Improving Student Engagement In Lectures Through The Use Of Free Mobile Applications

This study uses a concurrent mixed methods approach to test the effect of the application ‘Socrative’ on improving student engagement in lecture settings. The study saw Socrative introduced to a full cohort (n160) of first year undergraduate computing students in their first lecture and continued its use for ten lectures in total. A full cohort survey and a self-selecting focus group (n5) were used to collect the data. The results of the study demonstrate that the students enjoyed using Socrative and felt that it did increase their engagement. Further positive outcomes and challenges are noted.