Dear Label_Name,

Greetings! I hope you are well.

I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Science and Education Publishing, USA (http://www.sciepub.com).

Science and Education Publishing (SciEP) is a multidisciplinary open access publisher of Journals covering the fields of Science, Technology and Medicine. All SciEP publications are subject to high-quality peer review, editorial and production processes and are freely available online.

Welcome to the April, 2013 edition of SciEP newsletter, providing monthly summaries of articles on science & education related topics of interest to scientist and professionals. The mission of our journals is to provide an open access forum for publishing new findings on issues pertinent to scientific and academic field. We also invite you to submit original research papers, review articles, short reports, or case studies are considered for publication in our Multidisciplinary Journals.

American Journal of Public Health Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-1-1-3

The Implementation of a Tele-Homecare System with Service Oriented Architecture and HL7 Message Transmission Standard
Ching-Sung Wang

American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajmbr-1-1-2

The Influence of Ethanol on Pyruvate Kinases Activity in Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico
Lelevich Sergey Vladimirovich, Khrustalev Vladislav Victorovich, Barkovsky Eugene Victorovich, Shedogubova Tatyana Aleksandrovna

American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
DOI: 10.12691/ajmsm-1-1-1

Clinical and Histological Features in Wegener Granulomatosis
Li Cavoli Gioacchino, Passantino Rita, Bono Luisa, Tortorici Calogera, Ferrantelli Angelo, Giammarresi Carlo, Rotolo Ugo

American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
DOI: 10.12691/ajidm-1-1-2

The Curse of Lymphatic Filariasis: Would the Continual Use of Diethylcarbamazine Eliminate this Scourge in Papua New Guinea?
Anne Lanham, Lillian Mwanri

We have released issues of some journals on February 2013.
American Journal of Public Health Research
American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
American Journal of Pharmacological Sciences
American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research
American Journal of Nursing Research
American Journal of Cancer Prevention
American Journal of Medicine Studies
American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research
American Journal of Biomedical Research
American Journal of Mechanical Engineering
American Journal of Microbiological Research
Journal of Preventive Medicine
American Journal of Food and Nutrition
American Journal of Hypertension Research
American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment
American Journal of Zoological Research
Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology
American Journal of Microbiological Research
Biomedical Science and Engineering

We are pleased to announce that submissions are now being accepted for peer review for all the journals across all our subject areas in SciEP.

Please submit your manuscript via our online submission system:
http://www.sciepub.com/author/signin

To unsubscribe from our mailing list, please click on the following link: unsubscribe

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

David Rain
Email:join@sciepub.com
Science and Education Publishing (http://www.sciepub.com)

Use and Perceptions of Students of a Mobile Application as a Classroom Response System

Janna B. Limbaco, Keen Edremor N. Romerde, Janikka P. Estilo, Benjie C. Mondelo, Angelo Mark P. Walag*

Department of Science Education, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines

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.

Keywords: class participation, classroom response system, mobile application, student anxiety, student interaction

Received February 09, 2021; Revised March 10, 2021; Accepted March 15, 2021

Citation: Janna B. Limbaco, Keen Edremor N. Romerde, Janikka P. Estilo, Benjie C. Mondelo, Angelo Mark P. Walag, Use and Perceptions of Students of a Mobile Application as a Classroom Response System. Journal of Innovations in Teaching and Learning, 1 (1). 29-35. January 2021. doi:10.12691/jitl-1-1-6

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

2.1. Research Design

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.

2.2. Application Interface Design and Mechanics

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.

Figure 1. MARS user log-in and entry to wireless network connection

Figure 2. Student registration and subject entry credentials

Figure 3. Entering of question password and choosing and confirming of answers

Figure 4. Confirmation of answer submission and end of the quiz

Figure 5. Sample summary of responses for a true-false question, red color denotes the wrong answer

Figure 6. Sample summary of responses for a multiple-choice question, a green color denotes the correct answer

Figure 7. Report of results generated in a web-based computer application

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).

2.3. Application Evaluation

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.

Table 1. Rubric for application evaluation

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Application Evaluation

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.

Table 2. Mean scores of student’s evaluation of MARS (n= 28)

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.

3.2. Student Perception on the Use of MARS

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.

Table 3. Student Perception on the use of MARS (n=28)

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

[1]   | J. J. Dong, W. Y. Hwang, R. Shadiev, and G. Y. Chen, “Pausing the classroom lecture: The use of clickers to facilitate student engagement,” Active Learning in Higher Education, vol. 18, no. 2, 2017.
[2]   | J. D. Benson, K. A. Szucs, E. D. Deiuliis, and A. Leri, “Impact of student response systems on initial learning & retention of course content in health sciences students,” Journal of Allied Health, vol. 46, no. 3, 2017.

