Turning Point

In- Service Guide[1]

Brooks Cole/Thomson Learning

Turning Point Toll-Free Central Phone No: 866-746-3015 (ask for Tech Support)

Turning Point 24/7 Tech Support Web Site:

I.Creating and Managing Participant’s Lists (i.e., Class Rosters)

Turning Point relies on pre-formatted Excel documents to create and manage participant lists (or class rosters).

Features:

  • Because the roster relies solely on Excel, no new proprietary program needs to be learned.
  • Rosters may be quickly created from those rosters created by the institution’s registration software.
  • Rosters may be edited.
  • Rosters are portable from one computer to another (e.g., from office computers to lecture hall computers).

A.Creating a Participant List (or Class Roster)

  1. In the Turning Point menu, click Participants.
  2. Click Creates Participant List.
  3. Enter a name for the participant list that is specific to your course/section

(e.g., Biology 1100.01); then click OK.

  1. In the Excel spreadsheet, enter each student’s Last Name and First Name. The order in which the students are entered determines their keypad number (on the response grid table that is presented on the question slides—this keypad number/response grid box number is not to be confused with the keypad ID--or serial number--on the back of each keypad.)
  2. If your students have purchased keypads with fixed IDs, then you must enter the fixed ID number in the ID column. In this way, each student’s keypad ID will be associated with each student’s name.

Note: At a minimum, each participant list must contain (a) student Keypad number, (b) Communication Port, (c) Last Name, (d) First Name, and (e) ID. All other information is non-essential, but sometimes useful.

  1. To save the participant list, click File in the Excel menu; then click Save.
  2. To exit, click the upper-right close-out box.

Note: Participants lists are saved on the hard-drive in the My Documents folder. Faculty, therefore, may access the participant lists in three ways: (a) through the Turning Point menu, (b) through the hard-drive file manager (Drive>My Documents>Turning Point>Participants), or (c) through Excel by navigating to the file, as shown in (b).

B.Editing a Participant List (or Class Roster)

Frequently, faculty will want to edit a participant list (e.g., to add or drop students). Doing so, is quite easy.

  1. In the Turning Point menu, click Participants.
  2. Click Edits Participant List.
  3. In the pop-up window, click the Participant List to be edited; then click Open.
  4. In the Excel document, edit as appropriate; save, and then exit.

Note: Faculty may access, edit, and save the participants list in three ways: (a) Turning Point menu system, (b) the hard-drive file manager (Drive>My Documents>Turning Point>Participants), or (c) through Excel by navigating to the file, as shown in (b).

II.Creating Questions within the Turning Point Template

Question authoring is performed within Power Point. During the authoring process, the instructor simply adds the 3 Turning Point tools: Response Table, Response Reminder, and Response Chart.

Features:

  • Because authoring relies solely on Power Point, no new proprietary program needs to be learned.
  • The full set of Power Point tools and functionalities are available for creating, editing, and enhancing questions.
  • Design, layout, and color are completely customizable.
  • Images are easily loaded, sized, and placed.
  • Movies and animations are easily accommodated.
  • Questions and quizzes contain more delivery options than any other system.
  • Greek, Chemistry, Physics, and Math symbols and notation are fully supported in the Turning Point slides through the MS Equation Editor.
  • Text, symbols, and scientific notation may be copied and pasted from MS Word documents into the Turning Point slides.

0.PRELIMINARY: Setting up the Response Table

Many instructors will want to add a table of student-response boxes; the boxes are keyed to each student’s name and keypad ID. When a student answers a question, that student’s box is color filled. This allows two-way verification, allowing instructors and the students to determine whether responses are being recorded. There are two types of Response Tables.

i.Adding a FixedResponse Table (40 or fewer students)

  1. In the Turning Point menu, click the Eyeglasses icon.
  2. In the left menu, click Presentation Settings.
  3. In the right menu, right-click Response Reminder (first entry with yellow icon); then click Fixed Response Table.

