Incorporating Nearpod in undergraduate financial accounting classes in Egypt

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the results of a Classroom Action Research (CAR) on the use of Nearpod, an online platform that facilitates the use of interactive teaching material using mobile devices, to conduct a formative assessment in the classroom. There are two aims of this study. First, exploring the effectiveness of using Nearpod to conduct in-class Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ) quizzes in an introductory undergraduate financial accounting class. Second, exploring its influence on the teaching and learning experiences at one of the top private universities in Egypt. In addition, the research attempted to find out how the instructor’s use of Nearpod in the classroom affected students’ interest in the subject matter and course material when compared to conventional paper and pen quizzes. Results from students’ survey and focus groups indicated that using Nearpod heightened students’ interest in the class and positively affected their learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Classroom Action Research (CAR)
• Egypt
• financial accounting
• Nearpod
• student engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Undeclared students are students who have not yet chosen a major to study, while declared students are already enrolled in a major.

2 http://www.emmaclemens.com/10-reasons-to-use-nearpod/.

3 The Center for Learning at Teaching (CLT) at the university provides support and resources to faculty members, helping them develop and redesign courses, integrate technologies into the classroom, design and implement assessments which eventually contribute to enhancing the teaching and learning experience.

4 https://nearpod.com/pricing.

5 Since distance learning is beyond the scope of the current research, using Nearpod in distance learning has not been addressed.

6 Kulesza et al. (2014) conducted the study in a Biology course.

7 Consent forms and Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval were obtained prior to assessment.

8 Academic standing at the university examined is determined by the number of credit hours completed by the students. Students are freshmen as soon as they are enrolled at the university. Students become sophomores on completing 30 credit hours, juniors on completing 60 credit hours, and seniors on completing 90 credit hours.

9 The difference in means are calculated as the mean of the response score of the Nearpod question less the mean of the response score of the paper/pen quiz question. Therefore, a positive difference indicates a higher level of satisfaction for Nearpod quizzes as compared to paper/pen quizzes.