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Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Resources for download

PRS Software:

Click here to download the PRS software (version 2.47) in self-executable format

Instructions:
After the download, double-click on the prs.exe file to extract the installation program. After the extraction, go to the folder where you extracted the files (by default, the folder location is "c:\prs247") and double-click on the file "setup" to start the installation program.


PRS documentation:

User's manual (pdf format)
Short instruction (pdf format)
Notes to students (pdf format)
Guides for new faculty users of PRS (pdf format)

Sample questions for PRS sessions:

ConcepTests for "Introductory Physics" (pdf format)
Questions about Physics for ClassTalk (pdf format)
ConcepTests for Chemistry

 

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Appendices

A survey on the effectiveness of PRS (Appendix A)

Instructions:
Please note that in this questionnaire,
"lecture classes" refers to traditional lectures without the use of PRS.
"PRS classes" refers to lectures using the PRS system.


From Q1 to Q12, please choose your answer from below:

A
agree strongly
B
agree
C
neutral
D
disagree
E
disagree strongly

1.
I attend PRS classes more regularly than I would the more traditional lecture classes.
2.
I pay more attention to what is going on in lecture classes than in PRS classes.
3.
I tend to read the materials to be covered ahead of time more often in PRS classes than in lecture classes.
4.
I do more thinking during PRS classes than in lecture classes.
5.
I often discuss the PRS questions with my classmates before making a response.
6.
Discussing the PRS questions with my classmates before answering helps me learn.
7.
Knowing how my classmates respond to questions in class increases my interest in the subject matter.
8.
I often find the PRS questions challenging.
9.
Some PRS questions make me try hard to make sense of the subject matter.
10.
Sometimes, I had suddenly understood a concept while we were talking or thinking about a PRS question.
11.
PRS helps me to learn the subject matter of this course in greater depth.
12.
I prefer the more traditional lecture approach over the newer PRS approach.
13.

Very often when I was asked to respond to the PRS questions, the amount of time given to me was

A. too long.
B. about right.
C. too short.

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PROMISSORY NOTE ( Appendix B )

I, _____________________________, the undersigned, a registered student of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) with student ID number _________________, agree to surrender the PRS handset loaned to me to this counter at the conclusion of my study at HKUST. I also agree to 1) return the unit in working order and with all stickers and decorations removed and 2) pay a replacement fee of HK$250 in the event that the said handset is lost, stolen, disfigured or damaged by misuse.
 

____________________________ ________________
(Signature) (Date)

Click here to download the PROMISSORY NOTE (pdf format)

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Structure of the Session Files used in PRS (Appendix C)

There are two main parts in the file. The first part is the event-by-event records of the answers received for all the questions asked in the session. The second part is the corresponding statistical summaries.

Sample Session File

Session ended on Friday Aug 21 1998 02:41:13 PM 
Question Time Attempt Seat ID AB (B = shared) Answer CL  
1 0:17 1   980000099 A 1 M  

1

0:25 1   980000056 A 1 M  
1 0:29 1   980000086 A 1 M  
1 0:32 1   980000021 A 1 M  
1

0:36

1   980000087 A 5 M  
2 0:07 1   980000099 A 5 M  
2 0:02 1   980000056 A 1 M  
2 0:05 1   980000086 A 2 M  
2 0:04 1   980000021 A 3 M  
2 0:01 1   980000087 A 2 M  
Question Answer All Low CL Medium CL High CL % %L %M %H
1 1 4 0 4 0 80 0 80 0
1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 5 1 0 1 0 20 0 20 0
2 1 1 0 1 0 20 0 20 0
2 2 2 0 2 0 40 0 40 0
2 3 1 0 1 0 20 0 20 0
2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 5 1 0 1 0 20 0 20 0

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Part 1

Line-by-line descriptions are given below.

Line 1 The date and time the file was created.
Line 2 The headings of the respective columns.
Line 3 to 12 The record of the 10 events corresponding to 2 questions each answered by 5 students; for each event,
Column 1 Question number.
Column 2 Elapsed time when the last answer attempt was received.
Column 3 Number of answer attempts.
Column 4 Label on the "display boxes" (blank since no "Class File" was used).
Column 5 ID number of the Transmitter.
Column 6 Code for one or two users per Transmitter (one user for this example).
Column 7 Answer recorded.
Column 8 Confidence level attached to the answer.
Line 13 The headings of the respective columns.

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Part 2

Line 14 to 23 The statistical summaries of the answer choices per question for the 2 questions each with 4 multiple choices.
Column 1 Question number.
Column 2 Choice of answer.
Column 3 Number of students selected this choice regardless of the confidence level (CL).
Column 4 Number of students selected this choice with a low CL.
Column 5 Number of students selected this choice with a medium CL.
Column 6 Number of students selected this choice with a high CL.
Column 7 to 10 Entries in Column 4 to 6 in percent.

A session file taken under exactly the same conditions as the example above except that the 'Audience' was set for 'Anonymous' (poll mode) will have ID information column absent.

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Structure of the Answer file (Appendix D)

The answer file is used for marking session file saved after a quiz session.  Its structure is very simple.  It is a CSV file like the session file.  The 1st column is the question number and the 2nd column is the corresponding answer, as shown here:

Question

Answer

1

2

2

3

3

1

You can create the file using Excel and then save it as an CSV file.

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Last modified: May 3, 2005
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