Note: The Fixed Response Table now become the default for all slides you create.

ii.Adding a Rotating Table (41 or more students)

The Rotating Table will present 40 student-response boxes at a time, and every few seconds the table will rotate in a new group of student-response boxes: e.g., 1-40, 41-80, 81-120, etc. In this way, space is economized on the presentation screen.

  1. In the Turning Point menu, click the Eyeglasses icon.
  2. In the left menu, click Presentation Settings.
  3. In the right menu, right-click Response Reminder (first entry with yellow icon); then click Rotating Response Table.

Note: The Rotating Table now become the default for all slides you create.

A.Question Format: The Basic Text Question

This question uses only text and special symbols (no images or movies).

  1. In the Turning Point menu, click Insert Slide; then click Vertical Slide.
  2. In the Turning Point menu, click Reminders, and select Countdown.
  3. Within the Enter Question Text… box, type in the question.
  4. Within the Enter Answer Text… box, type in the answers.

Note: You may use numeric or letter descriptors. You may add up to 10 answer choices; note that upon doing so, the response chart automatically re-formats to match the number of answer choices in the question.

  1. To program the correct answer, in the Turning Point menu, click the Eyeglasses icon.
  2. On the left-hand screen, click the appropriate question.
  3. On the right-hand screen, click the correct answer choice. This loads in a screen directly below.
  4. On the bottom right-hand screen, right-clickValue, and select Correct.
  5. To add another slide, repeat Steps 1-5.
  6. When finished, click the Save icon in the Power Point menu. If necessary, enter a name for the file (e.g., Chapter 1); choose a folder in which to save the file (e.g., Biology 1100.01); click Save, and exit Turning Point (or PowerPoint), if desired.

B.Question Format: Single Image

This question format includes an image as part of the question.

  1. In the Turning Point menu, click Insert Slide; then click Vertical Slide.
  2. In the Turning Point menu, click Reminders; then click Countdown.
  3. Within the Enter Question Text… box, type in the question.
  4. Within the Enter Answer Text… box, type in the answers.
  5. To program the correct answer, in the Turning Point menu, click the Eyeglasses icon.
  6. On the left-hand screen, click the appropriate question.
  7. On the right-hand screen, click the correct answer choice. This loads in a screen directly below.
  8. On the bottom right-hand screen, right-clickValue, and select Correct.
  9. To add an image, in the Power Point menu, click Insert; select Picture; select FromFile.
  10. Navigate through your files (or Multimedia CD); click on the specific image for use; then click Insert.
  11. Click on and drag the image to an appropriate place within the slide; resize the image by dragging its marginal boxes.
  12. To add another slide, repeat Steps 1-8.
  13. When finished, click the Save icon in the Power Point menu. If necessary, enter a name for the file (e.g., Chapter 1); choose a folder in which to save the file (e.g., Biology 1100.01); click Save, and exit Turning Point (or PowerPoint), if desired.
C.Question Format: Multiple Images

This question format includes an image for each of the answer choices.

  1. While within the Turning Point menu, click Insert Slide; then click Vertical Slide.
  1. In the Turning Point menu, click Reminders, and select Countdown.
  2. Within the Enter Question Text… box, type in the question.
  3. Within the Enter Answer Text… box, type in a description of the image for each answer choice (this provides a text description of the image for the reports).
  4. To program the correct answer, in the Turning Point menu, click the Eyeglasses icon.
  5. On the left-hand screen, click the appropriate question.
  6. On the right-hand screen, click the correct answer choice. This loads in a screen directly below.
  7. On the bottom right-hand screen, right-click Value, and select Correct.
  8. In the Power Point menu, click Insert; select Picture; select FromFile.
  9. Navigate through the files; click the appropriate images; then click Insert.

Note: You must insert the images in a sequence that corresponds to their appropriate answer-choice order because the program will later automatically associate each image with its appropriate answer choice.

  1. Roughly size each image by dragging its marginal boxes. Do not worry about placement yet.
  2. In the Turning Point Menu, click Convert to Picture Slide icon (to the right of Insert Slide).

