Remote Controlled VHS?

This was initially brought to my attention by Distance-Educator.com's Daily News around the beginning of July, but with a full schedule and trying to space out my posts so that I wouldn't have to bother with my blog thoughts until comprehensive exams are over, this is where it landed in the queue. Anyway, the item directed me to an article at Wired News titled "Classroom Clickers Make the Grade."

The article begins "an honors student at Ohio State, a kid in a fifth-grade science class in Kentucky and a deaf student in England all begin their learning experience the same way: with their hand wrapped around a remote control. " It continues by describing this learning experience

Hundreds of colleges, high schools and even middle schools are using "clickers" -- as even manufacturers call them. A moderator can pose a question and within seconds the respondents' answers are anonymously logged on a laptop at the front of the room.

In reading the remainder of the article, it seems that this is different from (I hesitate to say) traditional web-based distance education employed by the majority of virtual schools. Does anyone out there know anything else about this system? Has anyone ever seen it in use? Anyone know of a jurisdiction that is using it?

Tags: virtual school, cyber school, high school, education