Posted by: paralleldivergence | April 21, 2009

NEW VERSION: SRN v1.20

NEWS RELEASE: 21 April 2009


The new SRN Server interface

Student Response Network v1.20 has now been released.  There are several significant changes, including:

  • A facelift for the server module, now incorporating the same shrunken neat interface as the SRN Client uses
  •  Removal of a superfluous “Hide Responses” option
  • Moving the “Hide Responses” option under the “Clients” section (more logical placement)
  • Disabling the Windows X button once the server has been started to stop accidental shutting down of the server
  • Display of a splash screen so users can see the SRN Server IP address more easily when connecting
  • Use of icons to enable question types
  •  When the Close button is clicked on the displayed Responses Chart, it disables the current question type automatically
  • Inclusion of the Score tally in the final Excel Spreadsheet
  • When stopping the server, removed the superfluous second question about the spreadsheet if no responses have been recorded
  • Availability of a Linux SRN Client (as a separate download from the SRN website).


SRN Server’s interface after Start

All up, these improvements will significantly enhance the teacher’s experience with the Student Response Network software.  If you have any comments about v1.20, just add them below. The TRIAL version of Student Response Network v1.20 is available from the Downloads page.

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Posted by: paralleldivergence | April 20, 2009

Free Linux SRN Client

IT’S finally here.  I was hoping to release this at the same time as the Apple OSX client for Student Response Network back in January, but better late than never.  In an education setting, the most likely place students would be running Linux clients is with Netbooks.  Most of the original netbooks that first appeared in 2008 all had some flavour of Linux on them, and many are still being sold with Linux in lieu of Windows XP.

srnclientlinux500
SRN Client for Linux (click for a full-size view)

Here, the client is shown running on Ubuntu x86 – v8.10, but it should work on virtually any distribution of Linux running on a 32-bit x86 platform.  Once connected to a running Windows SRN Server, the SRN Client for Linux will shrink down just like the Windows and OSX clients do, leaving a neat interface for students to use:

srnclientlinuxconected500

SRN Client for Linux is available as a free download from the Downloads page. Any comments about this client?  Just add them below.

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Posted by: paralleldivergence | April 19, 2009

The Problem of Yes/No and True/False Questions

YES or NO?  TRUE or FALSE?  BLACK or WHITE? These responses indicate polar opposites and when you offer only two choices, there is no sitting on the fence. You can only respond one way or the other.  The importance of composing quality “clicker” questions cannot be understimated, because as the teacher or presenter, it’s the responses you receive that give you the insight and future directions you need to take.

Here is a typical “Clicker” question that I’ve seen asked:

A total of TEN humans have walked on the Moon.  TRUE or FALSE?

Now this question relies on knowledge of a fact (unless you believe the Moon landings were a hoax of course).  You either know the answer, or you don’t.  Or you can work it out, or you can’t.  The question is asked, the clickers are clicked. The responses are in and the results are TRUE – 30% / FALSE – 70%.

Of course, the correct answer is FALSE. Moon landing missions started with Apollo 11 and ended with Apollo 17. That’s 7 missions in total. In each mission, two astronauts went in the Lunar lander, while one remained circling the Moon. BUT: Tom Hanks reminded us that Apollo 13 never made it to the Moon, so in total, there were six successful missions, meaning 12 astronauts in total that walked on the Moon.

Back to the clickers. 70% of our group know their stuff. Excellent! As a teacher, I’m doing pretty well. Then reality sinks in. Only a certain proportion of the class actually KNEW the answer. The rest guessed it!  It could be that 40% knew it and 60% didn’t – and those 60% guessed with 50:50 probablility providing us with the inflation of the correct score by another 30%!  So as a teacher, the real figure of 40% understanding is not highlighted at all – just a false sense of security in its place.

Had the question been reworded as:

How many humans have walked on the Moon?
A: Eight  / B: Ten / C: Twelve / D: None

The responses would have been very different. The moral? Choose your clicker questions carefully. More articles regarding this important aspect of clicker use coming soon.

Related articles:

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Posted by: paralleldivergence | April 9, 2009

SRN Images Gallery for SMART Notebook

SMART Notebook is great (and popular!) Interactive Whiteboard software, and of course, there is a SMART Notebook Template for Student Response Network available here.  But for those times when a template is just a little too restrictive and you really want to be totally creative in your SRN question screens, what you need are the SRN button images in your SMART Notebook Gallery!

srnsmartnbgallery

I received this email message today:

G’day Stu,

A big thank you for SRN it has been great. I have used with the regional executive, with our Board users group across the region, consultants and a HT Maths Networking day. I have attached a Gallery for smart notebook (V10) that I made from your templates. Thought you might like to share it.

Thanks to Patrick Sullivan from the Tamworth Office in the NSW Department of Education and Training for sharing his little SMART creation. By just opening the Gallery in SMART Notebook, you can add your own content, including an SRN folder full of SRN icons that you can simply drag and drop into your Notebook pages.  Patrick’s SMART Gallery add-on is available for free from the Downloads page.

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Posted by: paralleldivergence | April 8, 2009

SRN and the Digital Education Revolution

NEWS RELEASE

April, 2009: The New South Wales Department of Education and Training contracts Lenovo to supply its s10e 10.2″ Netbook for its “Laptops 4 Learning” program – the largest netbook rollout into a single school system the world. Funded by the Australian Federal government’s Digital Education Revolution initiative, more than 260,000 Netbooks (or “Compact Learning Devices”) will be placed in the hands of every Year 9, 10, 11 and 12 student and every high school teacher over the next three years.

nswdetl4l

Microsoft and Adobe won the lion’s share of the software contract, providing Windows XP Professional, MS Office 2007 Professional, Photoshop and Premier Elements, Dreamweaver, Captivate and other titles. But in addition to the flagships of these desktop software behemoths, on the purely educational side, comes the inclusion of Student Response Network Client!

