PRS training

INTERWRITE PERSONAL RESPONSE SYSTEM

A USER GUIDE FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT PRS!

HOW TO SET UP YOUR PRS

First, you must install the software. There is a CD that is located in the carrying case with the clickers. Put the CD in the CD-ROM drive and follow the instructions to install the software.

YOU WILL CLICK ON THE INTERWRITE SYMBOL IN THE ICONS BROUGHT UP BY

THE CD-ROM.

The Installation Wizard will start installing the software. Just click “next” until you get to “finish”.

Don’t forget to agree with the license agreement!

After 60 bazillion next buttons, you’ll finally click “install”. Hooray!

It will take a whileto install, so just watch it work!

When it finishes,just click on the “Finish” button!

Now your software is installed!!

SETTING UP THE RF RECEIVER

The RF receiver is what picks up the frequency and allows the clickers to talk to the computer.

It looks like a flash drive.

SO WHAT DO I DO WITH IT?

You do exactly what you would do with a flash drive. So put it into the USB port on the front of the computer.

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, use the port on

the back of the computer. I discovered that it will not work there!

NOW COMES THE EASY PART!!!

Once you put the RF receiver into the USB port, you should receive a message that new hardware has been found. you should click “yes, this time only” and then click next. Keep clicking “next” until it is done, then click “finish”.

Voilà! That’s it for the RF receiver!

SO NOW WHAT????

Now you’re ready to go into Interwrite and configure the clickers. This is a fairly tedious process, but it only has to be done one time, so don’t fret!

The easiest way to do this is to go ahead and get the clickers out and on a table within hand’s reach. You can also go ahead and turn them all on.

You will go to the Start menu and open Interwrite. It will open up a bar on your desktop.

Scroll to the bottom and open Interwrite by clicking on the “I” at the bottom. Then click on “Start Interwrite PRS.”

If you are asked to Start a Class, click on “cancel”.

Up at the top of the screen, you will see words that you can click on. Choose “RF” and then select “Configure clickers”.

CONFIGURING THE CLICKERS

You will need to configure the clickers so that they are “LOANER” and the class will be “OPEN”. This allows different students to use the same clicker since they will put in their ID number. Also, open means that you can use the same clickers with multiple classes.

This is how that is done:


Choose “LOANER” as the clicker type and then click “Setup”.

It will tell you to “Turn on all clickers and join: Loaner <#>”. There will be a real number where the # is in the brackets.

Turn on all the clickers. The clickers will say “Scanning Classes”.

You will type in the number or letter that was in the brackets <#> in step 6.


After you type that in, press enter. (the green button with a black arrow)

You should receive a message on the software when each clicker is configured.

Continue until they are all configured and then turn them off.HOORAY!!! YOU ARE READY TO USE

THEM!!!

CREATING CLASSES AND LESSONS

Some PRS vocabulary that you need to know:

CLASSES- These are the kids on the roster.

LESSONS- These are the questions you will create. You might use the same lesson with different classes.

SESSIONS- These are the unique times that you use a lesson with a class. You will have “SESSION” every time you do a lesson with a class.

FIRST YOU WILL NEED TO CREATE CLASSESYou will not be able to input students into the classes you create yet. You will have to do a bogus session with each class in order to do that the easy way. Those instructions will be on another page.

Click on the “CLASSES” tab along the top. Click “NEW CLASS”. This will cause a box to pop up . You will

add information to this box. Type in a description for the Course. It might be ALG2 or GEO. Type in a description for the Section/Location. I put the class

period ie. PER2. The class name will fill in automatically by combining these 2

things, so it will look like this: ALG2PER2.

In the bottom part of the box, select the RF clicker under “Clicker Type”.

Select “OPEN” under system type. This means that students will always enter their ID when using the clickers.

Finally, under “Audience Type”, select “KNOWN”.

In this same box, look at the tabs. Go to the tab called “Default Setting”.

Where it says “Number of Responses”, set this closest to the number in your class. It’s ok if it’s larger, but it shouldn’t be smaller!

Where it says “Display Response” you probably want to click “YES”. This allows you to see on the screen when students have responded.

In “Response Box Color”, choose “CLEAR”.

In the next line, just choose what you want to be displayed when a student answers. It will not show the student’s answer. It shows the name or ID of people who have answered.

For “Attendee List”, I would choose the same thing that you just put.

For “Display Question”, choose “YES”.

