I don't use the electronic feedback, but one of my colleagues used a
lower-tech feedback mechanism called the "flash card." Each student gets a
set of cards with a big "A", "B", "C", etc. printed on it. The backs of all
the cards are identical. The instructor throws a multiple-choice question up
on the overhead, and the students hold up the card of their choice. The
instructor can readily see the answers, but the students can't because all
the backs of the cards are identical. This method was pioneered by Eric
Mazur, if I'm not mistaken. My $0.02 is that if you haven't done so
already, try the flash cards for a while first to see if you like the
instant-feedback pedagogical method before investing $$$$$ in an electronic
system. Because once you spend the bucks, you'll be obligated to use the
system. Coming up with suitable questions and "distractor" answers for the
system is not trivial.
Vickie Frohne
-----Original Message-----
From: Folkerts, Timothy [mailto:FolkertsT@BARTONCCC.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 4:31 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Classroom Feedback Systems
We are looking into using a classroom feedback system - probably the
Personal Response System (PRS) that Prentic Hall distributes. There were a
couple of old posts in the archive, but systems like this change rapidly in
a couple of years, so I was hoping some of you might have some experience
and opinions.
My basic questions are:
* What systems are available?
* How difficult it to use the hardware?
* How difficult is it to use the software?
* Do you make students buy the units, bolt them to the table, or hand them
out each class? Why?
* What types of activities do you do with the system? How frequently?
* What kind of information is stored? How do you use that information?
* (Most importantly) Do you think it aids student learning?
Thanks
Tim Folkerts
Instructor of Physics
Barton County Community College
Great Bend, KS
620-792-9320
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing." Edmund Burke
-----Original Message-----
From: Ludwik Kowalski [mailto:kowalskil@MAIL.MONTCLAIR.EDU]
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 3:26 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: BlackBoard users
BlackBoard, now version 6, is a popular
software package for teaching over the
Internet. I am using its quiz and grade book
tools to supplement face-to-face interactions.
To my horror I discovered that while the mean
grade calculated by Blackboard (for any given
column) is correct the corresponding standard
deviation is much too small. It would be a
disaster if scores were turned into letter grades
by using their standard deviation. How comes
that such bug has not been discovered years
ago?
Please check my observation on your campuses;
the bug might be local, not general. And please
share your observations, especially if it is a false
alarm. To perform statistical analysis on a set of
scores (in a column) do ths:
a) go to CONTROL PANEL, then to GRADEBOOK
b) Click on the name of a column you want
c) From a menu that appears click ITEM DETAILS
This will display the results.
Ludwik Kowalski