PRS User Manual
Contents
1. 301 302 303 305 306 30 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 PRS v2 Edl page 27 The process starts with the cursor set at seat number 101 1 row 1 column on the main display This serves to prompt the occupant there to register by pressing on any Numeral within 3 s The cursor then moves to seat 102 for the occupant there to register within 3 s and so on and so forth An empty seat or inattentive occupant will be by passed after 3 s Seat by seat movement of the cursor cycles through repeatedly until the End button in the dialogue box is hit Clicking on the 4 way arrows will move the cursor from one seat to another The snapshot above shows the situation when the first 5 Students have registered Immediately below the Seat Number is the Student ID Number Note that a separate acknowledgement of the signal received can be found on the ticker tape on top of the top menu bar Click on End on the dialogue box to end the registration process Another dialogue box appears for you to save the seating chart as a Class File for future sessions C On line randomly This option allows the Students to register immediately when T seated without having to wait for the others to arrive But the Student will have to transmit their seat number one digit at a time within 10 seconds The procedures are analogous to the sequential method just described above A ticker tape display above the t2. For the practitioners of Traditional lecture method the approach of immediate feedback and reinforcement IFR using electronic devices is perhaps the easiest IE approach to adopt The PRS is perhaps the easiest lowest cost and most flexible of the electronic tools for conducting the IFR approach in the classroom Recent literatures on the use of the EFR approach include e Robert J Dufresne William J Gerace William J Leonard Jose P Mestre and Laura Wenk Classtalk A Classroom Communication System for Active Learning in Journal of Computing in Higher Education 7 3 47 1996 or see http www perg phast umass edu UMPERG papers CT_Paper CT_Paper html Eric Mazur PEER INSTRUCTION A Users Manual 1997 Prentice Hall or see http galileo harvard edu galileo Igm pi details html The Known or class mode of operation in which a record is kept on the answer of every student to every question permits a continuous monitoring of the progress made by each and every student in class Some faculty have used these records as a part of the course grade Some even assigned relative scores to an answer for PRS v2 Edl page 31 example 5 2 0 for Correct Wrong No Submission On the other hand other faculty prefer the use of informal assessments via the Anonymous or poll mode in which no individualized records are kept B The choices for Sender Ds in the Transmitters Note first that the Sender
3. The session control keys are the highlighted boxes immediately below the top pull down menu bar B A question and answer session To start a Q amp A session using the default options click on New Session and a dialogue box appears as shown below A comma separated values text file is opened on the C Drive with a default filename of C PRS Session MMddhhmm csv where MM stands for the month dd the day hh the hour and mm the minutes as shown in the illustration below Select Session File EAE File name Folders RS Session 08221147 cs C PRS Session Cancel 08211330 cs yes 08211331 csv 08211332 csv a Ro 08211557 csv Zy Session 08211559 csv 08211649 csv 08220843 csv sessam cs List files of type Drives Comma delimited cs x amp c digital gt 1 Click on OK unless you want to enter a different filename Different session control keys will be highlighted as shown below E Personal Response System Copyright 1997 1998 Yaritronix Ltd File Sudience 45 99Chances Screen 2 Eoves 3Choices Auto Graph kam x00 2 The beginning question number is Q1 Click on Question to change the number Note that a default value of 5 has been set for the number of selections in the multiple choice question Click on Choice on the top menu bar to change this number PRS v2 Edl page 17 3 The time all
4. and then on Anonymous Follow all the steps in B above The Ds will still be shown on the display boxes for acknowledging the receptions of signals But the output file will have no D information Known v Anonymous PRS v2 Edl page 19 2 For pedagogical reasons there might a need to allow the Students to answer only once or a few times This limit can be imposed by clicking on Chances and select the limit Note that for each Student only the last answer to the question received is recorded 1 Chance 2 Chances 3 Chances 4 Chances 5 Chances v 99 Chances 3 It is convenient to have 2 screens or white areas for projecting information one for the PRS main display and the other for showing the question to be answered for all to see If only one screen or projection area is available click on Screen and select Half Screen which frees the lower half for displaying a question v Full Screen Half Screen gt Black Text There are two options under Half Screen a Black giving a dark background to overlay for example an overhead viewgraph b Text for typing in a question directly on the white area The typed question can be saved by double clicking on the white area and then click Save File on the dialogue box PRS v2 Edl page 20 Sy Personal Response System Copyright 1997 1998 Varitronix Ltd Fie 4 Chances Screen 5 Choices Auto Graph 3
5. D must be a numeral between 0 and 999999999 In applications where only the Anonymous mode is used exclusively it may be convenient to change the Sender Ds to a number sequence starting from 1 In applications where the Senders students are assigned a permanent seat in a classroom throughout the day it may be convenient to use the seat numbers as the Sender Ds For applications where the Senders students bring their own Transmitter to use in many different classrooms or lecture halls the Sender Ds naturally would be either the student ID numbers or social security numbers or other similar individualized set of numbers The choice will depend on what numbers the institution uses for record keeping C Campus wide usage With individualized pocket size wireless Transmitters a portable Receiver and a Windows based simple to use software it is practical and convenient for a the students to bring their own Transmitter to class and b for the instructors to effect active learning for all in any classroom or lecture hall on campus The entire student body could be equipped with their own Transmitter all at the same time or gradually by starting from one Standard Package and acquiring additional ones as the needs demand or resources permit There is also an optional PRS Barcode Reader that could be ordered to facilitate the entering of the Student IDs into the Transmitters D Non academic applications of PRS There are many
