Interactive educational system and method

Abstract

An interactive instructional system includes a microprocessor-controlled base station for use by an instructor and/or a computer and a plurality of input devices each for use by a student. The base station and input devices communicate over a communication link or network employing wires, optical fibers, radio links, infrared links or the like. Each input device is in the form of a multiple keyswitch operated device which the student may operate to respond to a question posed by the instructor, computer or base station during a lecture. Each input device is also provided with an identifier code. Responses by the student are transmitted to the base station in messages, each of which further includes an identifier code thereby identifying the answering device or student. The base station receives the students' responses from the input devices and generates information for display to the instructor, including selected class and individual statistics, the base station using the identifier code to associate each response to a student. The base station may provide the information to the instructor so that, during a lecture or course, instructional material and techniques can be adjusted based on the feedback information as to how well the class and individual students are learning the subject matter. Since this system can be used continuously during a lecture or course (instead of relying on tests only a few times during a course), the instructor can continuously tailor the course to the learning speed of the class.