What is Audience Response System?
According to Wikipedia, "A Personal Response System (PRS) or Audience Response System (ARS) allows large groups of people to vote on a topic or answer a question. Each person has a remote control with which selections can be made. Each remote communicates with a computer via receivers located around the room. After a set time, the system shuts off and tabulates the results. Typically, the results are instantly made available to the participants via a bar graph displayed on projector."
Most audience response systems use a combination of software and hardware to present questions, record responses, and provide feedback. The hardware consists of two components: the receiver and the audience's clickers. Questions may be created either using PowerPoint or ARS software. Question types may include multiple choice, true/false, numeric, ordering, and short answer. Questions are displayed onscreen and the audience responds by entering their answers using the clicker.
Classroom Applications of Audience Response System
An Audience Response System is also called Student Response System or Classroom Response System. Unlike asking students to raise their hands in response to a question, with an ARS system, faculty can receive immediate classroom feedback.
Typical applications are:
- Instructors can easily deliver interactive sets of questions
- Encourage risk taking because students can answer anonymously
- Gauge the students' level of understanding of the material being presented
- Generate discussion from results of feedback
- Instantly receive and grade homework, reviews, and tests
- Record grades
- Take attendance
- Collect data
For more information on Audience Response System, please contact Tulio Llosa or Pamela Rodgers.
Audience Response Systems in Higher Education
- Classroom 'clickers' catching on as instant assessment tool - University of Wisconsin-Madison
- TurningPoint 2008 Student Response System - Iowa State University
- Classroom Clickers - Ohio State University
- Clickers - University of California Riverside
- Immediate Response Systems: Clickers are catching ON
- PRS Clickers - Center for Scholarly Technology, University of Southern California
- Student Response Systems, San Francisco State University
- Student Response Systems Overview - University of Minnesota
- FAQ on Using Student Response Systems at MU - University of Missouri
- Student Response Systems - University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
Articles on Audience Response Systems
- 7 Things You Should Know About Clickers - EDUCAUSE
- Chemistry 101 meets "Millionaire" - University at Buffalo
- Classroom Clickers Make the Grade - Wired.com
- Clickers, CNET News
- Clickers add class interaction
- Clickers open conversations in classrooms - The Brown Daily Herald/Brown University
- Interactive 'clickers' changing classrooms - MSNBC
- Interactive Teaching: Use of 'Clickers' [PRS] in the Classroom - EDUCAUSE
- New Learning Technologies and Emergent Practices in Higher Education
- Student Response Systems Resource Page - EDUCAUSE
