In a 6/23/99 Phys-L posting of the above title, Arjendu Pattanayak writes:
"I am thinking about using a classroom communication system such as
Educue's PRS (Personal Response System) Any advice/comments/recommendations from users of this or other systems?"
Classroom Communication systems were extensively discussed on the PhysLrnR list in March of this year under the thread "Is Classtalk the Gold Standard." To review those postings go to <http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html>, click on "Search the archives," and then type "Classtalk" in the top slot "Search For." You need not fill in any other slots. You should obtain about 14 hits.
For reference freaks and/or those who may not wish to bother sounding out the PhysLrnR archive, I have attached my own PhysLrnR contribution of 3/28/99, slightly revised and updated.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net> PLEASE NOTE NEW ADDRESS! <http://carini.physics.indiana.edu/SDI/phys-ed-new.html>
ATTACHMENT
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 1999 10:32:03 -0800
Reply-To <PHYSLRNR@LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Richard Hake <rrhake@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Is ClassTalk the gold standard?
John Belcher, in his 3/28/99 PhysLrnR post of the above title writes:
"I am thinking about getting it .....(a 100-student class)... wired
with ClassTalk for interactive/peer instruction purposes. Is ClassTalk
the only/best thing out there for this? Any advice/experience you could
give would be great."
As indicated in ref. 1, Electronic Classroom Communication Systems
(ECCS's) may allow a cost-effective semi-Socratic approach to instruction in large-enrollment "lecture" sections (2-8).
Some relevant URL's are:
A. Classtalk
a. Better Education of Yorktown, VA
<http://www.bedu.com/>
b. Description by Fred Hartline of Christopher Newport University
<http://www.pcs.cnu.edu/~fhartlin/> under "Classtalk Project"
c. Project Galileo <http://galileo.harvard.edu/> under "Large
Groups"/"Classtalk"
B. Personal Response System
EduCue of Hong Kong) <http://www.educue.com/>
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
REFERENCES
1. R.R. Hake, "Interactive-engagement methods in introductory mechanics
courses," on the Web at <<http://carini.physics.indiana.edu/SDI/> and submitted on 6/19/98 to the "Physics Education Research Supplement to
AJP," (PERS); for information on PERS see <http://www.physics.umd.edu/rgroups/ripe/perg/pers/>.
2. Nelson Cue, "A Universal Learning Tool for Classrooms?" in Proceedings of the First Quality in Teaching and Learning Conference, 1998, Hong Kong, to be published (available in Adobe Acrobat portable document file form from Cue at
<phcue@ust.hk>).
3. R.A. Burnstein and L.M. Lederman, "Report on progress in using a
wireless keypad response system," in The Changing Role of
Physics Departments in Modern Universities: Proceedings of the
ICUPE, ed. by E.F. Redish and J.S. Rigden, (AIP, Woodbury, NY,
1997). p. 531-537. Burnstein uses Fleetwood wireless keypads," (private communication of 2/4/99).
4. R.J. Dufresne, W.J. Gerace, W.J. Leonard, J.P. Mestre, and L. Wenk,
Classtalk: A classroom communication system for active learning," J. Computing in Higher Ed. 7(2), 3-47 (1996), also at <http://wjg-grads.phast.umass.edu/research/> under "Classtalk."
5. R.J. Dufresne and W.J. Gerace "Using 'Extended Scenario' to Enhance
Learning During Interactive Lectures," at <http://wjg-grads.phast.umass.edu/research/> under "Classtalk."
6. Louis Abrahamson "An Overview of Teaching and Learning Research with Classroom Communication Systems," presented at the "Samos International Conference on the Teaching of Mathematics," Village of Pythagorion, Samos, Greece, July 3-6, 1998; on the web at <http://www.bedu.com/publications.html>
7. G.E. Uno, "A Push-Button Electronic System to Promote Class Discussion," American Biology Teacher 46(4), 229-232 (1984).
8. H. R. Crane, "An experiment toward establishing communication from audience to lecturer," IRE Transactions on Education 4, 162-166 (1961). Crane's system was called a a "Scholarater" (because it effectively rated the quality of instructor's questions and thus the quality of the instructing scholar).