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| Existing PRS Handsets |
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| With iPRS, smartphones can be used in place of PRS handsets |
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In the past few years, the Personal Response System (PRS) has been well received by instructors, especially those teaching large classes. We are coping with an increasing demand and have been distributing over 10,000 PRS handsets to existing students. While the PRS handset is designed to be slim and handy, it needs to be powered by a small button battery (CR2032) that is less commonly available than the AA or AAA batteries. With the kind support from the Students' Union, we are pleased that students can now buy the CR2032 battery from the co-opt shop of Students' Union at LG5.
In fact, we notice that the great majority of HKUST students possesses personal smart device such as smartphones or tablets. To maximize the benefits of these smart device for learning, we are developing a new web-based PRS system called iPRS. The functions of iPRS are largely compatible with the existing system based on custom-designed receiver as well as the PRS handset. In addition, it has the following new features:
- Students can use any smartphone or tablet (iOS or Android) instead of the PRS handset to answer questions in class
- iPRS is a web-based application, enabling instructors to run PRS sessions using different computer systems such as Windows and Mac
- More questions preparation features are available
- Text-based answers can be supported
- iPRS session data are automatically posted to a database in the University's private cloud for secure storage
In this Fall semester, 4 teaching venues, namely Room 2302, LT-K, LSK 1003 and LSK 2003, are selected as iPRS pilot sites. More than 10 faculty members are currently using iPRS in their classes. With the help of these pilot users, the new system will be fine-tuned for robustness and performance. Tentatively, a full launch of iPRS is planned for the next academic year. |