6. D number of the Transmitter Column 6 Code for one or two users per Transmitter one user for this example Column 7 Answer recorded Column 8 Confidence level attached to the answer Line 13 The headings of the respective columns Line 14 to 23 The statistical summaries of the answer choices per question for the 2 questions each with 4 multiple choices Column 1 Question number Column 2 Choice of answer Column 3 Number of students selected this choice regardless of the confidence level CL Column 4 Number of students selected this choice with a low CL Column 5 Number of students selected this choice with a medium CL Column 6 Number of students selected this choice with a high CL Column 7 to 10 Entries in Column 4 to 6 in percent A session file taken under exactly the same conditions as the example above except that the Audience was set for Anonymous poll mode is shown below ID information is clearly absent Only the statistical summaries are recorded Session ended on Monday Aug 24 1998 64 59 67 Question Answer All Low CL Medium CL High CL L M H PRS v2 Edl page 30 XIII Application notes A Active learning in the classroom PRS is a tool for effecting electronically immediate feedback and reinforcement IFR for active learning by all students in the classroom Surveys of student users indicate that a majority of them consider the following features as valuable e answering in p
7. PRS v2 Edl page 15 IX PRS Operation a detailed guide The folder C PRS should contain several file folders for data input and output The names of these folders are shown below Name Size Type Modified C Answer File Folder 18 8 98 16 37 C Class File Folder 18 8 98 16 37 C Mark File Folder 18 8 98 16 37 C Name File Folder 18 8 98 16 37 C Question File Folder 18 8 98 16 37 C Session File Folder 18 8 98 16 37 Ding 12KB Wave Sound 29 7 98 15 23 a Mark 26KB Application 21 8 98 14 49 es PRS 99KB Application 21 8 98 15 16 A Starting Run the PRS program and the Main Display appears on the PC screen as shown below E Personal Response System Copyright 1997 1998 Varitronix Ltd File Audience Kn 99Chances Screen 20Boxes 5Choices Auto Graph Or 0200 SS 0 The colored boxes serve the important function of confirming that the signal sent by a member of the audience is received and registered That is upon the reception and registry of the first signal the top left most box will change color and show the PRS v2 Edl page 16 ID number of the corresponding Sender The second signal registered will change the color of the box immediately on the right and so forth All session options are controlled by clicking on one of the buttons on the top pull down menu bar The default options are set to allow you to start using PRS for questions and answers Q amp A immediately
8. Time Graph Ql 02 00 Time Start 0 End Session SSIES 5 Choices ene Question Time Graph Question 02 00 Time Start 0 End 4 fees 3 Screen Question olx Font Size 14 ere ra 4 gt ae eae ACA Liat Open Fil Save File End PER a Poel Question At what level will the Dow Jones botomed in the year 1998 1 8 500 2 8 000 3 7 000 4 6 000 5 5 000 or lower A PRS v2 Edl page 21 If you have a question that is pre loaded as a text file stored in the folder C PRS Question you could click Open File on the dialogue box and select that question econ txt in the example below Open Question File EAE File name Folders C PRS Question en AS 3 prs Cancel Network dii E Question List files of type Drives Text Document _txt amp c digital 4 An alternative to using the Half Screen option is by adjusting the Windows frame on the PC monitor screen such that the lower half is available for showing a question from the file in Notepad WordPad or MS Word program 5 Sometimes showing more display boxes could be helpful Click on Boxes to select the number desired Also see below on Using Names instead of Numbers for IDs and Class Seating Chart 10 Boxes v 20 Boxes 30 Boxes 40 Boxes 50 Boxes 6 For each question asked the number of available choices
9. about 10 seconds when the signal you sent is received This is a confirmation that the signal has been received and registered e The display screen also shows a box that indicates live the number of senders students that already have answered e The Operator Instructor will tell you ahead of time 1 whether you can answer only once to a question or you can change your answer as many times as you wish within the time period allocated In the latter case E there is a built in delay before the next answer can be sent out and E only the last answer sent and received will be recorded 2 if a confidence level CL is required for your answer press on E H and then the Numeral for certainty or high CL E L and then the Numeral for uncertain or low CL or E just the Numeral for intelligent guessing or medium CL PRS v2 Edl page 7 C PRS Hardware 1 Transmitter The Transmitter consists of a specially designed IR circuit and powered by two 1 5 V batteries alkaline type AAA When the power button is pressed on the LED is lighted and the unit is ready for sending signal A signal is sent when any one of the ten numeric keys is pressed momentarily This signal corresponds to the numeral pressed and is tagged with an D In order to prevent traffic jam at the Receiver the pushbuttons are deactivated for a brief duration following each send action A Confidence Level can be attached to the answ