Yes, these netbooks will also be used as “clickers” – student response devices ready to match up with the teacher’s Student Response Network Server module. Every one of these 267,000 netbooks will be Student Response Network clients – a massive achievement for a small, unique software application developed and released just a few short months ago.

With SRN Client, these devices will truly become Laptops 4 Learning.

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Posted by: paralleldivergence | March 21, 2009

SRN *without* a Projector

More and more schools are moving into the realm of wireless notebooks (or even netbooks) for each student in the classroom. Student Response Network is a perfect way to gather personal responses from each student, but did you know that the teacher’s or presenter’s computer does not have to be projected onto a large screen?  In this setting, the Student Response Network Server module runs on the teacher’s PC, but he/she does not share the results of each question as they are asked.  Instead, SRN records all of the responses for future discussion.

The questions could be asked verbally, via a printed handout or even using an old fashioned Overhead Projector.  It could be a quiz or it could be a gathering tool for opinions. The only thing is that the questions must all be responded to in sequence – it is not self-paced, to allow the teacher to enable the type of question being asked each time.

So why would you do this?  Being a closed response system (where other students don’t see the class results), it could invoke more honesty or truthfulness in answers. It adds a sense of intrigue, particularly if students are used to seeing the responses on a projected screen. It puts the teacher more in control of some situations.

Running SRN *without* a projector is just another useful tool in the interactive teacher’s kitbag.

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Posted by: paralleldivergence | February 2, 2009

More Best-Practises for Clicker (or SRN) Use

Sometimes you just need some pointers to help you adopt this type of educational technology in your class.  This set of tips has been adapted from the University of Wisconsin

  • From the very beginning, explain to your class the pedagogic benefits of class participation (student engagement, collaborative learning, instant feedback, etc.) using clickers. The literature on clickers is wholly consistent that you should not promote the use of clickers mainly as an attendance taker or a quizzing tool.
  • Clicker questions engage student attention and participation. A common mistake is to use too many clicker questions during a class. On average, it is suggested that clicker questions should be spaced at 10-20 minute intervals to bring students back to attention! That means 3-4 per typical class session.
  • Use clickers often; it has been reported that student attention begins to drift after 10 minutes of traditional lecturing. Therefore 3-4 well-paced clicker exercises per 50 minute class session are reasonable.
  • When “too many” students answer a question incorrectly, go over the material again. Better yet, have students discuss the question among themselves. Then allow them to re-answer (i.e., re-poll) the question(s). Students enjoy the “lighter” moments of peer discussion in a big lecture class.
  • Start and end a class or topical unit with a key conceptual question. Such pre- and post testing tells you how well you got the information across, and lets the students see what they have learned. Students appreciate the instant feedback that clickers provide.
  • If you assign homework readings, use the first 5 minutes of class to ask a few (5-10) questions to see if students have read and understood the assignment. This is a great chance to be sure all students start your class session with the same prior knowledge.
  • Try ask students’ opinions about issues relevant to your course and use their responses to present new information and correct misinformation or misunderstanding.

Related articles:

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Posted by: paralleldivergence | January 24, 2009

Free ActivStudio Flipchart Template for SRN Questions

If your school is fortunate enough to have a Promethean Interactive Whiteboard, then you can get this ActivStudio FlipChart template to attractively show the questions on separate flipchart pages.

srnactiv

Just duplicate the flipchart pages as many times as desired. Edit the text as appropriate and you have your questions ready to go! You can always come back here to grab a new template file if you need it.  You’ll find it on the Downloads page.

Many thanks to Jo Sayers for producing and freely sharing this ActivStudio flipchart version of the SRN Questions Templates. It also works with ActivPrimary.

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Posted by: paralleldivergence | January 24, 2009

Free SMART Notebook Template for SRN Questions

If your school is fortunate enough to have a SMART Interactive Whiteboard, then you can get this SMART Notebook template to attractively show the questions on separate notebook pages.

srnsmart

Just duplicate the notebook pages as many times as desired. Edit the text as appropriate and you have your questions ready to go! You can always come back here to grab a new template file if you need it.  You’ll find it on the Downloads page.

Many thanks to Jo Sayers for producing and freely sharing this SMART Notebook (v10) version of the SRN Questions Templates.

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Posted by: paralleldivergence | January 12, 2009

Free Mac OSX SRN Client

I’m pleased to announce that a Universal binary for Mac OSX (Intel and G5) is now available for free access on the Downloads page. This OSX client was ported from the Windows version by Norman Palardy of Great White Software in Canada using REALbasic. Norman was quick to answer a call for help to make Student Response Network suitable for schools with Apple desktops and notebooks and did an excellent job reproducing the client software for that platform. Here’s how the Mac client appears (click for a full-size view):

osxclientforsrn500

Of course, the SRN Server module must still run from a Windows computer, but it means that Windows clients and Apple OSX clients can co-exist with the software. Please let me know what you think of the OSX SRN Client in the comments below. Just click Downloads at the top to get your copy of the OSX SRN Client. And thanks very much to Norman for his great help in making this possible.

UPDATE: The OSX SRN Client has now been updated. Details are HERE.

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