Note: The images will now be associated with their answer choices!

  1. Click on and drag the answer images to their appropriate places. Once image placement is established, further resizing may be useful.
  2. To add another slide, repeat Steps 1-10.
  3. When finished, click the Save icon in the Power Point menu. If necessary, enter a name for the file (e.g., Chapter 1); choose a folder in which to save the file (e.g., Biology 1100.01); click Save, and exit Turning Point (or PowerPoint), if desired.

D.Question Format: Animation/Movie

In creating questions with animations/movies, the animation/movie file must be on the hard-drive of the same computer from which Turning Point is being run. In this authoring method, the Power Point slide will link to the animation/movie.

  1. While within the Turning Point menu, click Insert Slide; then click Vertical Slide.
  2. In the Turning Point menu, click Reminders, and select Countdown.
  3. Within the Enter Question Text… box, type in the question.
  4. Within the Enter Answer Text… box, type in the answers.

Note: It is best to put the answer choices on the right-hand side of the page because the animation/movie will frequently open on the left-hand side. (However, one can easily move the answer choices anywhere on the page to accommodate the unpredictable placement of a movie.)

  1. To program the correct answer, in the Turning Point menu, click the Eyeglasses icon.
  2. On the left-hand screen, click the appropriate question.
  3. On the right-hand screen, click the correct answer choice. This loads in a screen directly below.
  4. On the bottom right-hand screen, right-click Value, and select Correct.
  5. In the Power Point menu, click Slide Show;select Action Buttons; click the Movie icon (bottom right); then click anywhere on the slide to paste the movie- play button.
  6. In the Action Setting window (which opens upon pasting the movie-play icon), click the radio button for Hyperlink To; in the field below, click the downward arrow, and click Other File.
  7. Navigate through your drives and files until you locate the movie; click the movie to highlight it; then click OK to load it. Click OK to close out the Action Settings window.
  8. To view the movie, click Slide Show in the Power Point tool bar; then click the movie-play button; then click the movie play arrow.
  9. To create another animation/movie-based question, repeat Steps 1-10.
III.Running a Session (i.e., a Quiz)

Advantages:

  • Quizzes are presented as a PP show.
  • Quizzes may be presented without interruption.
  • Question slides may be interspersed in a sequence of lecture PP slides.
  • Quizzes may be interrupted, saved, and continued at a later date.
  • Individual question slides may be repeated and re-scored.
  • At the end of a quiz, the session file is saved to the My Documents folder, along with the PP presentation, the participant list, and all individual responses.

All session data for a class are saved as a .tpz file. In this file, participant list and all individual responses are recorded. The tpz file is automatically saved to the My Documents folder at the end of each session.

A.Delivering a Quiz

  1. On the desktop, double-click the Turning Point icon.
  2. In the pop-up Power Point window, click the radio button for Open an Existing Presentation; locate and click on the presentation (to be shown as an assessment).
  3. In the Turning Point menu, click Reset; then click Session.
  4. In the Turning Point menu click the downward arrow for No Participant List; then select the appropriate Participant List. (This will associate response data with individual students in the gradebook; if you do not want to associate the responses, then do not select a participant list.)
  5. To begin the PP slideshow, click F5 on the keyboard.

Note: Once the slide appears, students may input answers.

  1. To activate the count-down reminder, click the forward arrow on the keyboard. You may pause the count-down at any time by pressing the Pause button on your keyboard.

Note: Once the count-down reminder reaches 0, students may no longer input answers. Also, after the count-down reminder reaches 0, the response chart is automatically presented, showing percent correct and incorrect responses.