[3]  
G. G. Bactong, A. D. H. Sabas, K. M. M. Salva, A. J. B. Lituañas, and A. M. P. Walag, “Design , Development , and Evaluation of CHEMBOND : An Educational Mobile Application for the Mastery of Binary Ionic Bonding Topic in Chemistry,” Journal of Innovations in Teaching and Learning, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 4-9, 2021.

[4]   | H. Baid and N. Lambert, “Enjoyable learning: The role of humour, games, and fun activities in nursing and midwifery education,” Nurse Education Today, vol. 30, no. 6, 2010.
[5]   | A. M. Walton, A. N. Isaacs, A. T. McFarland, L. M. Czosnowski, and S. A. Nisly, “Design of drug-induced diseases elective utilizing active learning,” Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, vol. 8, no. 1, 2016.
[6]   | A. J. Guarascio, B. D. Nemecek, and D. E. Zimmerman, “Evaluation of students’ perceptions of the Socrative application versus a traditional student response system and its impact on classroom engagement,” Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, vol. 9, no. 5, 2017.
[7]   | N. H. A. Karim and M. I. A. Shah, “Silence is not golden: Investigating classroom participation anxiety among university students,” World Applied Sciences Journal, vol. 20, no. 2, 2012.
[8]   | C. Fies and J. Marshall, “Classroom response systems: A review of the literature,” Journal of Science Education and Technology, vol. 15, no. 1. 2006.
[9]   | J. Cain and E. Robinson, “A primer on audience response systems: Current applications and future considerations,” American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, vol. 72, no. 4. 2008.
[10]   | Y. C. J. Wu, T. Wu, and Y. Li, “Impact of using classroom response systems on students’ entrepreneurship learning experience,” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 92, 2019.
[11]   | C. Keller, N. Finkelstein, K. Perkins, S. Pollock, C. Turpen, and M. Dubson, “Research-based practices for effective clicker use,” in AIP Conference Proceedings, 2007, vol. 951.
[12]   | B. Swetha, R. P. Rao, V. Rojit, and V. Kumar, “A low-cost classroom response system,” in 2017 International Conference on Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics, ICACCI 2017, 2017, vol. 2017-January.
[13]   | Y. Chaiyo and R. Nokham, “The effect of Kahoot, Quizizz and Google Forms on the student’s perception in the classrooms response system,” 2017.
[14]   | E. J. Y. Pajarillo and D. B. Kaplan, “Usability of a classroom response system in an online course: Testing of a smartphone-downloadable technology enhanced learning tool for distance education,” Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, vol. 9, no. 3, 2018, doi: 10.5430/jnep.v9n3p14.
[15]   | J. Casino and A. M. P. Walag, “Design and Development of a Science Literacy Material on Vaccination as an Intervention Campaign for Parents of High School Students in the Philippines,” American Journal of Educational Research, vol. 8, no. 10, pp. 762-766, Oct. 2020.
[16]   | I. J. P. Saldo and A. M. P. Walag, “Utilizing Problem-Based and Project-Based Learning in Developing Students ’ Communication and Collaboration Skills in Physics,” American Journal of Educational Research, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 232-237, 2020.
[17]   | A. M. P. Walag, M. T. M. Fajardo, P. G. Bacarrisas, and F. M. Guimary, “Are our Science Teachers Scientifically Literate? An Investigation of Science Teachers’ Scientific Literacy in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines,” Science International, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 179-182, 2020.
[18]   | A. M. P. Walag, M. T. M. Fajardo, F. M. Guimary, and P. G. Bacarrisas, “Science Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Teaching Different K to 12 Science Subjects: The Case of Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines,” Science International, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 587-592, 2020.
[19]   | N. B. T. Digal and A. M. P. Walag, “Self-Efficacy, Study Habits and Teaching Strategies and It’s Influence on Student Science Performance: A Cross-Sectional Study,” Asia Pacific Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 16, pp. 51-76, 2019.
[20]   | J. Melero, D. Hernández-Leo, and K. Manatunga, “Group-based mobile learning: Do group size and sharing mobile devices matter?,” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 44, 2015.
[21]   | H. Z. Abidin and F. H. K. Zaman, “Students’ perceptions on game-based classroom response system in a computer programming course,” in Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE 9th International Conference on Engineering Education, IEEE ICEED 2017, 2017, vol. 2018-January.
[22]   | M. Fuad, D. Deb, J. Etim, and C. Gloster, “Mobile response system: a novel approach to interactive and hands-on activity in the classroom,” Educational Technology Research and Development, vol. 66, no. 2, 2018.