10. is required if a 9 V transformer is used and the total number of units in series is four or less A PRS Receiver User s Guide is appended to the end of this manual Warning The IR detector may be damaged by exposure to intense light Do not direct any part of the projector light cone on the Receiver PRS v2 Edl page 8 D PRS Software 1 The minimum PC configuration required The package consists of three programs PRS IDChg and Mark The PC running the PRS program will need a minimum configuration of i486 chip 8M RAM and Windows 3 1 95 or later a version 2 Installation on Windows 3 1 95 The same procedures apply to installing the IDChg and Mark program All programs libraries and data files are contained in the diskettes These are installed with the default path C PRS and 3 megabytes of free disk space are required on your C Drive No libraries will be installed on your Windows System Directory in order to avoid the mixing of different library versions a On Windows 95 c S oo O gt oS oo Turn on the computer and start Windows Insert PRS diskette marked Disk 1 into you diskette drive From the Windows Program Manager click Start and select Run Type A Setup or B Setup if the floppy disk is in the B Drive and click OK On Windows 3 1 Start Windows Insert PRS diskette marked Disk 1 into you diskette drive From the Windows Program Manag
11. page 12 IX PRS Operation a flow chart Accept default filename or enter your own Click Question Default Settings New Session Set question es number Qx Set number of l tries allowed Set display screen size Set number of choices for the answer Set when the histogram is shown Click Time Instruct students to respond PRS v2 Edl page 13 Automatic display of Histogram Next Question Click End Session Another Session Click File then Exit PRS v2 Edl page 14 a Load look up table from folder C PRS Name Change ID Yes Click from Numbers Open Name File to Names COD From now on all ID Numbers become Names Seating Chart No Yes Load pre existing file from C PRS Class Click Class File Open Class File already exists Yes Set matrix size for seating chart Ask the student on Row 1 Col 1 to transmit a Numeral then the adjacent student to do the same and so on Click Create Class Sequential Create chart seat by seat in sequence Yes Enter Class filename Set matrix size for seating chart Click Create Class Random Ask students to transmit their seat number one digit at a time within 10 sec Create chart from any seat Yes Enter Class filename
12. summary of the answers is shown on D as a histogram There are two modes of operation for PRS with which the operator instructor can select prior to the start of each session PRS v2 Edl page 4 e Inthe Anonymous mode only the statistical results are filed and no record is kept on the individual response e Inthe Known mode each response including the associated sender ID is recorded on a data file in the sequence received The cycle is repeated for each question until the end of the session at which time an end of file is marked on the data file The entire file is written on line onto the PC hard disk Note If a special LED Display Panel is used instead of a on line PC the data file which is recorded on a memory unit can later be transferred off line to a PC Ill The special features of PRS e It is affordable the cost per user is no more than that of a typical paperback textbook e lItcan be installed and readied for use in minutes It is easy to use the operator and senders can gain familiarity with its operations in minutes e tis portable the wireless transmitters and receiver are pocket sized and in an educational institution students can be equipped with their own ID coded transmitter to use in any classroom e It is scalable adding new senders is easy and economical the network can start with a small number of units and expand to cover the entire student population on campus by simply adding the corresp
13. 0A mE 011A pe 012A pa 013A B 014A ma 015A ma 016A ee 017A pei 018A Gi 019A men 020A kai 021A Pasi 022A p 023A keal 024A fee 025A Rael 026A ka 027A pem 028A Eii 029A ka 030A ow 031A keti 032A kogen 033A ee 034A ee 035A Eai 036A Pai 037A issa 038A kiil 039A eE 040A Ba 041A Kail 042A aai 043A iil 044A Eaa 045A Foes 046A ane 047A bail 048A me 049A Rend 050A pee B On line sequentially If the students have their own Transmitters a seating chart can be created after the Students have settled on their seats One at a time and in sequence the Students can register by transmitting any single Numeral PRS v2 Edl page 26 Start by clicking on File and then on Create Class Sequential A dialogue box appears with sliders for adjusting the virtual seat matrix for your class Make sure that this overlays the physical seat matrix Open Name File Open Class File v No Class File Open Session File Create Class Sequential Create Class Random COM1 gt About Exit Create Class gt v No of Columns 7 No of Rows 4 Cancel Next 000002 105 000000004 104 000000003 103 000000001 102 000000005 101 Please wait for your seat no amp press any key PETES File Audience Kn 99Chances Screen 20BEowes SChoices Auto Graph ET Do Aaen 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 005 001 003 004 002 Pouesio SWVEsiGn 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 w User Info Ea
14. B B Shared Answer CL 1 66 31 2 3 A 2 L 1 66 17 1 1 8 3 HM 1 606 13 1 4 A 2 HM 1 606 37 2 5 A 1 H 1 66 41 2 2 A 1 H 2 96 26 2 3 A 2 M 2 06 16 2 1 A 1 M 2 96 13 1 4 A 4 M 2 96 22 2 5 A 2 M 2 06 05 1 2 A 2 M Question Answer All Low CL Medium CL High CL L M H 1 1 2 0 0 2 40 0 0 0 0 0 40 0 1 2 2 1 1 0 40 0 20 0 20 0 0 0 1 3 1 6 1 6 26 6 6 6 26 6 6 6 1 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 2 1 1 8 1 8 26 6 6 6 26 6 6 6 2 2 3 9 3 6 68 6 6 6 66 6 6 6 2 3 89 68 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 2 4 1 8 1 8 268 6 6 6 26 6 6 6 Attempt Seat ID N gt NNN NO a Sh 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 Answer Low CL Medium ClHigh CL SoM Nonna a a O0u 202nmNn oooooo gt o0 oo0c0c00c0 on oooooo o olololololojo PRS v2 Edl page 29 There are two main parts in the file The first part is the event by event records of the answers received for all the questions asked in the session The second part is the corresponding statistical summaries Line by line descriptions are given below Line 1 The date and time the file was created Line 2 The headings of the respective columns Line 3 to 12 The record of the 10 events corresponding to 2 questions each answered by 5 students for each event Column 1 Question number Column 2 Elapsed time when the last answer attempt was received Column 3 Number of answer attempts Column 4 Label on the display boxes blank since no Class File was used Column 5
