Turning Point
© 2007 Turning Technologies, LLC
This PowerPoint polling system is known as a PRS (Personal Response System) designed to make static slides interactive. First, you start with a Macintosh or Windows computer that has PowerPoint installed. Next, you install the TurningPoint drivers and software, either from the included CD-ROM or by downloading the software from www.turningtechnologies.com. Once the installation is completed (registration required), you start PowerPoint and notice a new Turning Point toolbar. After you create some slides with polling features (more on this later), you insert a USB wireless transmitter/receiver ($200) and distribute one polling device ($50 each) to each member of your audience or small group. Because the system uses Wi-Fi instead of infrared, the signals are likely to be picked up in a typical lecture hall. The remotes are powered by button cell batteries, and have just 12 membrane buttons and a tiny LED that blinks when a signal is sent. The keys could be better labeled; both letter and numerals are on the same round key, making the controls look cryptic. Making a slide interactive takes some practice. First, you open a presentation and then choose the type of interactive slide you want to make. Ten options are available, including True/False, Likert scales, and generic multiple choice questions, with up to ten possible answers. After the slide is designed, you start the slide show as you normally would. When you get to the question, you'll see a small green "polling open" indicator. You can program your slide so that you can see when everyone has entered their answer. To see the results, you click and see a graph with the results. We tested the system on a Toshiba Satellite A135 laptop running Windows Vista and Office 2003 with no problems. Turning Point is designed to work with PowerPoint, Web CT Campus Edition and Examview software.
$90030, Windows (Microsoft PowerPoint required)
Teaches: a presentation utility for Microsoft PowerPoint
CTR Rating: 83.3333%