Personal Response Systems, AKA "Clickers"

Allegheny College uses the InterWrite PRS personal response InfraRed(IR) system in several of the technology classrooms on campus.

• Locations
• Advance Planning
• Software
• Registering Clickers

Locations

Currently IR PRS receivers are installed in:

• Alden 207
• Alden 210
• Arter 201
• Carnegie 101
• Carr 141
• Carr 227
• Carr 225
• Doane Chemistry C103
• Quigley 101
• Quigley 126
• Quigley 218
• Ruter 106
• Steffee B302
• Steffee B102

Advance Planning

If you plan to use clickers with your classes please remember to do the following before the semester begins:

• Contact the bookstore at least two weeks in advance to order clickers for the students to purchase. Students who already have a clicker purchased for another class do not need to buy a second clicker. They can use the same clicker in subsequent semesters or in multiple classes in the same semester.
• Contact the Office of Educational Technology if you would like your class section listed at http://clickers.allegheny.edu/ This web site provides an easy way for students to register their clickers for your class.

Software

The InterWrite PRS software, version 3.10.0019, is installed on the podium computers in the classrooms listed above. Faculty who are using clickers in their classes may also want the software installed on their office computers in order to prepare questions ahead of time. Contact the Office of Educational Technology in order to arrange for this software to be installed on your computer. You may also download the software and install it on your home computer. Note that we recommend you use the same version on your home computer as is installed in the classrooms and your office, to avoid possible problems with questions during class.

If you create classes, lessons, or questions in the PRS software on your office computer, you can make this information available on a classroom computer by putting a copy of the PRS folder in your My Documents folder into the My Documents folder on the classroom computer. This can most easily be done using FTP to your network account, or using a USB thumb drive. Remember to copy the PRS folder from the classroom computer back to your network account or USB drive before logging out so that you can update your office computer with information collected in class.

It is also possible to use a USB thumb drive as the default location for all your PRS data. Please contact the Office of Educational Technology if you would like further details.

Registering Clickers

If you plan to use the clickers to track responses throughout the semester - for instance, to take attendance or to see how a particular student has answered a question - then you will need to create a class roster in the PRS software which associates the unique transmitter ID of a clicker with the student who owns the clicker. This can be easily done by telling the students to complete the form at http://clickers.allegheny.edu/ In order for your class section to appear in the drop-down list on the clicker registration page you must first contact the Office of Educational Technology with your class information.

Faculty can use the clicker registration page to download a roster of students who have registered their clickers, and this roster can then be imported into the PRS software. Contact the Office of Educational Technology for details.

Note that a student using the same clicker in multiple classes must complete the registration form once for each class that is using clickers.

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