15. Ehoices Auto Graph Erm Time Pause fash unex 00 48 Time ser Ense Session ms me am 000000 o 5 The answering period concludes when the clock reads zero and a summary of answers is displayed immediately as a histogram as illustrated below PRS v2 Edl page 18 Of the 5 students 2 answered 1 2 answered 2 and 1 answered 4 Since the Students were asked to attach a confidence level CL to their answer the CL results are reflected by the colors of the bars There were two CL Hi Red for answer 1 one each of CL Lo Yellow and CL Med Green for answer 2 and one CL Med Green for answer 4 If no confidence level was required all bars would be green c Click on Close to go on to the next question oO x x m Result Q1 Total 5 Low CL E Medium CL F HighcL 7 To end the session click on End Session and the event by event records of the session including the Ds will be stored automatically on your hard disk as a comma separated values text file csv 8 If you do not want to start another session quit by clicking on File and then on Exit C Options other than the default ones 1 A common option would be polling or opinion sampling in which no D information will be recorded In this case one simply click on Audience
16. PRS Personal Response System Windows 3 1 95 or a later version User s Manual Varitronix Limited Hong Kong PRS v2 Edl page 1 Technical Support Contact Varitronix Limited 22 Chun Cheong Street Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate Tseung Kwan O Hong Kong Tel 852 2197 6000 Fax 852 2343 9555 Trade Mark Personal Response System and PRS are common law trademark of Varitronix Limited It is based on the Free forming One way Network patent pending Copyright This document and the associated software are the property of Varitronix Limited They are loaned to the user under the terms of the Limited Use License Agreement Unauthorized copying of this document the software or any associated materials is contrary to the property rights of Varitronix Limited and is a violation of state and federal law We hereby acknowledge other product names mentioned in this manual which may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies First Edition Copyright 9 1997 1998 Varitronix Limited PRS v2 Ed1 page 2 Activate your classroom with PRS What is PRS Il How does PRS work lll The special features of PRS IV Parts list V Warranty VI Getting started with the Standard Package A What you need to have B What you need to do the first time C PRS Hardware 1 Transmitter 2 Receiver D PRS Software 1 Minimum PC configuration required 2 Installation on Win
17. anger for the Transmitters 3 software programs PRS MARK and IDChq 1 User s Manual Please note that each Transmitter requires two 2 alkaline type 1 5 V AAA batteries for power which the user must supply Multiple packages special configurations or specific combinations can be ordered for campus wide application A rule of thumb is 2 Receivers per 50 Transmitters A School Package comes with 50 Transmitters and an integral Receiver LED Display Panel with Memory LED Panel for short No PC is required to operate the LED Panel An output port is provided so that the data stored in the LED Panel memory unit can be off loaded anytime after the end of each session to a PC or PC Notebook V Warranty The manufacturer s warranty is limited to the repair or replacement at its option of any PRS product due to any defect in design material and workmanship which arises within a period of one year from the date of delivery of such product This warranty is subject to e the product not being used for any purpose other than the normal purpose for its applications and e the observance by the user of all operating instructions and recommendations issued by the manufacturer in relation thereto VI Getting started with the Standard Package A What you need to have e aPC or PC Notebook with a minimum configuration of i486 chip and 8M RAM which operates on Windows 3 1 95 or a later version and e aprojector or a TV monito
18. are requirement IBM PC compatible 80386 system or above Win 3 1 Win95 or above 1 free COM port 10Mb Harddisk space Hardware Connection AC DC Adapter PC RS232 och _ COM port pc PREY a PRY AN Customizing ID The PRS ID Changer unit enables the user to customize a 9 digit ID number into the transmitter The procedure is as follow 1 Start the PRS IDChg Software 2 Connect the transmitter to be programmed to the ID Changer 3 Click on the button Customize ID 4 Following the prompt key in the ID number and press ENTER 5 Simultaneously press on the keys H and L on the transmitter to write the ID number into the transmitter Verifying ID To verity the ID number stored in the transmitter 1 Start the PRS IDChg Software 2 Connect the transmitter to the ID Changer 3 Click on the button Read ID 4 Simultaneously press the keys H and L on the transmitter 5 The ID will be read from the transmitter and be displayed on the screen PRS v2 Edl page 35 PRS Mark Program User s Guide The Mark program marks or grades the answers contained in a session file if there is a corresponding answer file available Details on the session file can be found in Section X on PRS operation a detailed guide An aie A answer a i shown below This was opened via Notepad clicking C PRS Answer Samp
