Interwrite PRS User Manual page 60

58 Lessons – Lesson Tree List Window, Questions
The Lesson Tree
List Window
Questions
The Lesson Tree is structured like a file directory, providing a way of
arranging and organizing your Lessons. Branches are created in the
Lesson Tree, and individual Lessons are categorized and stored in the
Branches. A Branch is defined by clicking on a position in the Lesson Tree
(initially, the Lessons Branch is the only Branch), clicking on the New
Lesson Function Button, and naming the Branch. No other New Lesson
settings are necessary in a Branch definition. Typically the Branch is
named for the Class, e.g., Biology. Subbranches can specify types of
Lessons, i.e., Review, Quizzes, Midterms, Finals; or Lesson categories, e.g.,
the Digestive System, the Nervous System, the Circulatory System, etc.
Lessons are then defined by clicking on a Branch in the Lesson Tree and
clicking on the New Lesson Function Button. The Lesson Function Buttons
are activated when you click on a Branch in the Lesson Tree.
In the context of the PRS system, a Lesson is a questionnaire and consists
of a series of Questions. The Lesson is merely a storage container for the
Questions and their default presentation settings. The presentation
settings describe how the Questions are to be presented to the audience
during a Session.
Questions can be composed and stored in the selected Lesson in PRS by
clicking on the New Question Function Button. Questions in a variety of
different formats can also be imported as a Lesson. As described in
Chapter One, many textbook publishers provide electronic Question Sets
with their textbooks. The PRS software has the capability of importing the
Question Sets from Wiley (WileyML format), Pearson (proprietary XML
format), Learning Pathways (proprietary format), Bedford, Freeman,
Worth (QTI XML format), and native PRS XML (Open Specification
format); as well as Questions in .png, .gif and .jpg image formats. Once
these Question Sets, whatever their source, are imported into a PRS
Lesson, they become PRS Questions. You can set Question Defaults for
the Questions in the new, imported Lesson and use the PRS Question
Editor to edit, manage, and delete them as you would the Questions in
any of the homegrown PRS Lessons. You can also add new Questions to
an imported Question Set.
And finally, for those teachers and presenters who prepare their presenta-
tions using Microsoft's PowerPoint software, the good news is that you
can incorporate the Audience Response System capabilities of PRS
directly into your PowerPoint Slide Shows. You'll see how easily that's
Chapter 4