For “Attendee List”, just choose what you want shown.

For “Display Question”, choose “YES”. For “Chart type”, choose whichever type of

chart you like. For “Show Histogram”, decide “yes” or “no”. For “Show correct answer” click “YES” if you

want students to see the correct answer after everyone has answered or time has run out.

For “Chart Values By”, decide if you want percent or number.

HOORAY! YOUR CLASSES ARE NOW READY!!!!

NOW YOU NEED TO MERGE YOUR CLASS ROSTERS INTO THE

SOFTWARE!

This step has to be done with the students in the room. You will need to have the class whose roster you will be importing and students will use the clickers. This is tricky, but it makes everything much easier!

If you follow this procedure, it will save you the time of typing in every kid and

their ID number!!! If you contact Lisa Davis, she will put your

classes into Excel spreadsheets. Kay Weaver may be able to do this as well. I will check and hopefully have this information sent to your email. : )

Make sure that the spreadsheet is saved as a .csv file. THIS IS THE ONLY TYPE THAT CAN BE MERGED!!!!

To find out, open the spreadsheet. Then go to “File” and “save as”. At the bottom, you will see “File Name” and then “File Type”. Name it whatever you want, but on “File Type”, make sure that it says .csv. If it doesn’t, change it to that type and save it.

FIRST STEP DURING CLASS

You will need a sample question for students to answer! It can be a totally bogus question like: I liked lunch today. Choose True or False. This is only to let you merge the roster.

You will go into the PRS software, interactive mode.

You can choose to create a new lesson, but it’s easier to just call out a bogus question to the class.

SECOND STEP

Now you are ready to get the class going. You will choose “new session”. You will

get a pop up box that will ask you some questions about this session. Make sure that you select the right class! Then it will make a name for the session using the class and the date. (ALG2PER2_04_15_2010

THIRD STEP

Make sure that all students turn on their clickers and put in their ID number. Then they will join the class.

Have all students answer the question.

When everyone has answered, end the session.

FOURTH STEP You will get a prompt to save the

roster. Make sure you save it!! Next go to the Classes tab and

choose “Import/Merge Roster”. Choose “Merge with Current

Roster”.

FINAL STEPS

Sort by Student ID. Check “Use Non PRS roster.” Click OK. Match the fields in the Roster with

the fields in the Class. Click OK

NOW THIS PERIOD IS READY TO USE THE PRS!!!!

Now the names should be matched with the ID!! If a student incorrectly entered their ID, or they were absent, their name will not have an ID. You can go in and add it manually.

CREATING LESSONS AND QUESTIONS

You can create lessons in the PRS or you can create lessons using Power Point or whatever you choose. You can even call out questions and have students answer. You will want to make sure that you put your answers into Interwrite so that it can give you immediate overt responses.

To create lessons in the PRS, you will click on the “lessons” tab, then choose “New Lesson”.

You will then get a pop up screen. It will ask you to name your lesson.

You will be able to access the lesson later to use in any class that you wish.

There will be lots of different choices you have to make here. You need to name your lesson first.

You can change the font, change the amount of time students have, give them more than one chance to answer, change the number of choices they have, etc.

Simply set the parameters as you wish and then click to close the box.

Now you will see the name of your lesson on the left hand side of the screen under “Lessons”.

You will click on the lesson name and then you will click on “New Question”. This allows you to add a question.

You will get another pop up screen. Here is where you can choose the

type of questions you want to ask. You can create lessons with multiple

choice, true/false or numerical answers.

You will type in your question in the box that has a “Q” next to it.

Then you will type the answer choices in the other boxes.

Make sure you put a check beside of the one that is right!

When you have all that finished, click on “Add”. This will add the question to the lesson.

Continue to add new questions until you have all that you want. Then save the lesson.

Now, when you pull up this lesson in a particular class, you will have a “SESSION.”

You can also create True/False questions and numeric question.

USING QUESTIONS IN POWER POINT OR CALLING THEM OUT

You can use other ways to create your lessons/questions.

You will need to know before hand what your answers are.

When you create your lesson, just type in the title of each question as “Question 1” etc.

Mark the correct answer choice and save it!

AND NOW YOU’RE READY TO ROLL!!!!

Remember you can also type up your questions in Word and then copy and paste them into Interwrite.

When you want to start a new session with a class, you will click on the “new session” tab. Select your class and your lesson and you’re ready to go!!!

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