19. dows 3 1 95 3 Changing the Transmitter s ID number 4 Grading or marking the answers VII PRS operation a quick tour VIII PRS operation a flow chart IX PRS operation a detailed guide A Starting B A question and answer session C Options other than the default ones X Using Names instead of Numbers for Ds XI Class seating chart XII Retrieving data files XIII Application Notes Active learning in the classroom The choices for Sender Ds in the Transmitters Campus wide usage Non academic applications of PRS A B C D XIV Appendix A PRS Transmitter User s Guide B PRS Receiver User s Guide C PRS D Changer User s Guide D Mark Program User s Guide PRS v2 Ed1 page ODD MOWAWDAND DODD oOo A A 3 What is PRS PRS is for you if you teach and want your students to pay attention to what you say in class 100 participation in question and answer sessions immediate feedback and reinforcement automatic attendance check automatic recording of student answers a lesson be reasonably understood before going to the next one test or quiz results promptly with automatic grading shy and disadvantaged students be proactive students opinions and preferences instantly Continuous monitoring of students progresses both individually and as a group In short PRS is a tool for active learning in the classroom PRS is also for you if you e conduct a training session and want imm
20. ediate feedback and reinforcement e convene a meeting to elect officers and want the results immediately e demonstrate a new product and want an on the spot measure of its impact e score a contest using the audience and want the results instantly In short PRS is a tool for electioneering or voting with immediate results and for instant polling or surveying of opinions or preferences PRS stands for Personal Response System It literally means privately responding or selecting It is based on a free forming one way network of wireless communication patent pending It is low cost easy to use portable and a flexible network Il How does PRS work In a nutshell each member of the audience responds privately to a question or prompt all responses are collected and the summary displayed for all to see Since nearly all questions can be cast in a multiple choice format the audience answer by pressing down on a numeric key on their pocket size wireless Transmitter T The signals sent are intercepted by a portable Receiver R which in turn is connected to a central Display D via an electronic circuit or a PC Every time a signal from a T is received one of the boxes shown on D changes color Since each T is encoded with a sender student ID number which is tagged onto the signal sent the flashing box on D shows the ID of the corresponding sender The answer itself is not displayed At the end of the question period a statistical
21. er Transmitter A 1 A B 2 Note that in this case the display boxes will show the Seat Number as illustrated below The corresponding Transmitter Number can be revealed by double clicking on the box ONDARON a DD2DD2DDDD SNOMfaon aw File Audience Kn 99Chances Screen 2 Soves 5Choices Auto Graph 3 4 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 PRS v2 Edl page 25 2 One Transmitter per two seats One advantage of attaching the Transmitters to seats is that two adjacent students can share the unit if we limit the multiple choices in a question to no more than 5 This option is activated automatically if in the Class File the descriptors for the number of seats per Transmitter have both A and B An example of a file that would activate this mode is C PRS Class CLA5OAB Its contents are shown below as well as the main display that would ensue after the file is loaded The student with descriptor A would uses the key set 1 to 5 while the one with descriptor B uses 6 to 0 In the latter case 6 means 1 7 means 2 0 means 5 Personal Response System Copyright 1997 1998 Varitronix Ltd File Audience Kn 99Chances Screen 20 Gores SChoices Auto Graph 001A Rael 002A pe 003A e m 005A ma 006A k 007A paca 008A lasa 009A ba 01
22. er by first pressing H L or nothing before pressing the Numeric key H means High certainty and the LED is steady red L means Low uncertain and the LED is steady yellow The default of not pressing means Medium intelligent guessing and the LED remains in steady green The confidence level will revert to the default value of Medium after 15 seconds or after each power off on sequence A continuously flashing or blinking of the LED indicates that the unit is malfunctioning Try switching off the power and re start the unit The batteries are expected to last at least a semester under normal usage They will need replacement if the LED light is deemed or if it does not light up when the power switch is clicked on A PRS Transmitter User s Guide is appended to the end of this manual 2 Receiver The Receiver is an IR detector powered by a 9 V AC to DC converter The red LED lamp should flash 3 times and be lit when the power is applied This indicates that the unit is ready to receive signals A signal cable is included for the connection between the RS 232C port of your PC and a Receiver The signals are received sequentially digitized and passed on to the PC for analysis and recording If more than one Receiver is required for coverage connect the signal output jack of the second unit to the signal input jack of the first unit and so on No additional power source
23. er menu bar select File and choose Run Type A Setup or B Setup if the floppy disk is in the B Drive and click OK Installation On the welcome screen close all other applications and click OK Click Install to start copying files The default path is C PRS After all files have been copied click OK to complete this step A PRS folder is created at the completion of the installation 3 Changing the Transmitter s ID number Instructions on the use of the D Changer unit and the IDChg software program can be found in User s Guide appended to the end of this manual PRS v2 Edl page 9 4 Grading or marking the answers The answers of each PRS session are recorded event be event on a data file stored in the folder C PRS Session These answers can be graded using the Mark software program Detailed instruction can be found in the Users Guide in appendix VII PRS Operation a quick tour The Default Settings the Easiest to Use A Click on the New Session button just below the top pull down menu bar 1 A prompt appears which suggests a default filename of MMddhhmm csv for storing your file at the conclusion of the current session MM for the month dd the day hh the hour and mm the minute csv means a comma separated values text file Click on OK unless you want to enter another filename Inside the session there are the following qu
