battery life vendor's server, Bb Registration services handled building block to vendor's server by no Virtual device available Student device LCD display Battery type
---------no 2 coin batteries
no 3 AA
yes 2 AA
6-12 mo
200 hours
1 year of "normal use"
---------yes 3 AAA 20 weeks, based on typical usage
local Bb server, instructor's client yes
vendor's server or instructor's client no
vendor's server or instructor's client no
local Bb server, instructor's client yes
----------------
Support Online docs Discussion boards Chat Email/webform Phone Video tutorials Web conference training
yes yes yes yes yes instructor only admin, instructor instructors who adopt Ad hoc face to face training McGraw-Hill textbooks
----------
----------------
----------
----------------
----------------
----------------
yes no no yes yes instructor only instructor
yes no no yes yes no no
yes no no no yes no no
yes yes no yes yes instructor and student instructor
no
no
no
no
Blackboard Building Block
yes
yes
no
no
yes
Publisher/content provider partnerships
McGraw-Hill
Thomson
Bedford, Freeman & Worth
Pearson
Wiley, Pearson
Question types Single-answer select Check all that apply, any order Numeric input Sequence/series/ordering Text entry Weighted ranking
Yes No Yes No No No
Yes Yes No No No Yes
Yes No No No No No
Yes Yes Yes Yes Q5 device only No
Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
16/03/07
ITS-Teaching and Learning UNC-Chapel Hill
Background With an objective of increasing the interactivity of large enrollment courses, individual instructors and departments at UNC-Chapel Hill have been using classroom response systems. A response system is used by an instructor to pose questions to the class. Students use handheld devices, commonly referred to as clickers, to transmit their answers to a transceiver attached to the instructor’s presentation computer. Student’s answers to questions are tallied almost instantly. The instructor can choose to display to the class graphs of the collected responses. A few instructors began using these systems as early as the 2000-2001 academic year. Early adopters struggled with reliability issues as the technologies employed by response systems have evolved. As various textbook publishers and other response system vendors continue to vie for individual instructors and departments as customers, some students have reported having to purchase as many as three different devices during the course of their undergraduate careers. Educational institutions who either agree to recommend a single vendor’s system as a standard or to purchase a certain number of student devices from a vendor receive discounted pricing on these products.
Objective The purpose of this evaluation was to recommend a single system as a campus standard for those courses requiring students to purchase the devices themselves. The recommended system strikes a balance between cost to students, quality and breadth of vendor support, and features making it an effective instructional tool.
Products As of Fall 2006, all competitive vendors offered radio-frequency devices. The five systems in our evaluation all use this technology, with equivalent reliability: TurningPoint, eInstruction, iClicker, Interwrite PRS, and Quizdom. (A product comparison matrix is included in this document.) During the Fall 2006 semester, TurningPoint, eInstruction, and iClicker were used in instructorled courses with large enrollments (75-400 students).
16/03/07
ITS-Teaching and Learning UNC-Chapel Hill
Selection criteria To develop and refine selection criteria, ITS-Teaching and Learning distributed an online survey to faculty currently using a response system and consulted with Student Government about the usability of the five devices and pricing models used by the vendors. ITS-TL also contacted other universities who had or were in the process of evaluating response systems themselves. The primary selection criteria are listed below. Refer to the product comparison matrix for detailed information about each product. Available question types. Of those eight faculty who responded to our faculty survey, four reported using a variety of question types (refer to comparison matrix for a description of these types). Ease of use for instructor. Both the usability of the product’s software and ease of student registration are factors. Ease of use for students. The largest factor for ease of use is the design of student devices, with LCD display being the most significant feature. When students earn course credit for the answers they submit, confirmation through the device that these answers were successfully received significantly increases students’ comfort in using the technology. Blackboard integration. Integration with a course management system facilitates both the registration of student devices with courses and data exchange from instructor’s software to an online enterprise system. Quality and range of support from vendor. In addition to providing text-based user guides, vendors should have weekday phone support, online help request forms, video tutorials, usercommunity discussion boards, and real-time, webcast tutorials. Cost and pricing options. With four of the systems, a student pays a flat fee for a device. With eInstruction, there are two fees: the cost for the device and the cost for device registration. The cost to the student for device registration depends upon whether the student decides to pay a onetime fee or a semesterly fee (capped at three semesters). Therefore, a student pays only during those semesters that he or she uses the clicker. During the 2006-2007 academic year, Student Stores Textbooks received orders from instructors for two systems, eInstruction and iClicker. Standardizing on either of these systems would have permitted a buyback programs to be instituted more quickly, in this case by May 2007. With a buyback program in place at this time, the devices that students purchased this academic year, before the standardization agreement, could be used during Summer Session 2007 onward or could be resold to other Carolina students.
