Using Socrative to facilitate problem-based learning in large undergraduate courses

Abstract

This study investigates students’ perspectives on a student response system (SRS), Socrative, in a sizeable university-level course. The purpose of utilizing Socrative was to enhance participation and promote collaboration among students when they interact with one another to discuss their knowledge and critical thinking of the content of the course. Participants of the study were 82 students enrolled in an American Culture and Society course at a university in Korea. Web-based questionnaires and classroom observations were employed to examine students’ perceptions of Socrative use and their engagement in the related PBL activities. Overall, the students’ evaluation of the effectiveness of Socrative in a large enrollment class was more positive than negative. The students believed that the use of Socrative increased their interests and engagement, improved critical thinking skills and conceptual understanding of the course contents, promoted interactivity and participation, and allowed them to get motivated. The statistical analysis results showed little gender difference for all the items except for interactivity.