Mobile-phone-based classroom response systems: Students’ perceptions of engagement and learning in a large undergraduate course

Abstract

Using a Classroom Response System (CRS) has been associated with positive educational outcomes, by fostering student engagement and by allowing immediate feedback to both students and instructors. This study examined a low-cost CRS (VotApedia) in a large first-year class, where students responded to questions using their mobile phones. This study explored whether the use of VotApedia retained the advantages of other CRS, overcame some of the challenges of other CRS, and whether new challenges were introduced by using VotApedia. These issues were studied within three themes: students’ perceptions of using VotApedia; the impact of VotApedia on their engagement; and the impact of VotApedia on their learning. Data were collected from an online survey, focus groups and student feedback on teaching and course content. The results indicated that using VotApedia retains the pedagogical advantages of other CRS, while overcoming some of the challenges presented by using other CRS, without introducing any new challenges.

Keywords:

• statistics
• clickers
• classroom response systems
• CRS
• teaching
• engagement

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the USC's Open Learning and Teaching Grants Scheme, and thank Dr Helen Fairweather and Dr Md Masud Hasan for assistance with the data collection. The contribution of the reviewers is also acknowledged.