DreamPad was designed as a dialog-based application for MS Windows 3.1. It uses the Winsock specification for its communication between modules. DreamPad uses a server component (the instructor console) and one or more client components (the student consoles). For further implementation details, see the Technical Specifications.
The basic interfaces look like:
The Instructor (Server) Main Screen
The Student (Client) Main Screen
Students ask questions which are anonymously delivered to the instructor. The instructor detects the number of questions pending by the questions pending value. To read the questions, he simply presses the ? icon. To send a question, the student presses the ? icon and gets the following dialog:
The student types the question into the edit box and presses Send when the question is complete.
The students can give an opinion of how the class is going overall by using the mood meter. Pressing the thermometer gives the mood dialog box:
The student uses the scroll bar to select a value between 1 (bored) and 10 (excited) and then presses Send.
The instructor checks the mood by pressing the mood meter icon. The mood is displayed by the following dialog:
Students use a stoplight paradigm to give feedback on individual slides. To send an opinion, a student clicks on the stoplight icon and gets the following dialog:
The instructor gets feedback immediately on his console. The stoplight icon changes to red, green or yellow based upon the number of student votes for each category.