PointSolutions Audience Response System
PointSolutions is the audience response system used in all basic sciences courses. Students are issued devices ("clickers"), which they use to participate in most academic activities. Use of the clicker reflects the participation and performance of the student to whom the clicker and account are registered. Each student is responsible for all activity recorded through their registered clicker and audience response system account.
It is the responsibility of every student to have a registered clicker and ensure they are able to participate in formative assessment questions. Students are also responsible for ensuring their clicker is in working order and functional during course activities and for reviewing the course gradebook weekly to identify any issues with their participation records. Failure to do so may result in the loss of participation credit, for which the student will be held responsible.
Students must use only the clicker registered in their own name and should be aware of its status (e.g., location and functionality) during all learning activities, as use of the clicker in class is considered evidence of the attendance of the student to whom it is registered. Students are required to bring their individually assigned School of Medicine (SOM) clicker, and no other, to every required class session (e.g., lectures, small-group sessions, practicals, laboratories, and IMCQs) and to respond to all formative questions presented during the session.
To earn participation credit, students must attend their assigned class activities in person (as assigned by College, cohort, or any other method outlined in the course syllabus or course management site by the course director) and participate in all formative assessment items. Students may only earn participation credit for attendance at their assigned scheduled activities.
Students should only respond to PointSolutions formative assessment questions while physically present in class and using the clicker registered to them. Use of a clicker in class assumes the presence and participation of the student to whom it is registered. The use of a clicker by anyone other than the registered student, or the use of a clicker while the registered student is absent, constitutes a misrepresentation of participation records.
Although students are expected to make every effort to participate in all required academic activities, they must participate in at least 80% of required course activities to earn credit for the course.
Clicker Misuse
Misrepresentation of participation or performance through misuse of the audience response system constitutes academic dishonesty and is a violation of the Honor Code. Misrepresentation includes attempting to earn participation credit for an activity that was not fully attended in person, including both the student who is absent but registers participation and the student who is present and uses a clicker to register participation on behalf of an absent student. Students who attempt to misrepresent their participation record for assigned learning activities will be subject to academic and judicial referrals and the applicable penalties described below.
Participation Checks
Random participation checks are conducted weekly throughout the term using in-person scan-out or sign-out procedures. Scan/sign-out data are used to verify student attendance and are compared with participation records from the audience response system.
Any student who leaves a learning activity early (e.g., before the full debrief following the last formative assessment question of a lecture or before completing the required scan/sign-out process) will not be considered to have fully participated. To receive participation credit for sessions in which random participation checks are conducted, students must participate in all formative assessment questions and complete the required scan/sign-out process.
Participation Policy Violations
A student is in violation of the Participation Policy and Honor Code if the student:
- Attempts to claim participation credit but leaves prior to the required scan/sign-out process.
- Uses another person as a proxy registrant with their clicker (i.e., is registered as participating through the audience response system but is not physically present).
- Uses a clicker to register another student's presence and participation.
Students identified as potentially violating the Participation Policy will be flagged for follow-up by the course director and referred to the Office of Student Affairs and the Judicial Office. Students are required to comply with any resulting investigation. If the allegations are substantiated, students will be subject to the academic and judicial penalties described in the Unprofessional Behavior section of the Course Syllabus. These penalties include a 15% deduction from the course grade, loss of all course professionalism points as determined by the Faculty Panel on Academic Professionalism (FPAP), disciplinary probation until graduation, notation of non-compliance and unprofessionalism in the MSPE, and/or dismissal in egregious cases. Some of these penalties also require notification to the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG).