Classroom Performance System (CPS)
Release Notes
Release 6.56 June 2010
Contents
General Information
Description
The Classroom Performance System (CPS), developed by eInstruction Corporation, is a software and hardware package. The hardware consists of radio frequency (RF) or infrared (IR) clickers and a receiver or hub. The CPS software provides the tools to create and deliver course-relevant questions and standards. Students use their clickers to respond to the questions. The receiver transmits the students’ responses to the CPS software. CPS compiles and reports the students' performance results.
System
Requirements
Minimum System Requirements:
- Microsoft Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
- Intel Pentium IV processor 1GHz equivalent or higher (or equivalent)
- 512 MB RAM (1 GB RAM for Vista)
- 500 MB hard disk space for installation
- Video Card and display capable of XVGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution with minimum of 16-bit color
- One available USB port
- Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 (for PowerPoint integration)
Recommended:
- Microsoft Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
- Intel Core2 Duo processor 2GHz equivalent or higher
- 2 GB RAM
- 1 GB hard disk space for installation
- CD-ROM Drive for installation
- Video Card and display capable of XVGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution with minimum of 24-bit color
- One available USB port
- Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 (for PowerPoint integration)
Known Issues
General Operation
- If you are using any eInstruction applications together, such as Response, Workspace, and CPS, you will need to upgrade all of these applications to the latest released version in order for Device Manager to communicate properly between them.
- On Windows XP, users will see an error messages with the Microsoft wisptise.exe application when an Interwrite Dualboard or Interwrite Mobi is connected via USB. Microsoft has addressed this issue and an update is available for Windows XP SP2 systems.
Please see the following KB articles for more information.
CPS
- Essay question support limited to TMA, TLSMA, and Practice modes
- Merging of homework sessions not supported
- If the PC is not restarted after installation, CPS™ may experience performance issues on initial startup.
- When engaging in multiple CPS™ lessons using Cricket, CPS™ will display a communication failure to the receiver if multiple different lessons are engaged in succession. Recommendation to avoid this behavior is to close CPS™ between each session.
- CPS™ Gen2 clickers used in a Higher-Ed classroom may encounter a situation where after the clicker is powered on, it will appear to have joined the correct class, but may have joined another teacher’s class that engaged a CPS™ session before the teacher in the student’s current class. The exhibited behavior will allow the student to respond to questions, but on the official teacher's grid, the student’s response will not show and data will not be recorded for the current class.
This situation may happen under the following conditions:
- The student powers on the clicker before the official teacher (where the student exists in the active roster) engages a session. In this case, the student would have been joined to another roster in an adjacent classroom where the teacher had already engaged a lesson.
- The student is not in the class roster for the current class. In this case, the student’s clicker will join and will send responses to questions, but none of the student’s responses will be recorded.
If this behavior is encountered, the student clicker should be powered off and powered back on after the official teacher has engaged the CPS™ lesson. At this point, it should join the correct channel, but the student should verify the channel number to be sure.
- An underlying issue with the Microsoft® Jet Engine 4.0 database causes CPS to crash when localized in the Kazakh language. Microsoft has released a fix for this issue (Microsoft Jet Internationalization Update): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=62ef886e-c051-4e24-9115-0ec6f8e4ac42&DisplayLang=en&displaylang=en . Once this update is installed, the issue affecting CPS is resolved.
- When importing from WebCT, a Login error will occur if a supported JRE (Java Runtime Environment) is not installed on the system. To work around this issue, install a JRE from http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp
- On some Windows XP systems, an "End Program - InstallShieldMSIDelete10" message is displayed when restarting immediately after installation. This is more common when using a virtual machine but has been reported on physical machines as well.
- In Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, if the font size is changed using the CPS PowerPoint toolbar (in slideshow mode), PowerPoint automatically resizes the font so the entire question fits on the slide. When this occurs, the font size displayed on CPS PowerPoint toolbar will not reflect the resized font value. The new resized font will be retained after the presentation has been switched from slide show to design mode.
- On Vista systems using PowerPoint 2007, after starting an event macro (such as a CPS PowerPoint Question) in slide show mode, the Next and Previous options from the right-click menu do not advance to the next or previous slide. This issue has been addressed with the Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1 release: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9EC51594-992C-4165-A997-25DA01F388F5&displaylang=en
- An error message is displayed when starting CPS:
CPS encountered an error attempting to initialize the main form.
- Exception description:
- Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {4991D34B-80A1-4291-83B6-3328366B9097} failed due to the following error: 80070422”
- Solution:
- Select the Windows Start button, and select “Run” from the menu.
- In the Open field, enter “services.msc” and click OK.
- When the window opens, find “BITS” or “Background Intelligent Transfer Service”. Right click on it and select “Properties” from the menu.
- Change the “Startup type” option to automatic.
- Click the “Apply” button, and then start the service. Once the service is running you can then open CPS.
- For more information see http://support.softdent.lt/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=24
When the user clicks on the Verbal or Chalkboard buttons on the CPS PowerPoint toolbar, the toolbar will disappear and then reappear.
Users cannot end a CPS session when using a CPS IR device with unsupported question types. This will occur if "Auto Move to Next Question" is selected and the Ballot Grid is open, when CPS automatically moves to an unsupported question type. In order to end the session, the user must close the Ballot Grid windows and navigate back to a supported question type, end the question, and then end the session.
If the first slide of a CPS PowerPoint presentation does not contain a question, vClicker will not recognize the session. To work around this issue, shutdown CPS PowerPoint, restart Device Manager, and then launch CPS PowerPoint. To avoid this issue Device Manager will need to be restarted each time the user logs in.
Question responses are not displayed in the Instructor Feedback window. This occurs in SMA sessions that contains over 127 questions. Questions greater than 127 (128, 129, 130, etc.) will not be displayed in the Instructor Feedback window.
Device Manager
- The SoftKeys on the Mobi Learner may not work properly if the device is connected while the software is being installed or upgraded. Remove the Mobi Learner from Device Manager, install or upgrade the software, and then rediscover the device to solve the problem.
- SoftKeys can be programmed to perform Interwrite functions or to launch applications. They cannot be programmed to launch files in the application associated with the file.
- When you use the upper button on the side of the electronic Interwrite Pen (sometimes referred to as the right or top button) to perform a Ctrl-Click, depress and hold the button for a second or two before releasing it. When the button is pressed two or more times in rapid succession, the system may enter a state in which it appears that no button presses were processed, either from the Pen, or from the mouse. The cursor will move, but no button presses/mouse clicks are processed. To get out of this state, hold the Pen close to the whiteboard or tablet and press the upper button on the Pen an additional one or two times. The system will return to normal.
- The Show correct answer on clicker option does not work with PRS RF clickers and Cricket clickers when the correct answer is alpha (A, B, or C, etc.). Use a numeric correct answer (1, 2, or 3, etc.) as a workaround in a mixed class environment.
- In Ubuntu, Java windows may appear blank when Desktop Effects are enabled. To disable Desktop Effects, select System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Visual Effects and then, select None.
- A duplicate USB device will appear in Device Manager each time a supported USB device is physically moved to a different USB port. The USB port address is used by Device Manager to uniquely identify and store user preferences for a device. When the USB device is physically attached, only the device with the matching USB address will be shown as connected in Device Manager, all other duplicated devices will be shown as disconnected.
Installation
Information
Installing the CPS software from the CPS CD
- Insert the CPS CD and the Install window should appear.
- Click the Install CPS or Install CPS PPT button / icon to start the installation.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation of the software.
Release Notes