Abstract

Technology-based teaching devices that promote student interaction and communication between teachers and learners benefit active learning. Although active learning enhances critical thinking, many students still experience apprehension or anxiety to participate or interact in front of their peers. This study aims to design, develop, and evaluate a mobile application used as a classroom response system. The research utilized a design and development research design to develop a mobile application benchmarked from existing classroom response system issues. The app was evaluated using a rubric (α = 0.79) and student perception questionnaire (α = 0.83). The respondents rated the app high in terms of its ease of use and interface, interactivity, and ability to record simultaneous responses. A good rating was also recorded for the connectivity, which could be due to the issues with the router. Respondents also found the app useful in tests and other forms of assessments and that it increases their interest in lectures. Overall, respondents had a positive perception of using a technology-based teaching app used to promote student interaction. These results support the notion that ICT has the power to enhance the teaching-learning process. It is also recommended that further studies may be done to examine in-depth how CRS can enhance the learning process.

1. Introduction

Educators are constantly searching for strategies and tools to enhance learning, knowledge retention, and student engagement ^{1, 2}. One of the strategies employed is the use of information and communication tools ³. The use of interactive classroom technologies has gained popularity in the last decade, responding to increased digital literacy in today's generation ⁴. These interactive strategies are examples of active learning that stimulate student engagement and application of content better than traditional lectures ⁵. Although active learning enhances critical thinking, many students still experience apprehension or anxiety to participate or ask questions in front of their peers, particularly in large settings ⁶. This anxiety reduces their ability to participate while hindering their overall learning ⁷.

Several technologies have been used to foster interaction and active learning. One of the most used technologies goes by different names in the literature, such as electronic voting systems, audience response systems, personal response systems, classroom response systems (CRS), and student response systems, to name a few ⁸. Student response systems, or clickers, have been utilized to pose questions during classes and provide immediate feedback to both facilitators and students ⁹. Clickers assist educators in polling students’ answers, collecting attendance, assessment, or survey data ¹⁰. Commercial clickers utilize radio signals to transmit student answers to instructors, and these have been noted to facilitate peer instruction effectively ¹¹. A clicker has three main components: transmitters, receivers, and the computer with associated software ¹⁰.

There are several existing classroom response systems that have been developed and are available. An electronic mobile application called Socrative (MasteryConnect, Salt Lake City, UT) can be easily downloaded and accessed directly using a mobile phone or a tablet ⁶. This software requires internet instead of the usual conventional radio signal receiver units. Another low-cost classroom response system has been developed using low-cost mobile phones and Bluetooth connectivity, maximizing Quick Response (QR) codes ¹². Kahoot, Quizizz, and Google forms were also utilized as classroom response systems throughout the lecture to facilitate questions and answers in the classroom ¹³. Another CRS app has been used for a smartphone to enhance learning for distance graduate education and found out that it is a useful adjunctive tool to improve student learning in an online class ¹⁴.

Various CRS applications and handheld devices are currently used to engage students, enhance learning, and make learning active in various disciplines and education levels. Several issues were noted in that mobile applications require continuous access to the internet, faster mobile computer processing, and good camera quality for QR image capturing. Thus, this study aims to design, develop, and evaluate a mobile application system that can be used as a classroom response system that no longer requires an internet connection, faster mobile computing, and camera system use. This mobile application as a classroom response system is called Mobile Application Response System (MARS).

2. Methods

This utilized a design and development research design ^{3, 15} and quantitative-descriptive research design ^{16, 17, 18}. The research process started with an exhaustive literature review on functions and features of existing CRS applications and identified gaps. These were then utilized in the design of the user interface and functionalities of the application. Three important considerations were noted, and these are: (1) that the mobile application does not require internet connection, (2) high-speed mobile phone/smartphone or high definition imaging, and (3) costly hardware installations. The mobile application and the corresponding web-based computer application were then alpha- and beta-tested by IT, education, and assessment experts. After validation, one in-tact class of students in the university was asked to evaluate the application using a researcher-designed rubric. A researcher-made questionnaire on student perception was also administered to respondents.

The Mobile Application Response System (MARS) interface design is shown in Figure 1 – Figure 4. Once students open the application in their mobile application, they will be welcomed with the page shown in Figure 2a, where they are required to input their uniquid identification (ID) number and personally generated password. Figure 1b and 1c show the page where students enter the internet protocol (IP) address of the network they will be connected to. This feature is the response to the challenge on the use of the internet for CRS. The use and mechanics of the application are summarized in the following steps:

1. Once the student has already connected to the local area network via Wi-Fi, students are required to accomplish the registration page (Figure 2a) for easy recording of their scores.

2. After successful registration, students will choose the available classes they have enrolled in (Figure 2b and Figure 2c).

3. Once the student has selected the appropriate subject, the student will then be directed to the start of the use of the app.

4. Teachers can start their lectures, game, or discussion. They need to integrate into their PowerPoint slides the questions and the corresponding question password (Figure 3a). This will ensure that students will not just randomly answer questions. Students can’t proceed to the next question without entering the alphanumeric password set prior to class.

