Classroom Response Systems

The University of West Florida recently partnered with the University Bookstore and TurningTechnologies to provide classroom response system technology for instructors and students. TurningTechnologies’ Classroom Response System, also known as a student response system or audience response system, integrates seamlessly into Microsoft PowerPoint, allowing students to participate in presentations and lectures by submitting responses to interactive questions and prompts using a ResonseCard keypad. PowerPoint presentations then become powerful data collection, assessment, and engagement tools that collect real-time responses, dramatically enhancing learning outcomes. Instructors can author, deliver, and report without ever leaving PowerPoint.

At a Glance

Faculty

Let the bookstore know how many clickers your students will purchase in a semester for a given course
Obtain an RF receiver by contacting Jenae Burkart (850-474-2075)
Download and install TurningPoint on your computer, and develop interactive PowerPoint slides for use in class

Students

Purchase a “clicker” from the bookstore
Register clicker RFID number from the Class Schedule app in MyUWF
Bring clicker to class to respond to interactive PowerPoint slides developed by the instructor

UWF Standardizes on TurningTechnologies

After an extensive review of several student response system providers, TurningTechnologies was selected as UWF’s standard. Standardization provides many benefits.

Minimizes IT needs and creates efficiencies because one system is supported on campus
Students need only purchase one type of response device to use throughout their academic career within multiple classrooms
Faculty and staff can easily collaborate and share methodology and data when integrating the same system across campus
Permanent, transparent licensing for the university
Software installations onto any computer at no cost
Convenient online training via TurningTechnologies website
Support, maintenance, and updates provided at no cost (includes hardware warranties and customer service)
Registration management available through the Student Response Clickers app in MyUWF, and ResponseCard IDs made available via Classmate

Using TurningPoint in Class

TurningPoint is TurningTechnologies software that integrates with PowerPoint. There are three components to using TurningPoint in class: (1) software, (2) instructor's RF (radio frequency) receiver, and (3) ResponseCard (the student’s “clicker”).


ResponseCard	RF Receiver

Current TurningPoint software is available from TurningTechnologies' website (see support information below). Instructors may download the software for free to develop curricular materials. The software will be available on computers in eClassrooms and Hi-Tech classrooms beginning in Fall 2009. Students may purchase ResponseCards from the university bookstore. Instructors should report to the university bookstore sales manager the number of ResponseCards that they expect students will purchase for a course to ensure they are adequately stocked (similar to the way books are requested).

As faculty and instructors will discover through use of the system, TurningTechnologies’ student response systems identify students to their ResponseCards via an RFID tag number located on the back of the ResponseCard. Instructors who choose to use “participant lists” for quizzes, exams, attendance, etc., will have RFID data available in Classmate. Students will enter their unique RFID tag number from the Class Schedule app in Argus, and then instructors will have access to the data on the Classmate roster. Instructors will be able to download this information to Excel and then import the data into TurningPoint. If instructors decide to use TurningPoint as a formative diagnostic tool, where all responses are anonymous, students need not enter their RFID tag number.