24. estion options a b O Eel lt Click on Start to begin receiving the answers to the question ie o e 22 the question number Qx which can be changed by clicking on Question the time allotted to answer the question mmss with mm designating minutes and ss seconds which can be changed by clicking on Time You may want to give sufficient time for the Students to discuss with peers before answering the display screen can be shrunk in half to free the lower half for displaying a question by first clicking on Screen first next on Half Screen and then on either Black to overlay a overhead transparency or Text to type in the question setting the number of times a Student is permitted to answer a question by clicking on Chances and select the desired number Note that only the last entry received is recorded setting the number of choices in the multiple choice question by clicking on Choices and select the desired number and select whether to show the histogram of answers automatically or by menu control by clicking on Graph Instruct the Students to commence pressing the key s on their Transmitter to answer and to watch for the appearance of their D in one of the display boxes for confirmation that their answer has been received Click on Pause to stop the clock and on Resume to continue C
25. for the Students to answer must equal or be larger than the actual number of multiple choices in the question Click on Choices and the appropriate number to satisfy the requirement 2 Choices 3 Choices 4 Choices v 5Choices 6 Choices T Choices 8 Choices 9 Choices 10 Choices automatically or by menu control In the latter mode viewing the histogram of the 7 Click on Graph to select whether to show the histogram of answers PRS v2 Edl page 22 just concluded Q amp A exercise requires two steps clicking Question and then Graph v Auto Graph Menu Graph X Using Names instead of Numbers for Ds The option of using Names instead of Numbers for Ds has been provided To do this create a look up table for names versus numbers An example to follow is the file C PRS Name namsam csv You should of course have your own file Click on File then on Open Name File and load the look up file From this action onward the display boxes will show names throughout the session Open Name File Open Class File v No Class File Open Session File Create Class Sequential Create Class Random COM1 gt About Exit Open Name File 24x File name Folders Cancel dii Network List files of type Drives Comma delimited cs x amp c digital PRS v2 Edl page 23 XI Class seating chart A Class Seating Chart is refer
26. le csv The 1 entry is the question sibel oa the 2 corresponding answer is re Sample N MI EG File Edit Search Load the PRS Mark program into same file folder where your PRS program resides Run the Mark program and the main display will appear as illustrated above PRS v2 Edl page 36 1 5 6 The weighting factors are shown on the top pull down menu bar The defaults settings are 1 for Correct and 0 for Wrong Click on the appropriate buttons to change to the desired weightings Click on Load Session to get the desired session file which normally resides in the folder C PRS Session Below is an example in which the session consisted of 2 questions each with 4 choices and answered by 5 students Click on Load Answer to get the pre existing file that contains the correct answers for the set of questions Click on Calculate Mark and the session score of each student is shown on the column labeled Mark The statistical summaries are also computed and shown Note that in the example below the weightings are Correct 5 and Wrong 2 with zero for not participating Click on Save Mark to save the results Click on Exit to quit sa Mark v1 08 Conect 5 Wrong 2 About Load Sesion gt Load Answer Calculate Mark Save Mark i gt Exit Session Grid Answer Grid Mark Grid Seat ID JABIB lt JAns _ Seat ID ABIB S Mark 2 te e m 5
27. lick on Stop to terminate the question period The number of Students whose answer has been registered is shown on the right most box on top The Time is functional during the question period PRS v2 Edl page 10 4 The answering period concludes when the clock runs to zero or the Stop button was hit A summary of answers is displayed immediately as a histogram Click on Close to go on to the next question B To end the session click on End Session and the event by event records of your session including the Ds are stored on your hard disk as a comma separated values text file csv C To quit click on File and then on Exit Other Settings A Click on File and then on 1 Open Name File to load a look up table for replacing the numbers with names for all Ds on the display boxes 2 Open Class File to retrieve a previously created Class Seating Chart a csv type for use in the current session 3 No Class File for not using a Class Seating Chart 4 Open Session File to retrieve the histograms of a previous session for use in the current session 5 Create Class Sequential to create a Class Seating Chart by asking the Students to register in a sequence controlled by the Instructor a Drag the horizontal slider on the dialogue box to the desired number of columns seats
28. m C ee ee aan es Tee ee 4 Result N 5 Mean 7 SD 2 683282 Min 4 Max 10 rPPrPrrrrrrrr NOM amp hm SS No 3 1 4 5 2 3 1 4 5 2 PRS v2 Edl page 37
29. onding numbers of transmitters and receivers e lt is a learning tool its simplicity makes it applicable to all levels of education from the primary to the tertiary e It has security the ID in the transmitter can be changed only with the use of an ID changing adapter e t has two modes of operation the Known mode in which all ID tagged responses are recorded and the Anonymous mode in which these are not e It has two modes of display the full screen mode shows the largest image of the indicator boxes of signals received and for the histogram of the results while the half screen mode leaves the other half of the screen for displaying the question or instruction for responses e tis ateaching tool it has provisions for creating a class seating chart on line it facilitates the administration of quizzes tests and polling and permits the attachment of a confidence level high medium and low to the answer sent by the transmitters Extensive classroom testing and the use of well established IR technology have led to this simple functional system that is robust and sufficiently low cost to make it affordable for all students to have their personal transmitter to use in any classroom on campus In sum PRS could become a universal learning tool in the classroom PRS v2 Edl page 5 IV Parts list A Standard Package comes with the following items e 50 Transmitters 2 Receivers 2 connecting cables 1 9 V transformer 1 D Ch
