U N I V E R S I T Y  O F  P I T T S B U R G H

 A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh 

A Personal Response System for Pharmacy Students

(left to right) Samuel Poloyac, Michael Zemaitis and Gary Stoehr

Photo by Patty Nagle, CIDDE

With their project, A Personal Response System for Active Learning, Michael A. Zemaitis, Gary Stoehr, Samuel Poloyac, and Teresa Donegan, School of Pharmacy, intend to enhance classroom interaction between students and faculty by incorporating a personal response system (PRS). The PRS is a wireless system consisting of a hand-held transmitter for each student that sends an infrared signal to receivers within the classroom. As the professor presents a multiple choice question, students respond by pressing an appropriate response key. In turn, the receivers transmit the responses to media-enhanced classroom computers that instantly display the results.

Because the School of Pharmacy emphasizes a curriculum that engages students through active learning techniques, faculty require students to solve problems, analyze cases, interview practitioners, synthesize literature, and apply concepts. Zemaitis reports: “This project enables every student in the class to respond to probing questions. Furthermore, because student involvement is low-risk (students know their answers are correct before they respond), we anticipate more and better discussions.”

Additionally, the instructors receive immediate feedback. Poloyac explains: “We will know when important content has been poorly taught or never covered at all. Even the distribution of wrong answers provides valuable data on students’ understanding.” By necessity, some questions will have to be generated spontaneously to allow for flexible, responsive teaching. Conversely, Stoehr explains: “We will have to be well-prepared with cogent questions to gauge students’ understanding. We are determined to get the pedagogy right—our accrediting agency requires us to measure learning outcomes.”

To facilitate this project, three media-enhanced classrooms have been equipped with the PRS for the pilot study that begins fall 2003. Zemaitis, Stoehr, and Poloyac have completed training for generating questions and retrieving the poll results. They will save and export the data to a statistical software package for further analysis. Additionally, evaluator Teresa Donegan will assess student satisfaction, faculty satisfaction, and the quality and quantity of student-faculty discussions. Pending the success of this project, future Pitt students may find the interactive PSR to be a required classroom tool.

A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh

Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education
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