Interwrite PRS User Manual page 3

Chapter 1 1
InterWrite PRS Overview
InterWrite PRS is the most important, comprehensive assessment tool you will ever
use. Its use as an electronic audience response testing and polling system is unrivalled,
but the real appeal of PRS lies in its ability to provide an instructor with instant
feedback about each student's understanding of the lesson or lecture. The InterWrite
Personal Response System (PRS) easily tracks and records each individual response
coming in from the audience. The instant feedback for the instructor and the students
is in the form of a chart of the response distribution that can be displayed after each
question is answered. The questions used to assess the students' understanding of the
material being presented can be prepared in advance, or composed on-the-fly. This
flexibility is the hallmark of the PRS system, and what makes it such a powerful
assessment tool. Whether used to survey, review, or test, the PRS system meets the
challenge with an impressive collection of features that engages students and encour-
ages their participation. Teachers can spend more time teaching and less time marking
tests and maintaining grade books. Response data are electronically gathered, scored
and recorded in grade books. A variety of report formats extend the considerable array
of class and individual student assessment tools available to the instructor. In addition,
PRS supports industry-standard XML formats, providing seamless integration with
electronic textbook courseware, grading applications and Course Management
Systems.
The versatility of PRS is evident in its widespread application. Teachers at all education
levels can use it to assess and test their students. Marketing researchers, political
analysts, and pollsters in all fields can use PRS to survey and electronically record
preferences, opinions, and votes. The PRS system can be used in any situation where
there is a need to gather, record and evaluate response data.
The PRS hardware communicates the response data to the PRS software. Two
different PRS hardware systems are available to satisfy the operating and budgetary
requirements of any organization. The IR (infrared) system features IR Clickers and IR
Receivers that use a patented, proprietary transmission protocol in a one-way transmis-
sion network to send data from Clicker to Receiver. The IR Clicker transmitter is a
small handheld, battery-powered device with numbered and lettered response
buttons, a power switch, an LED power/transmission indicator light, and an infrared
transmitter. The IR Receiver is connected to the computer and has a red LED power
indicator light and an infrared receiver. The IR Receiver decodes the transmitted data,
which are then relayed to the PRS software on the computer. The PRS software
provides the functionality necessary to establish an environment in which that trans-
mitted data can be electronically converted quickly and easily into useful response
information.