30. op menu bar will acknowledge the reception of each digit by showing the Student D and the string of numbers that has been received up till that instant Start by clicking on File and then on Create Class Random Select the appropriate virtual seat matrix for your class Make sure that this overlays the physical seat matrix The snapshot below shows the situation when 5 students have registered and the ticker tape still showing the acknowledgements The Student Names appeared instead of ID Numbers because a Name File has been loaded previously Baker L 401 Albert T 208 Baker L 40 Albert T 20 Baker L 4 Albert T 2 File Audience Kn 99Chances Screen 20 Soves SChoices Auto Graph Gi aa mee 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 Amsel 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 ada oe nie w User Info per ae Al ber 301 302 303 306 307 308 Berni sss zas sas seins gni ani 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 Baker a i Allen PRS v2 Edl page 28 XII Retrieving data files The results of each PRS session are stored as a Session File in a comma separated value text file csv inside the folder C PRS Session This file can be read with Notepad and any spreadsheet software The contents of a session file named 0824165 csv are shown below as read with Notepad and Microsoft Excel 97 Session ended on Monday Aug 24 1998 64 57 13 Question Time Attempt Seat ID A
31. other applications of PRS The following are a few examples e Training classes in language and other technical skills use PRS to ensure that a lesson is understood before proceeding to the next one and for monitoring the learning progress of trainees e In a convention or meeting to elect officers or vote on resolution use PRS to record votes and tabulating the results immediately e In marketing use PRS to obtain on the spot reactions of your audience to your product demonstration e In a contest to be judged by the audience use PRS to facilitate the scoring by the audience and to tabulate the results immediately PRS v2 Edl page 32 a PRS Transmitter User s Guide Specification ize 107mm x 56mm x 25mm Weight Approx 50g without battery Power Two AAA 1 5V Alkaline Batteries Signal Effective Distance Not less than 30 meters Operation Q Press power key to ON Q Locate the Receiver and point the Transmitter towards it Q Make your decision press the corresponding NUMERIC key and the LED will be flashing Q Power will shut OFF when the unit is not use for 15 minutes Confidence level CL a A confidence level will attached to your answer if you first press H L or nothing before pressing the NUMERIC key a H means High L means Low and the default of no pre pressing means Medium a The confidence level will revert to the default value of Medium after 15 seconds or on each powe
32. otted to answer the question is shown in the box immediately on the right as mmss with mm for minutes and ss for seconds Click on Time to change the allotment in increment of 30 seconds a You may want to allot sufficient time for the Students to discuss with peers before answering b If you want a Confidence Level to be tagged to their answers ask the Students to press on their Transmitter H followed by the Numeral for very confident certain L plus the Numeral for not confident pure guessing and just the Numeral for moderately confident intelligent guessing 4 Click on Start to begin receiving answers to the question Students can commence pressing the key s on their Transmitter to answer a Click on Pause to stop the clock and on Resume to continue b Click on Stop to terminate the question period before the clock time reaches zero c The number of Students whose answer has been registered is shown on the right most box on top d The illustration below shows a total of 11 signals were received from 5 Students 3 from D 000000005 and 2 each from the remaining 4 Note that i the color of the box is associated with the last digit of the D and ii only the last signal received from each Student is registered Personal Response System Copyright 1997 1998 Varitronix Ltd File Audiencety 39Chances Screen ZiBoves 5
33. per row and the vertical slider to the number of rows and click on next b A Class Seating Chart appears with the seat labeled by rrcc where rr refers to the row number and cc to the column number c Make sure that you know the one to one correspondence between the virtual and physical seat d Starting with seat 101 row 1 column 01 ask the student seating there to register by pressing any single numeric key The cursor then moves to the adjacent seat 102 and the student there can be asked to register and so on and so forth any empty seat will be skipped after 3 s e Click on end and then enter the filename to save the Class Seating Chart for the next session 5 Create Class Random to create a Class Seating Chart by asking the Students to register on a first come first served basis First follow steps 4 a to c above and then the steps below a Ask each Student to transmit their seat number one digit at a time within 10 seconds A ticker tape display above the top menu bar acknowledges the reception of each digit by showing the Student D and the number string that has been received up to that moment If their corresponding PRS v2 Edl page 11 seat on the display box does not show their D as acknowledgement wait 10 seconds and re transmit the whole seat number b Terminate the regi
34. r off on sequence LED indicator Q Green Medium CL Q Red High CL Q Yellow Low CL Q Flashing Transmission in progress Signal directi Replace batteries when the Pan age LED becomes dim Answer selection ke Confidence lev l selection ON OFF Key PRS v2 Edl page 33 H PRS Receiver User s Guide Specification Dimension Approx 122mm x 60mm x 43mm Weight Approx 130 grams 9 ower VDC via signal cable Receiving half angle Approx 45 degrees Mounting The use of 1 receiver for every 25 transmitters is suggested If two receivers are used mount them on the corners in front of the classroom and make sure the sensitive part glass of each unit faces the diagonal corner Hardware connection Detector t ie fo OUT iN GUT iN PC RS232 COM port sams To a maximum of 4 Receivers in a chain AC DC o9 Adapter Cable configuration cim N _ lt A Outer GND Outer GND Stereo Plug Middle Signal Middle Signal Stereo Plug Inner 9 O Inner 9V Stereo Jack DB9 Female DC Jack Outer GND Pin 2 Sign Middle Signal Stereo Jack DB9 Female O l Pin 5 GND O e Inner 9V Inner 9V DC Jack Outer GND PRS v2 Edl page 34 QRS ID Changer User s Guide Specification 9V DC Dimension 90mm x 50mm x 32mm Approx 70 grams Hardw
35. r that can project your PC monitor screen for the entire audience to see PRS v2 Edl page 6 B What you need to do the first time Instructions to the Operator Instructor e Follow the instruction of the User s Guide to mount and connect the Receivers The use of 1 Receiver per 25 Transmitters is recommended Make sure the small glass window of each Receiver is visible to the audience e Supply power to the Receiver nearest the PC using the 9 V transformer provided e Connect the data output port of the nearest Receiver to the RS232C port of your PC using the signal cable provided Note Four 4 Receivers will provide adequate coverage even for the largest lecture hall if more than 4 Receivers are used additional 9 V power source s will be required Skip the next paragraph if you plan to operate PRS entirely in the Anonymous mode Each Transmitter has been pre loaded with an ID number D at the factory Before you hand out the Transmitters to the senders students you might want to change the factory set Ds to the student ID numbers The D can be any number from 0 to 999 999 999 Instructions for changing Ds can be found in the PRS D Changer User s Guide in the Appendix Instructions to the senders students e When answering make sure to aim the narrow end of your Transmitter at a Receiver e Watch the boxes on the display screen Your D will appear on one of these boxes and that box should change color for
36. red to as Class File for short Its creation can be made ahead of time or on line at the beginning of a class Click on File and then on Open Class File if there is already a pre existing class file to load Open Name File Open Class File No Class File Open Session File Create Class Sequential Create Class Random COM1 gt About Exit Open Class File EES File name Folders CLA5O csv C PRS Class CLA100 cs eye CLA100AB cs prs CLA150 cs Sy CI CLA150AB csv al Class CLA5O csv CLA5SOAB cs cls100 cs cls100ab cs hd List files of type Drives Comma delimited cs x amp c digital Cancel Network dii PRS v2 Edl page 24 A Off line creation In the applications where the Students are assigned seats a class seating chart can be created ahead of time In this case it may be simpler to use Transmitter Number for Student D Number Several examples are included in the folder C PRS Class 1 One Transmitter per seat In the dialogue box shown above the file CLA50 csv has been highlighted for selection The first few lines of the data inside it are shown below The 1 and 2 line is the number of rows and number of seats per row respectively Beginning from the 3 line the 1 entry is the Seat Number 2 is Transmitter Number and last is a descriptor for the number of seats p
37. rivate e discussion with peers before answering and e knowing how their peers responded The faculty users consider the following as very useful e immediate assessment of students comprehension e automatic attendance check e automatic recording of students answers and e a polling option for surveying views and opinions In a comprehensive article published in the American Journal of Physics Vol 66 1998 pp 64 74 Richard R Hake showed unequivocally that the use of Interactive Engagement IE strategies in the classroom can increase mechanics course effectiveness well beyond that obtained with Traditional T methods The study was based on a survey of pre post test data of about 6000 students in high schools colleges and universities using the Halloun Hastenes Mechanics Diagnostic test MD or Force Concept Inventory FCI Defining the average normalized gain lt g gt as the ratio of the actual average gain lt post gt lt pre gt to the maximum possible average gain 100 lt pre gt Hake found lt g gt T ave 0 23 0 04 and lt Q gt iE ave 0 48 0 14 The effectiveness of IE approaches over those of T is more than a factor of 2 according to this measure The IE methods are those designed at least in part to promote conceptual understanding through interactive engagement of students to heads on always and hands on usually activities which yield immediate feedback through discussion with peers and or instructors
38. stration process by clicking on end and then enter the filename for the Class Seating Chart 6 COM for designating which communication port COM1 or COM2 to connect the Receiver s 7 About for important reminders 8 Exit to quit PRS D Click on Audience to select the option of a Known in which all recorded answers will be tagged with the Student Ds for answers which will be marked or graded later or b Anonymous in which there will be no D tag on the recorded answers for polling or surveying C Click on Chances to select the limit on the number of times that a Student is permitted to answer a question Note that only the last entry is recorded D Click on Screen to select either Full Screen which gives the largest display area or Half Screen which frees the lower half for displaying a question with a Black giving a dark background to overlay for example an overhead viewgraph or Text for typing in a question or by double clicking on the white area for loading or saving a text file oO E Click on Boxes to select the number of display boxes to show the Ds of the most recent responses received F Click on Choices to select the number of choices in the current question G Click on Graph to select whether to show the histogram of answers automatically or via menu control PRS v2 Edl
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