Chris Jernstedt, Dartmouth College

Chris Jernstedt is learning about teaching as he teaches about learning. A professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College and director of the school's Center for Educational Outcomes, Jernstedt has forsaken the pop quizzes common to most classroom settings in favor of teaching wirelessly — an approach that's proving to be a true learning experience on both sides of the lectern.

Capitalizing on Dartmouth's campuswide wireless network and a grant from Handspring, Jernstedt distributes Handspring's Prism PDAs to his classes. When he asks a question, every student punches in an answer, guaranteeing the full participation of the entire class.

“Now we have a community in the classroom,” Jernstedt said. “The best learning happens when the learner is active. You're requiring every brain to get engaged.”

After the data is transmitted from the PDAs, the results — sometimes anonymous, sometimes not — are tabulated in real time and posted on a large screen in the front of the classroom. If the information suggests that a significant number of students are failing to grasp the day's lecture, Jernstedt can immediately shift gears, approaching the lesson from a different angle to get his point across.

“There's a change in orientation from telling to asking,” he said. “You have to learn how to teach with this. It's very different from when you're doing all the talking.”

Although the project is still in alpha mode, Jernstedt said Dartmouth is looking at potential entrepreneurial applications. And regardless of whether the class is calculus or Russian literature, the benefits of wireless teaching transfer across academic lines.

“We can provide active engagement no matter how you teach,” Jernstedt said. “You don't have to worry about reaching students. Technology will take care of it for you.”