  1. To move to the next question slide, click the forward arrow on the keyboard.

Note: During the slide show, a number of keys are presented in the bottom toolbar. These allow you additional control over the presentation. Some of these functionalities are covered in the Optional Activities section at the end of this document. The following are of particular importance:

  1. Icon 1 (%): change the chart values (change from percentage to numbers)
  2. Icon 2 (charts): allows data slicing (or cross tabbing), which shows how students answered across questions
  3. Icon 3 (keypad and hand): runs the question slide again, while preserving previous results
  4. Icon 4 (chart): displays original chart
  5. Icon 5 (grid): shows all keypads in the class, but color-changes those that have answered
  6. Icon 6 (grid): shows which keypads have not answered
  7. Icon 7 (head and spreadsheet page): reveals participant monitor: class grades, individual grades
  8. Icon 8 (page): access on-the-fly slide templates: true/false, yes/no, yes/abstain/no, likert scale, and generic slides.
  1. Repeat Steps 6 and 7 until all question slides have been presented.
  2. To exit the slideshow, click Escape on the keyboard.
  3. When finished, exit PowerPoint. A message box will appear.
  4. In the message box, click Yes to save data from the current session. A save window appears.
  5. Click Save to save the session data to the default folder (My Documents> Turning Point>Sessions). The default name includes the original PP file name + date + time of delivery and the tpz extension. You may, however, save the file under a new name, e.g., Lecture 1 Quiz. (Do not change the tpz extension.)

IV. Accessing Reports

After having run and saved a session, you may access 14 reports within which the session data are saved.

Features

  • Offers a very powerful reporting structure
  • 14 reports may be generated from the session data
  • Most reports are saved as Excel files, but some are saved as Word files
  • The reports may be edited, copied, exported/imported, and merged, etc.
  1. Accessing the Reports
  1. In the Turning Point menu, click the Reports icon (Excel sheet, third from right).
  2. In the Reports window, double-click the appropriate session file. The list of 14 reports then appears. Not all 14 will apply to your particular session, though. The following 4 reports appear especially useful:
  • #1 Results by Question: this is an items-analysis report; it lists each question and its answers, along with percent responses.
  • #2 Graphical Results by Question: this is an items-analysis report; it lists each question and its answers, along with percent responses in a pie chart.
  • # 12 Graded Participant Results: this is a typical gradebook view at the class level; it lists each student, responses to each question (with a correct/incorrect indicator), and a grade for each student.
  • #13 Results by Participant: this is a detailed student record; within a student’s account, it lists the full question and answer text, the correct answer, and the student’s response (with a correct/incorrect indicator).
V. Exporting Session Records

A. Exporting and Filtering Session Data into Excel

  1. In the Turning Point menu, click the Reports icon (Excel sheet, third from right).
  2. In the Reports window, double-click the appropriate Session.
  3. In the Reports window, click the Graded Participant Results report.
  4. In the bottom menu of the Reports window, click the Customize the Export icon (page with 3 arrows).
  5. UnclickQuestions and Answers and Responses.
  6. Click the forward arrow (top right).
  7. At the bottom of the Wizard window, click the Scores tab.
  8. Click the radio button for Calculate Using Correct/Incorrect Values.
  9. In the top right, click the forward arrow.
  10. For the Delimited Format area (top), click the radio button for Tab.
  11. In the top right, click the forward arrow.
  12. In the bottom menu, click the Save icon (page with floppy). An export window opens.
  13. In the Save-in field, select a folder in which to save the file; then click Save.
  14. After saving, click Yes to exit the Export Wizard.
  15. Exit from Turning Point.

B.Loading the Report into Excel

  1. Open Excel.
  2. In the Excel menu, click File; then click Open; then locate and double-click the TP export file to load it. An Excel Import Wizard opens.
  3. In the Excel Import Wizard, click the radio button for Delimited; then at the bottom, click Next.
  4. Ensure that the Tab box is checked (should be the default); then click Finish.
  5. To save the file as an Excel file (it is currently a text file):
  6. Click File in the Excel menu
  7. Click Save as.
  8. In the Save In field, select a folder in which to save the file.
  9. In the File Name field, rename the file (e.g., Biology 1100.01 Gradebook).
  10. In the Save As Type field, select Microsoft Excel Workbook.
  11. Click Save.

In this scheme, the instructor now has an Excel Gradebook, listing Response Pad number, Student’s Last and First Name, and Score for the Quiz. The instructor may then customize: