For several semesters now I have used PRS (Personal Response System) in my large CS1371 lectures at Georgia Tech (~300 students are enrolled in each lecture, though less than that actually attend). Students respond in real time to multiple choice questions displayed on the projector by clicking a button a a remote-like device. It takes some extra time to create the questions, and definitely slows down the pace of lecture a bit, but from my experience it has seemed to increase engagement (if only anecdotally). This semester, a handful of students cheer every time I say, "and now for a PRS question". Not sure if they are cheering because they are there and thus that means they will get the "participation point" for the day, of if they are cheering because they enjoy the PRS experience. Perhaps this is something I will investigate when I get some time...
Anyway, seems like PRS-like systems are gaining popularity: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/education/16clickers.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper
What do you think about it?
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)