Abstract:
Since the advent of personal response systems (PRS), they have been constrained by the underlying technology platform upon which they have been constructed. Hence 1st generation proprietary clickers were limited both in the richness of participant interaction and visual display, and equally constrained by the proprietary hardware or hand devices that accompanied the system. 2nd generation PRS saw the advent of live, real time updates and an incremental increase to participant interaction. These could be seen with proprietary PRS that had additional buttons beyond simple polling response capabilities of 'A', 'B', 'C' etc, and also the use of mobile phones utilizing the ubiquitous nature and penetration of telecommunications networks in the form of SMS mobile text polling systems. However, both of these generations are rooted in pedagogies of active learning based on single dimensional activities such as polls or quizzes. What has been lacking is the extension and availability of multi modal messaging systems for synchronous learning, and additional extensions of visual and interactivity capabilities to support a wider range of learning and teaching styles. A technology framework is required to support messages being received from proprietary PRS, mobile phones, laptops or the currently preferred non-tethered workstation, a netbook, and any of these devices should be able to respond in the same classroom to the same activity. In addition to supporting multi modal messaging systems, how can activities like ticker board classroom messages, real time lecture evaluation, and the construction of a learning context that leverages the advantages of collaborative social networking also be integrated into the technology framework? Put simply, how can we bring some of the key learning styles inherently enabled by Web 2.0 technologies into the lecture room? This research uses a design science research methodology to propose a framework that will allow instructors to leverage heterogeneous implementations of PRS to be used to simultaneously, which accurately reflects the current status and nature of the technical infrastructure inventory of today’s classroom environment. It also attempts to explore how such an extensible information system can support multidimensional learning and teaching styles, especially with regard to a greater range of synchronous learning activities. Finally, how could the learning styles that are inherent in the new social networking context of information systems technology be integrated into the proposed framework.