What
is CRS?
Commonly referred to as CRS (classroom
response systems), this innovative concept has become increasingly
popular on college campuses in the last five years. There
are many different products available, but the over-arching
concept is the same; students use hand-held clickers, similar
to a t.v. remote, to respond to multiple choice or polling
questions that the instructor posts as part of their daily
lecture. The responses are gathered by a central receiver,
tallied, and immediately projected back for all to see.
With some creativity on the part of the faculty, this teaching-tool
can be used to inspire class discussion, analyze the true
level of understanding on a given topic, and review the
previous
day's material. But, more significantly, CRS systems
draw in and engage the students who reside on the periphery
of the classroom experience.
|
return
to top |
|
| |
The Tufts CRS Pilot Project
The Tufts CRS project is a pilot program, with support from
Academic Technology's APT (A Partnership in Technology) grant
program and the School of Arts and Science's Information
Technology Services, designed to test classroom response
systems in 3 Medford campus classrooms in the spring of 2006.
The goal is to test the product, concepts, and viability
of CRS at Tufts.
Faculty participants include: |
 |
| |
George Norman, Economics Department |
|
| |
Esther Zirbel, Physics & Astronomy Department |
|
| |
Kerri Conditto, Department
of Romance Languages |
The project began in mid-July
2005 with a faculty needs assessments. These assessments
were used to narrow the field of products to the three
that most
closely addressed the faculty's needs. The top
3 products selected were Quizdom, eInstruction CPSrf,
and
Turning Point
ResponseCard RF. After a careful analysis of cost, software
features, hardware features, and available support and
documentation, the project team selected eInstruction's
CPSrf as the CRS project clicker/receiver product.
Project team members include: |
|
| |
Ranjani Saigal, Computer Services |
|
| |
Paula Vincini, Computer Services |
|
| |
Ed Dente, Arts & Sciences Information Technology |
|
| |
Shawn Maloney, Arts & Sciences Information Technology |
|
| |
Tina Riedel, Computer Services |
| |
|
The project team will collect
student and faculty feedback throughout the Spring 2006 semester
and will produce a whitepaper based on the results in
the Summer of 2006.
|
|
return
to top |
|
| |
Anticipated
Goals and Benefits
Implementing CRS means more work
for the participating faculty, yet all are looking forward
to the rewards inherent in active learning. A side benefit
for faculty includes the ability to gather data on the progress
made by different groups of students. Do Liberal Arts students
peak in their understanding of introductory physics and astronomy
at a certain point in the semester? If so, how can the lecture
be adapted to keep them from being left behind? Or, conversely,
do they start out behind the Science majors, but surpass them
at some point during the semester?
In regard to student motivation, past research has shown that
student retention of new concepts and facts dramatically increases
when active learning tools like CRS are introduced into the
classroom. Additionally, CPSrf offers the benefit
of an individualized online accounts. Student responses to
the questions
and class
activities asked in class are uploaded by the instructor to
the CPSOnline student accounts, automatically creating study
and review guides based on each student's classroom responses.
|
| |
 |
| |
| With the combined benefits of advanced
research in how particular groups of students learn and the
innovation of students as active participants in the direction
of their course work, CRS offers the potential for a
profound impact on teaching and learning at Tufts. |
| |
| |
return
to top |
|
