ITS-Teaching and Learning University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 2006-2007 Classroom Response System Evaluation

8/14/2019 ITS-Teaching and Learning University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 2006-2007 Classroom Response System Evaluation

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ITS-Teaching and LearningUniversity of North Carolina-Chapel Hill2006-2007 Classroom Response System Evaluation

This evaluation recommends a single classroom response system as a campus standard for those

courses requiring students to purchase the devices themselves. For these courses, we recommend

adopting eInstruction CPS. Its features, its ability to integrate with existing campus systems, andthe quality of support provided by the vendor meet our selection criteria.

BackgroundWith an objective of increasing the interactivity of large enrollment courses, individual

instructors and departments at UNC-Chapel Hill have been using classroom response systems. Aresponse system is used by an instructor to pose questions to the class. Students use handheld

devices, commonly referred to as clickers, to transmit their answers to a transceiver attached to

the instructors presentation computer. Students answers to questions are tallied almostinstantly. The instructor can choose to display to the class graphs of the collected responses.

A few instructors began using these systems as early as the 2000-2001 academic year. Earlyadopters struggled with reliability issues as the technologies employed by response systems have

evolved.

As various textbook publishers and other response system vendors continue to vie for individualinstructors and departments as customers, some students have reported having to purchase as

many as three different devices during the course of their undergraduate careers.

Educational institutions who either agree to recommend a single vendors system as a standard or

to purchase a certain number of student devices from a vendor receive discounted pricing on

these products.

Objective

The purpose of this evaluation was to recommend a single system as a campus standard for those

courses requiring students to purchase the devices themselves. The recommended system strikes

a balance between cost to students, quality and breadth of vendor support, and features making itan effective instructional tool.

Products

As of Fall 2006, all competitive vendors offered radio-frequency devices. The five systems inl i ll hi h l i h i l li bili T i P i I i


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Selection criteria

To develop and refine selection criteria, ITS-Teaching and Learning distributed an online survey

to faculty currently using a response system and consulted with Student Government about theusability of the five devices and pricing models used by the vendors. ITS-TL also contacted other

universities who had or were in the process of evaluating response systems themselves.

The primary selection criteria are listed below. Refer to the product comparison matrix for

detailed information about each product.

Available question types. Of those eight faculty who responded to our faculty survey, four

reported using a variety of question types (refer to comparison matrix for a description of thesetypes).

Ease of use for instructor. Both the usability of the products software and ease of student

registration are factors.

Ease of use for students. The largest factor for ease of use is the design of student devices, with

LCD display being the most significant feature. When students earn course credit for the answers

they submit, confirmation through the device that these answers were successfully receivedsignificantly increases students comfort in using the technology.

Blackboard integration. Integration with a course management system facilitates both the

registration of student devices with courses and data exchange from instructors software to an

online enterprise system.

Quality and range of support from vendor. In addition to providing text-based user guides,

vendors should have weekday phone support, online help request forms, video tutorials, user-community discussion boards, and real-time, webcast tutorials.

Cost and pricing options. With four of the systems, a student pays a flat fee for a device. With

eInstruction, there are two fees: the cost for the device and the cost for device registration. Thecost to the student for device registration depends upon whether the student decides to pay a one-

time fee or a semesterly fee (capped at three semesters). Therefore, a student pays only during

those semesters that he or she uses the clicker.

During the 2006-2007 academic year, Student Stores Textbooks received orders from instructorsfor two systems, eInstruction and iClicker. Standardizing on either of these systems would have

permitted a buyback programs to be instituted more quickly, in this case by May 2007. With a

buyback program in place at this time, the devices that students purchased this academic year,before the standardization agreement could be used during Summer Session 2007 onward or


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Information current as of Feb 1, 2007; subject to change

CPS TurningPoint iClicker Quizdom PRS

Non-discounted prices ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

Student device $16 net $48 net $25 net $39.90 net $35 net

Device registration fee

$15 single semester,capped at threesemesters; $50 flat rate none none none none

Instructor transceiver $350 $199 $300 $525 $249

Types of discounts

discounted registrationfees, free instructortransceivers

discounted prices on

student devices andinstructor transceivers,kits

free instructortransceivers

discounted prices on

student devices andinstructor transceivers,kits

discounted prices on kits,free instructor transceiver

Instructor software ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

Installation required yes yesno (can run from USBkey) yes yes

Supported OS both both both

both for standaloneclient, PC only forPowerPoint plug in

both, plus Linux(programmed in Java)

Core question types (refer tonext page for categories) 2 3 1 4 4

Add. software required no PowerPoint no no no

License proprietary proprietary open-source proprietary proprietary

PowerPoint add-in yes yes no yes yes

Instructor transceiver ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

Transmission band 2.4 GHz 2.4 GHz 900 MHz

802.15.4, Zigbee, samefreq; self-negiotiating

system 16 channels,patent pending 2.4 GHz

Power supply USB USB USB USB AC (USB in beta)

Instructor remote no noyes (student remote,reprogrammed) yes (dedicated remote)

yes (student remotereprogrammed)

16/03/07ITS-Teaching and Learning

UNC-Chapel Hill
http://www.einstruction.com/http://www.turningtechnologies.com/http://www.iclicker.com/http://www.quizdom.com/http://www.interwritelearning.com/products/prs/radio/detail.htmlhttp://www.einstruction.com/http://www.interwritelearning.com/products/prs/radio/detail.htmlhttp://www.quizdom.com/http://www.iclicker.com/http://www.turningtechnologies.com/


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Student device ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

LCD display yes no no yes yes

Battery type 2 AA 2 coin batteries 3 AA 2 AA 3 AAA

Battery life360 hours with normalusage 6-12 mo 200 hours 1 year of "normal use"

20 weeks, based ontypical usage

Registration services handled

by

vendor's server, Bbbuilding block to vendor'sserver

local Bb server,instructor's client

vendor's server orinstructor's client

vendor's server orinstructor's client

local Bb server,instructor's client

Virtual device available no yes no no yes

Support ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------Online docs yes yes yes yes yes

Discussion boards yes no no no yes

Chat yes no no no no

Email/webform yes yes yes no yes

Phone yes yes yes yes yes

Video tutorials instructor only instructor only no no instructor and student

Web conference training admin, instructor instructor no no instructor

Ad hoc face to face training

instructors who adoptMcGraw-Hill textbooks no no no no

Blackboard Building Block yes yes no no yes

Publisher/content provider

partnerships McGraw-Hill ThomsonBedford, Freeman &Worth Pearson Wiley, Pearson

Question types

Single-answer select Yes Yes Yes Yes YesCheck all that apply, any order No Yes No Yes NoNumeric input Yes No No Yes Yes

Sequence/series/ordering No No No Yes YesText entry No No No Q5 device only YesWeighted ranking No Yes No No No

16/03/07ITS-Teaching and Learning

UNC-Chapel Hill

Documents

ITS-Teaching and Learning University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 2006-2007 Classroom Response System Evaluation