The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is pleased that its invention of the Personal Response System (PRS) or the device generically-referred to as “clickers”, the first universal classroom learning tool invented, is now widely used by global universities and institutions.
The Personal Response System (PRS) was invented by a team led by Prof Nelson Cue, then Head of the Physics Department at HKUST. Using the tool aimed to promote active learning, students in a classroom or lecture theater can respond to questions posed by the instructors with a click of a button, all at the same time. It helps instructors to instantly assess students’ understanding of the subject matter and to collect instant feedback from every student. A histogram of class response can be plotted and shown to the class. Most importantly, it helps students participate actively in class.
“One of the beauties of the PRS is helping shy and disadvantaged students to be proactive,” said Prof Cue, now Professor Emeritus of Physics at HKUST. “Inspired by a commercial system Classtalk System, we aimed to build a more user-friendly, affordable and easy-to-use student response system which could be used in any discipline. Our system was meant to be used easily in any classroom from elementary school to postgraduate in any country – and it would be affordable for developing countries. Thus instead of regular networking which was expensive, we settled on television infrared remote control technology which was pervasive and cheap. With a grant from the Hong Kong Government and involving a local company Varitronix, we designed the affordable, time-saving, easy-to-use, scalable and wireless Personal Response System – the first universal classroom learning tool in 1997,” said Prof Cue. A US patent on this infrared system filed in 1997 was approved in 2001.
PRS is now used in all major tertiary institutes in Hong Kong, close to 40 secondary schools, as well as a number of government institutions and multinational corporations. The tool helped HKUST’s Department of Physic to promote the “Question-Centered Approach”, a campaign targeting students of local secondary schools to encourage interactive learning with funding from the Quality Education Fund.
Top-view Tools (TvT), a simpler and more affordable version of “clickers” targeting China and neighboring areas, are being developed.
PRS has become widely used by universities and institutions worldwide since 1998. With the invention of PRS, HKUST is one of the pioneers of the family “clickers” which are now widely used around the world.
According to a Canadian newspaper, “clickers” have been introduced to the University of British Columbia (UBC) by Prof Carl Wieman, 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physics who was recently nominated for the key position of associate director of science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
According to Prof Simon Peacock, Dean of Science at UBC, Prof Wieman’s focus at UBC was helping to introduce “innovations into the classroom that have improved students’ understanding of complex scientific concepts”.
Prof Peacock was quoted in an interview with the Vancouver Sun last month, “One of the most effective [innovations for the classroom] is the use in large lecture halls of “clickers” that allow professors to get instant feedback from hundreds of students by having them answer multiple-choice questions on hand-held services. When used correctly, they can be an incredible feedback mechanism in engaging students and enhancing student learning.”
Prof Nelson Cue earned a PhD in Physics in 1967 from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. He joined the Physics Faculty at State University of New York /Albany in 1970 and became the Founding Head of Physics at HKUST in 1990. He had served as the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs for Postgraduate Program for three and a half years. He was Chair Professor of the Physics Department before his retirement in 2007. He was also the Founding Director of the HKUST College of LifeLong Learning (CL3) in 2000.More recently, he developed and directed the Talented Youth Summer Program that has been in operation since 2008.
For media enquiries, please feel free to contact :
Ross Lai
Tel: 2358 6306 / 9103 2928
Email: rosslai@ust.hk
