VCU Classroom Technology

Changes to Turning Technologies Classroom Clickers (Classroom Response System)

by Houston Griffith

VCU Academic Technologies has upgraded the Turning Technologies integration with Blackboard to the latest version, which works with version 8 receivers.  Although the user interface has some minor differences from past versions, we wanted to let you know about some of the changes behind the scenes. This latest version brings many new features; however, the ResponseWare mobile and web app will not be supported by VCU at this time.

  1. Moving to this new version of the Turning Technologies classroom response platform means faculty and students must register for an account with Turning Technologies on their website. To make this process as smooth and easy as possible, single-sign on integration with CAS (Central Authentication Service) has been enabled. This allows  faculty and students to use the link from within Blackboard course(s) to be routed directly to the Turning Technologies registration page, where information will automatically be filled in based upon their VCU eID.
  2. No subscription is required for faculty (instructors) unless they want to use a clicker to respond during polling.  Students will need a Turning Technologies subscription to use with their account for grade visibility.  For those who have been using their products, Turning Technologies has agreed to “grandfather” these existing student and faculty accounts at no cost with a 1-year subscription, beginning at the start of the Fall 2017 semester. New VCU students must purchase a physical clicker device and a Turning Technologies subscription bundle. We recommend that new students purchase the bundle from the VCU Bookstore.
  3. Faculty must return their old receivers and get a new version 8 receiver from the IT Support Center located in the basement of Cabell Library on the Monroe Park campus,  or on the 3rd floor of the VMI building (Virginia Mechanic’s Institute) on the MCV campus.
  4. Lastly, with this new version there are some additional features and compatibility enhancements, the biggest of which is to ensure compatibility with classroom podium computers which are now running Windows 10. If you’d like to know more about our Windows 10 Migration over the Summer, please go here: https://wp.vcu.edu/classroomsupport/2017/05/02/windows-10-migration/

For more information about the Turning Technologies upgrade and account creation processes, please refer to our askIT knowledgebase.

For faculty and/or student questions, there are two ways to reach out to us directly.

  1. Contact the IT Support Center at 828-2227. (Some requests may need to be forwarded to the Turning Technologies support hotline for assistance.)
  2. Submit a help request ticket in ServiceDesk.
    • Select “Academic Technologies” on the left-hand navigation menu.
    • Under “Labs and Classroom Computer Support” there are several options to pick from.

Depending on your needs, we will schedule a time to meet with you to discuss a solution or provide training.  Academic Technologies can assist faculty and students with the following:

  • Registering accounts
  • Clicker and receiver issues
  • Getting started with your course in Blackboard

Other support issues will be forwarded to Turning Technologies who have specialized support resources available.

Categories Central Classroom Updates