ActivExpression

I attended the twilight meeting titled "ICT in Mathematics Network" tonight (which I presume means I'm part of the network) which I greatly enjoyed.

We were shown the capabilities of the ActivExpression handsets by a representative from Promethean. They look amazing and I just can't wait to try them out. However, like the klutz that I am, I tried to be helpful and hand out the handsets, but I spilt my coffee all over the table whilst doing it!

I assumed that you would need to do lots of prep slides to use them, but you really don't! You could just call up impromptu questions and get the students to input their answers.

They take so many different kinds of responses, not just multiple choice as I thought. You can do multiple choice, but you can also input text, you can order a list, you can answer on a scale (which I've learnt has the name likert scale) and more!

Our borough had bid for funds for a project so as a school we were given them as long as we use and evaluate along the way, whilst producing resources for the whole borough to share. They're worth nearly £2000 and I was to carry the big (and heavy!) box to my car without falling or tripping! The box contains 32 handsets and a USB hub to connect the handsets to the computer.

I left the meeting brimming with ideas, the hard part will be putting them in to practice. Oh, and sharing them will be tough too! I want to keep them all for myself and my own classroom, but of course this is neither appropriate nor feasible!

I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and accept that they are a department resource and that I can't keep my greedy mitts on them forever!

Although I have considered, just maybe, that the school could buy a new hub and we could split the handsets into two sets. Would it still be considered AFL if two pupils are sharing the responses?