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Recently in the Toronto star there was an article about the use of student response systems in the classroom. Student response systems (SRS) are similar to what the audience uses to vote, on television shows like, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

The concern is that these gadgets are just a waste of tax payers money and will be collecting dust once their novelty wears off. This won't be the case if educators are adequately taught how to properly use these devices to improve student performance.

From my two years of experience using ActiVote srs by Promethean, I have learn a few tips and tricks.

1) Keep the results anonymous - this allows all students to answer without embarrassment.

2) Have strict rules about keeping quiet during voting questions - this prevents students from sharing answers and defeating the entire purpose of the srs.

3) Do not use it for formal quizzes or tests - doing this will add too much stress on students that are struggling to get right answers.

4) Use to gage student understanding - after a lesson use the srs to figure out if most students followed the lesson and to find out which students need extra help.

5) Don't overuse the srs - If you overuse the srs, students will not take it seriously and results will not be useful.

Student Response Systems can be a useful teaching tool if educators understand how they should properly utilize them in their classrooms. The two main response systems available on the market are SMART's Senteo and Promethean's ActiVote which work seamlessly with their respective digital whiteboards.