The multi-media classroom: FAC 21 is now equipped with CPS -- a
classroom Interactive System
To: Instructors who will teach in FAC21, in Spring04
From: Charles Chiu
Date: 11/14/03
Dear Colleague,
This message is to inform instructors who will be teaching in
FAC21 in Spring04, that FAC21 is now equipped with a "Classroom Performance
System" (CPS). We would like to tell you about this system.
In case you will not be teaching in FAC21 next semester, our apology
to you for the emailing-list error. You need not read further. However, do feel
free to forward this email to your colleague(s), i.e. to those will be teaching
in FAC21 next semester, and their name(s) are not on the above mailing list.
Also please keep me informed so that we can update our mailing-list.
CPS is a wireless interactive system, which has the potential to
promote interactive teaching in a large classroom and has the benefit of encouraging
attendance/participation through electronic records. I am the faculty
coordinator of the "UT-CPS-support project", which was initiated in
Fall 2001. Our goal is to promote excellence in undergraduate teaching on UT campus,
especially in large classrooms, through the use of a wireless interactive
system, such as CPS.
In the current semester, Professor Liz Cullingford is using the
system in her English 316K class, in FAC21. It took quite an initial effort, on
the part of the technology-teams and our support-project, as well as the pioneering
spirit of the instructor, to setup the system
and to have the system run smoothly. Now that the system is in place, we hope
more faculty members will be able to use it. In turn be of benefit to our
students.
If you are interested to learn more about the system, we invite
you to visit following website: http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~ctalk/
For articles on the use of the system at UT see for examples:
·
Use of
CPS in Eng 316K: Go to UT-CPS-bulletin (at top of the page), see item #18
·
Description
on the use of the system in College of Natural Science: See Sec. III.3a.
·
Is CPS
appropriate for your class? Go to See I.2. Click the link to find out more
about CPS, including student's cost etc.
Ongoing data:
·
Classes
using the system: See Classdata Fall03 (Sec. I.2)
·
Class
records: (See Sec II.1)
·
Student
survey: (See Sec. III.2)
Contact information: Please feel free to contact me at chiu@physics.utexas.edu, and
Morrie Schuman of Center of Instructional Technology at schulman@mail.utexas.edu.
If you are
seriously considering using the system next semester, you may want to talk to
Professor Cullingford, consider the possiblity of observing her class, when CPS
is in action. Also you may want to contact Mr. Clifford Haby, who is in charge
of supporting multi-media aspect of FAC21. Also notice that in Classdata Fall03
(Sec. I.2)
there is a list of the current users. You might want to contact
them to find out more about using CPS.
Lastly, if you are interested in using the system, please go to
the line "signup using the system in spring04" in Sec I.2, to do the signup.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely yours,
Charles Chiu
Professor of Physics, UT Distinguished Teaching Professor