Students buzz their way to wireless exams

Students at a London school are putting gameshow technology to the test in the classroom.

Pupils at the Cardinal Wiseman school are using a radio-controlled voting system to answer questions in tutorials and end-of-term exams.

Each student is armed with a 15-button keypad, which can store up to 240 answers between uploads to a PC for automatic marking. Alternatively, the system can perform instant surveys of up to several hundred pupils.

David Tuttle, MD of Xtol, the UK firm behind the technology, said: "The concept is very popular amongst gameshows such as The Krypton Factor and Stars in their Eyes." Tuttle added: "Teachers are crying out for less paperwork and more time to do the things they want to do."

Xtol also creates the technology behind commercial voting systems, which handle as many as 2,000 people at a time.

The system, which is portable between classrooms, is administered by a teacher via a notebook computer. Careers teacher, David Lawrie, said: "It saves teachers over 150 hours in marking time during end-of-term exams and helps get pupils more involved in classes."

McDonalds, BT, and Nottingham Medical College are already using the technology for training purposes.