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  1. 1. Systems to consider
    1. 1.1 PRS IR
    2. 1.2 PRS RF
    3. 1.3 PRS Cricket
    4. 1.4 eInstruction
    5. 1.5 Turning Point
    6. 1.6 CPS
    7. 1.7 Qwizdom
    8. 1.8 IML
    9. 1.9 HITT
    10. 1.10 Colour-Cube and other non-E VS
  2. 2. Thoughts on the handset review:
    1. 2.1 What are the questions they would ask?
  3. 3. Simple MCQ usage
    1. 3.1 What is the rough price?
    2. 3.2 what is the time cost for setup?
    3. 3.3 How easily can a question or a bank of question be prepared?
    4. 3.4 How easily can a single mcq be collected?
    5. 3.5 how completely can a class be polled?
    6. 3.6 how quickly can a single mcq be collected?
    7. 3.7 what can be displayed once it has been collected?
    8. 3.8 Longevity
  4. 4. other features:
    1. 4.1 identified students?
    2. 4.2 exams?
    3. 4.3 homework?
    4. 4.4 scoring?
    5. 4.5 ordering and/or ranking?
    6. 4.6 presentation methods? (powerpoint etc)

1.  Systems to consider

1.1  PRS IR

Software should be 2.49 (its still worth it), IW v4(.11? and possibly v3 which was the last ir-only software), mine?
Should also find out about High speed IR handsets

1.2  PRS RF

Software v4(.11 or most current)

1.3  PRS Cricket

(if we can get hold of them)

1.4  eInstruction

Demo on the web. I think they made CPS?

1.5  Turning Point

Demo on the web. (might also work with PRS)

1.6  CPS

redundant?

1.7  Qwizdom

The kit we have is redundant.

1.8  IML

The science centre has iml handsets.

1.9  HITT

Im sure jim had a set of these and they are high speed ir

1.10  Colour-Cube and other non-E VS

The princeton podcast mentions the hands-up technique as not anon therefore use of booklets with 5 differently coloured pages meaning only someone at the front really saw what people were voting

2.  Thoughts on the handset review:

We can do two things: a classification (more technical than useful) and/or try to answer the questions that prospective buyers of equipment in HE would ask

These are not mutually exclusive but different approaches to the review that MIGHT lead to different things. By classifying the systems we essential pay more attention to the manufacturers rather than the lecturer/user i.e. we pick up on the features that they think are important and these need not be important in teaching.

So we focus on the lecturer/user.

2.1  What are the questions they would ask?

and does this differentiate the products enough to make a worthwhile read?

Probably the most important bit of info is the use of the handsets under normal circumstances. If this was hard/bad then it negates the extra features provided. Therefore a report should make clear these 'simple' things about all systems and then a more general look at the extras provided by the different systems should be followed (though maybe not all would be mentioned, as they might not provide any interesting features).

3.  Simple MCQ usage

3.1  What is the rough price?

unit cost for handset and receivers? software? battery life time?

3.2  what is the time cost for setup?

plug and play of receivers?;
handset setup per class; - EVSUserSteps
lecturer action per class

3.3  How easily can a question or a bank of question be prepared?

Presentation methods are mentioned below but this is distinct from the preparation and asks how to prepare the use of the handsets for a lecture, whatever the presentation may be

3.4  How easily can a single mcq be collected?

student actions per question
lecturer actions per question
EVSUserSteps

including tailoring to question ?;
how complicated is the in-lecture interface

number of buttons/options
obvious mistakes to make

3.5  how completely can a class be polled?

Hmmmm?

3.6  how quickly can a single mcq be collected?

technical only? but it might tie into the previous question.

3.7  what can be displayed once it has been collected?

bar/pie charts and how they are/canbe setup to aid reading; textual; summary (i.e. right/wrong)

3.8  Longevity

We have just reached an interesting phase of the PRS IR handsets as technologically they are beginning to show their age. The manufacturer has released the rf handsets (more complicated) and have a new rf system that is supposed to 'replace' the ir. They have also told us of plans for updating the ir technology to 'high-speed'(HS) ir. As far as we know, the old ir handsets will work with the new HS ir receivers and a mixture of the new and old handsets can be used in a single class. The new HS ir handsets will not work at all with the old receivers. The RESELLERs (i.e. not the manufacturers) told us that the old equipment was not being produced anymore and we would only be able to buy the new equipment. The manufacturer then told us that this was wrong and they had a long term commitment to the old system. But we have no idea what this actually means. The question is how long can we expect the handset to last but the considerations for answering the question are 'numerous and diverse':

the relevance to the pedagogic task
exam sessions were pretty difficult with the ir system and the need for this gradually increased
the actual physical wear on a handset
dropping
numbers rubbing off buttons
the software support for modern system
The software that allows the handset ids to be changed will only running on windows 2000 or earlier. The manufacturer was no longer interested in reprogrammable handsets (and it may be the case that they only sell fixed id handsets) and therefore this bit of software is not important to them. I have not seen a new version anywhere (though there might be). This suggests that whilst they might say they have a long term commitment to a product, they are probably only committed to parts of the system (that are relevant to their business).
the continued availability of equipment
This is the situation we currently face and Im still not sure what I would recommend to cope with it. We have two types of use: loaned or owned. The difference is between me running round the uni with all the equipment for one event in a lecture on a particular day (I can chose what receivers and handsets to use) versus Quintins use of the handsets in a lecture theatre where the receivers are strapped to the wall (no choice of receiver). For UoG the problem is less severe but, for instance, at Edinburgh, it would appear students, owning their own handset, walk between different class rooms where PRS is used. What should they do? New installation of receivers should probably be new HS receivers but since the handset will have to operate in rooms with old receivers, this must be the lowest common denominator i.e. old handsets. So then whats the point of putting in new HS receivers at all? loaned (or mobile) uses are less of a problem: buy enough new HS receivers to cover the largest class and, either gradually or in one bulk-buy, replace the current handsets with the new. This means the largest classes can be supported using, if necessary, a mixture of old and new handsets.
How does this relate to products in general though?

4.  other features:

4.1  identified students?

loaned/owned in handset; what can be done if student is known?

4.2  exams?

online multiq - important as to graphing provided

4.3  homework?

ofline multiq - possible? graphs?

4.4  scoring?

4.5  ordering and/or ranking?

graphs provided

4.6  presentation methods? (powerpoint etc)