For a few hundred SF State students using eInstruction’s classroom remotes, the name of the game isn’t just getting to class anymore. Using an eight-button, hand-held infra-red device, the eInstruction system is intended to make it easier for faculty to record student class attendance, test responses and student participation.

But students and faculty who use the system are having problems with the technology. The challenge in using the eInstruction system, they say, is getting the system to work at all.

Hit a button on the eInstruction remote at the wrong time and the computer might not register a student’s answer to a quiz question. If 20 other students hit their buttons at the same time, the eInstruction receiver may jam and fail to record anyone’s response. Even with multiple infra-red receivers scattered throughout a classroom, good aim and multiple tries are essential in getting your key press tallied by the computer.

While only a handful of SF State instructors currently use the eInstruction remotes, Mark Griffin, an assistant professor in the anthropology department, introduced some of his students to the eInstruction remotes last year.

Called the ‘classroom performance system’ by the eInstruction Corp. of Dallas, TX, company that manufactures the devices, the remotes send signals to one or more infra-red receivers hooked up to computers. This allows the system to record student responses to any kind of multiple-choice question.

According to Griffin, the system does have its share of quirks. Still, Griffin said he sees advantages for students using the technology.

“It gives you a sort of instantaneous feedback that you can’t otherwise get,” said Griffin. “There’s a web site that they [students] can go to and see, on a daily basis, what their grades are.”

According to Griffin, the eInstruction system also tends to keep students in their seats. The eInstruction Corp. recommends instructors sprinkle quiz questions throughout their classes, forcing students to use their remotes and answer questions that might pop up at any time.

“That completely stops the comings and goings,” said Griffin. “Whomever shows up at the beginning is gong to be there at the end. I like that.”

At least some SF State students using the eInstruction system share Griffin’s optimism. Dana Hyatt, a 19-year-old freshman cinema major and a student in one of Griffin’s classes, sees positive aspects of the eInstruction system.

“It’s definitely more interesting [with the remotes],” said Hyatt. “It makes it a little more fun.”

Hyatt said she isn’t happy though about the extra costs the eInstruction system incurs on students. While the SF State bookstore sells the remotes for about $4, students must also pay a fee to register their remotes on eInstruction’s web site. The registration fee runs $6 if the remote is bundled with a textbook, $15 if its not. That pushes the total cost for textbooks and remotes to over $100 in Griffin’s class.

“They shouldn’t make you pay to register it,” said Hyatt.

Fellow cinema major Aaron Olson, also in Griffin’s class, said he has seen a few problems with the eInstruction remotes.

“The first day of class, I couldn’t get it to work,” said Olson.
But the 18-year-old freshman said he’s willing to put up with a few problems in getting the remotes to work.

“It’s a good way to take roll and get students to come to class,” said Olson. “The class is so big; you can’t really expect the instructor to know people first hand.”

Darren Ward, vice president of business development at eInstruction, blamed most of the problems with the current generation of eInstruction remotes on infra-red technology.

“There is a limitation on infra-red technology,” said Ward. “It’s optimal in smaller settings. You can’t fix that with more receivers.”

Ward said the next generation of eInstruction remotes, which are already available, use more robust radio frequency transceivers instead of infra-red signaling. That should eliminate many of the problems according to Ward. The radio frequency units are also much faster. Instead of spending half-a-minute to log in a hundred users, Ward says the radio remotes would, “take like 4 seconds” to do the same task.

Ward said faculty can upgrade their receivers to the new radio frequency models at no cost, but students would have to pay to upgrade their remotes. Ward said that his company sells the new radio remotes to bookstores for $12. Using the current mark-up on the old remotes as a guide, that would price the new remotes at about $15 for SF State students.

For some students, that’s just fine.

“If it saves money on Scantrons and quizzes,” said Olson. “I’m for it.”