16/03/07
ITS-Teaching and Learning UNC-Chapel Hill
Information current as of Feb 1, 2007; subject to change CPS
Non-discounted prices Student device
Device registration fee Instructor transceiver
Types of discounts
TurningPoint
iClicker
---------------------------$48 net $25 net $16 net $15 single semester, capped at three none semesters; $50 flat rate none $350 $199 discounted prices on discounted registration student devices and fees, free instructor free instructor instructor transceivers, transceivers transceivers kits
---------yes
yes
Supported OS Core question types (refer to
both
both
both
Add. software required License PowerPoint add-in Instructor transceiver
2
Transmission band Power supply Instructor remote
16/03/07
3
none $525 $249 discounted prices on student devices and discounted prices on kits, instructor transceivers, free instructor transceiver kits
----------
PowerPoint proprietary yes ----------
no open-source no ----------
2.4 GHz USB
2.4 GHz USB
no
no
900 MHz USB yes (student remote, reprogrammed)
----------
yes both for standalone client, PC only for PowerPoint plug in 1
no proprietary yes ----------
---------$35 net
none $300
Installation required
next page for categories)
PRS
---------$39.90 net
---------no (can run from USB key)
Instructor software
----------
Quizdom
yes both, plus Linux (programmed in Java) 4
no proprietary yes ---------802.15.4, Zigbee, same freq; self-negiotiating system 16 channels, patent pending USB yes (dedicated remote)
4 no proprietary yes ----------
2.4 GHz AC (USB in beta) yes (student remote reprogrammed)
ITS-Teaching and Learning UNC-Chapel Hill
---------yes 2 AA 360 hours with normal usage Battery life vendor's server, Bb Registration services handled building block to vendor's server by no Virtual device available Student device LCD display Battery type
---------no 2 coin batteries
no 3 AA
yes 2 AA
6-12 mo
200 hours
1 year of "normal use"
---------yes 3 AAA 20 weeks, based on typical usage
local Bb server, instructor's client yes
vendor's server or instructor's client no
vendor's server or instructor's client no
local Bb server, instructor's client yes
----------------
Support Online docs Discussion boards Chat Email/webform Phone Video tutorials Web conference training
yes yes yes yes yes instructor only admin, instructor instructors who adopt Ad hoc face to face training McGraw-Hill textbooks
----------
----------------
----------
----------------
----------------
----------------
yes no no yes yes instructor only instructor
yes no no yes yes no no
yes no no no yes no no
yes yes no yes yes instructor and student instructor
no
no
no
no
Blackboard Building Block
yes
yes
no
no
yes
Publisher/content provider partnerships
McGraw-Hill
Thomson
Bedford, Freeman & Worth
Pearson
Wiley, Pearson
Question types Single-answer select Check all that apply, any order Numeric input Sequence/series/ordering Text entry Weighted ranking
Yes No Yes No No No
Yes Yes No No No Yes
Yes No No No No No
Yes Yes Yes Yes Q5 device only No
Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
16/03/07
ITS-Teaching and Learning UNC-Chapel Hill
Related Documents
Evaluation Of Online Learning
May 2020 7
Evaluation Of Online Learning
April 2020 7
Evaluation Of Online Learning
April 2020 5
