Personal response systems through the prism of students' experiences

Abstract

Personal response systems (PRSs) today offer an opportunity to the field of education in terms of improving teaching and learning outcomes through active engagement in classrooms. The present paper investigates students' attitudes to different types of PRSs, namely, Socrative and Clickers. Both qualitative and quantitative data are gathered and classified. The performed thematic analysis reveals major categories within the framework of this study, namely educational efficacy, psychological aspects, technology-related issues, and administrative issues. It has been found that Socrative fares better in the "educational efficacy" and "administrative issues," whereas Clickers outperforms Socrative in the "technological-related issues." It is worth pointing out that both Socrative and Clickers are tantamount in "psychological aspects" yielding no negative experiences. The results of this study reveal that two main factors, cost and technological infrastructure, are determinative in the incorporation and appreciation of such systems in an educational setting.