5. After successful entry of the question password, the students will now be directed to the page where they can input their response, whether it’s a multiple-choice, true-false, agree-disagree, or yes-no question (Figure 3b). A pop-up window will appear, asking the student to confirm his/her answer (Figure 3c).

6. Once the student has confirmed his/her answer, he/she will be directed to the page where his/her answer for the specific question is reflected (Figure 4a). After completion of the quiz, the students will be directed to the completion page (Figure 4b and Figure 4c).

7. Once students submit their answers, the corresponding web-based application on the teacher’s computer will then update real-time, reflecting a bar graph of students who got correct or wrong answers (Figure 5 and Figure 6).

8. The teacher can also check and export the scores of the students for a specific quiz through the web-based application (Figure 7).

The MARS was evaluated using a researcher-made rubric and student perception questionnaire. The researcher-made rubric (Table 1) was content and face validated by experts in IT, education, and assessment. Necessary revisions were made based on the comments and evaluation of these experts. Inter-rater reliability was also determined using Krippendorff's alpha, and the instrument was found to have an α = 0.79, which is considered reliable ^{3, 16}. Similarly, the student perception questionnaire (SPQ) was also validated and reliability-tested. Cronbach's alpha was utilized to determine the instrument's internal consistency, and it was found to have an α = 0.83, which highly reliable ¹⁹. Students, as the end-product users, served as evaluators using both instruments.

3. Results and Discussion

The MARS was evaluated using four criteria set based on exhaustive literature review analysis. The results are summarized in Table 2. The app has been rated as excellent in ease of use and interface, simultaneous response criteria while good for the connectivity and response. It is noteworthy to mention that the criteria on Interactivity and Function garnered the highest rating compared to the other criteria. This important since, as suggested in the literature, an effective CRS should not require fast mobile computing. The application's ability to respond interactively to the users indicates that the app can function even in low-end mobile applications that do not possess high computing power. This is essential since not all students have the latest mobile gadgets and that it encourages students, even with old gadgets, to interact actively in class. More so, this will eliminate the need for additional, costly handheld gadgets that students must bring to class. Students also report that when wireless connection and mobile devices are adopted in the learning process, they find it fun, innovative, and enjoyable ¹⁰. The direct interaction between users and mobile technology would help students increase their focus, leading to improved performance ²⁰. More so, the use of CSR showed a more active, engaged, and responsible behavior of learners as observed by teachers and based on student's comments ¹⁰.

Other than the application's interactivity, it has been rated to be excellent in terms of its ease of use and interface. This rating is highly welcome since the ease of use and user interface property of CSR allow students to feel safer for students to interact with teachers compared to hand-raising ⁶. This helpful and interactive interface allows students to be engaged compared to traditional clickers, where they simply click buttons.

Connectivity and response time was rated least compared to other criteria. This could be due to the type of router used in the evaluation stage. The router that was used has only a limit of 10 users using at the same time. That is why when this was used in the evaluation stage; users had difficulty in connecting to the MARS. Although when the system was used in a large class utilizing the school's network, the connectivity issue was resolved. This means that the problem was more of the hardware and not the application nor the system developed.

Students reported positive perception towards the use of MARS as a response system tool, as shown in Table 3, where the majority of the perception statements were rated "agree" while the rest were "strongly agree". This highlights the importance of integrating technology tools in the classroom to engage learners in class. Students rated “I like using MARS for tests” (statement #2) and “Using MARS is a good way to test my knowledge” (statement #7) as the two highest statements, which is highly expected since students find the use of the application to be likable compared to the traditional paper-and-pen test and hand-raising. This could be due to their innate digital literacy and the convenience it offers. As observed in the use of Kahoot in computer programming, students found it very enjoyable and that it improved their understanding ²¹. This suggests that clickers can be utilized as a form of formative assessments other than as a tool for student-teacher interaction.

Students also found the MARS to have made their lecture more interesting (statement #3). This result is also not surprising since most literature reports that students agree that CRS enhances learning, interaction, and engagement in their respective classes ^{6, 10, 12, 20, 21, 22}. This positive perception could be due to how the application provides a safe environment to ask and receive classroom questions ⁶. More so, their interest in their classes when the CRS was used could be due to how CRS is found to increase student collaboration, interaction and transform them into active learners.

4. Conclusion

This study aimed to design, develop, and evaluate a mobile application as a classroom response system. It was found out that the mobile application is easy to use, interactive, has functional features and can accommodate multiple responses. The application also had minor issues with connectivity and response time. This was due to the router utilized as the local area network. It was found that when the system was utilized in a large class trial, the issue was resolved when the school’s local area network was utilized. Students also had an overall positive perception of the application. Students find the application useful when integrated as part of their tests as stipulated in the perception statements. More so, students also report that the use of MARS makes their class lectures more interesting. These results support the notion that ICT has the power to enhance the teaching-learning process. It is also recommended that further studies may be done to examine in-depth how CRS can improve the learning process.

References