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Clickers – Faculty
The following clicker workshops will take place on August 17th,
2009.
Introduction to PRS Clickers
Monday, August 17, 10:30-11:30am, Weir 107
Presented by Julie Weiss, Interwrite
If you would like to learn about clickers, also known as personal
response systems, this is the workshop to attend. What are clickers?
How can they be used in a classroom? What benefits will I get
from using them? All of these questions and more will be answered.
Advanced Clickers
Monday, August 17, 1:00-2:30pm, Weir 107
Presented by: Julie Weiss, Interwrite
This workshop is for instructors that are already using or are
planning to use clickers in their classrooms and have questions
about the basics: importing/managing rosters, saving/transporting
data between computers, general problems, etc. More advanced
topics, such as using a Master Clicker, will also be covered.
Faculty may also request a one-on-one consultation at any time
by contacting the FTDC at 915-7918 or ftdc@olemiss.edu.
There is always live training available via the PRS Web Site.
Click
here to review their training materials.
The software may be download from the PRS
Web Site.
Interwrite has provided a Student
Overview PowerPoint Presentation that contains slides explaining
how to input a student ID number, join a class, input varying
answer types, etc. Instructors may find this slideshow useful
when explaining clicker use to their students. The presentation
may be downloaded here.
Faculty can use clickers to gauge understanding
and to poll for opinions. Faculty report that they can increase
student interaction using clickers. One teaching strategy is to
pose a question and then display the results. If there is a wide
variety in the answers, the faculty member can ask students to form
groups to discuss the question. After the discussion the students
can respond again. Faculty can also use clickers to take attendance.
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Faculty need to have a computer in the
classroom with the Interwrite Response PRS software installed on it. Faculty should
download
the newest version of the software from the PRS Web site
rather than using the CD that comes with the clicker. The PRS
system works with both PC and Macintosh computers. The first
time the receiver is connected to the computer, a new device
driver will have to be installed. Faculty will need to make
sure to install this device driver even though they may receive
a message stating that it is not a windows recognized driver.
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Faculty need to have a receiver. All faculty
who order clickers through the bookstore should receive a free
receiver. Please contact the FTDC
at 915-7918 to request your free receiver.
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Faculty need their students to purchase
clickers from the bookstore.
The Instructional Technology Standing Committee recommended campus-wide
standardization on PRS InterWrite personal response systems or
"clickers" from GTCO CalComp. The University has signed
an agreement with the vendor to make PRS RF InterWrite the officially
supported "clicker".
This standardization means that students should need to purchase
only one clicker for their entire university career.
This agreement does not prohibit faculty from using competing
clicker systems. It does mean that this is the only clicker system
that IT will support.
A 50 clicker loaner kit is available at the FTDC. Instructors
can request this loaner kit to experiment with clickers without
requiring students to buy them.
To schedule a clicker kit loan, contact the FTDC at 915-7918.
Please specify how many clickers are needed -- up to 50 clickers.
Software and an RF receiving antenna (USB connection) are included
in the kit. (Laptops with PRS Interwrite software installed are
available through IT Media if needed.)
The typical loan period is 1-2 days (with a maximum of 5 loan
periods per semester).
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