[tr @ Dec 19th 2005 1:38AM]

i've been working with physics professors with these things for quite a number of years (before they were wireless, we had a 'wired' system that used calculators equipped with phone jacks, that plugged into wall jacks, what a pain that was). the system we use now is infrared, but i believe next quarter, they will be testing out the RF version.

these are only used in a few classes, but more an more professors are asking about them, and are using them in their lectures. i understand the anger in #5's post, but this university, the students don't have to pay. they each have a transmitter assigned to them; when they come into class, they grab their transmitter from organized wall bins. when they leave, they put them back. and for large lectures, it actually works quite well, almost making a 200+ class seem much smaller; the lecturer can quickly know if a class is "getting" a concept or not just by looking at voting histogram, something that can't be done in your typical "i lecture, you listen" type of class.

as for hacking, the only problems i've encountered (since i'm responsible for making sure the system and transmitters are all working correctly) is that some sneaky students figure out how to change their transmitter identification number. the problem is, they don't realize that the number assigned is in binary, so they have to know how to read/write binary in order to change the number. but screwing with the ID screws themselves, because if the receiver only picks up transmitters 0001-0100, and they change their number to 1098, the receiver won't pick up their response, and they won't get credit for the quiz question, or whatever was asked. so usually, kids don't mess with them that much.