The days of raising hands to answer questions might be over as many classrooms introduce TurningPoint and other electronic audience response technologies.

Classrooms in the economics, psychology and education departments are already integrating the technology.

TurningPoint, an audience response system, will be demonstrated and discussed today at a “Teaching with Technology” workshop.

The workshop is free and designed for faculty, staff and graduate assistants. It will be held in the Sullivan Room in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union from 12 to 12:45 p.m.

The workshop will demonstrate the basic features and components of TurningPoint and will also demonstrate how it can be used to enhance instruction in classrooms.

Psychology professor Jeff Stowell, who already uses the technology and is an advocate, said research has shown the system helps students learn.

“In a study comparing a group that raised their hands to answer the question versus the ones that used keypads, there was a large difference whether they were getting the questions correct or not,” Stowell said.

TurningPoint allows a user to respond to questions posed using a keypad.

It integrates into PowerPoint and allows presentations to become tools, which not only give information but also collect instant feedback and data.

When a person purchases TurningPoint they will receive software, keypads and a receiver.

The software allows questions to be asked to an audience through programs including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Internet Explorer.

The audience can then respond directly using keypads.

Students register their answers using the keypads and then signals from the keypads are sent to a receiver.

The answers are then displayed in the presentation.

Stowell has used TurningPoint in his classrooms for two and a half years and finds it very effective for teaching, he said.

He said he conducted an informal study and found the system allowed every student to participate and students are less likely to be influenced by other students’ answers.

Stowell said he thinks instructors are unlikely to get accurate and honest feedback from the class by relying on students raising their hands.

He said students who raised their hands answered more questions correctly because they were following what others were doing, not actually knowing the answer.

When the keypads were used the students did not have the same social interaction and answered fewer questions correctly.

“When they used the keypads I found out that they didn’t understand the information I was giving them which then gave me the option as the instructor to go back, since I knew they answered honestly, and explain the information more and then ask the same question again,” Stowell said.

Tom Grissom, dean of the college of education, uses TurningPoint in his classrooms and finds it very effective and easy to use.

“The best reason for using TurningPoint is it’s fully integrated with PowerPoint, and it’s very easy to use and pick up,” Grissom said.

James Bruehler an economics professor has used TurningPoint occasionally as well; however, the economics department usually uses eInstruction, another audience response system, in their classrooms.

Organized by Julie Lockett, instructional technology specialist the Tech Bytes workshop today will introduce and explain TurningPoint and other related technologies for the classroom.

“At the completion of the workshop, participants will be able to create an interactive PowerPoint presentation, poll a classroom with or without a participants list, and send reports of the polls to Microsoft Word or Excel,” said John Henderson, director of Instructional Technology Services.

Upon completion of the workshop, participants can register for a more detailed workshop through TECnet to learn about specific features and components of the technology.