Abstract:

The Socrative tool has been used, for the first time on Financial Management II course (3rd Degree in Business Administration and Management of the University of Murcia) in order to promote student participation, stimulate the learning process and improve the acquisition of skills. The exam has two parts, multiple choice and problem solving. Given that most students fail because of the multiple choice, we decided to use Socrative to strengthen the knowledge of concepts and topics that students consider to be most difficult.

In this subject there are two intermediate tests, each with a maximum score of one point, so this tool was used a few days before the scheduled date for the partial tests. The teachers asked the students, about two weeks in advance, to make test questions on the concepts and topics that they considered to be most difficult. The students had a week to think up some questions. Once the questions proposed by each student had been received, the errors detected were analyzed and corrected by the teachers. Additionally, the teachers included other questions. On the day of class prior to each partial test, the students answered all the questions proposed by their classmates and professor using the Socrative tool.

This activity has favored the exchange of knowledge among students, helped them to resolve doubts and to realize the errors made when formulating their questions. In addition, it has enabled the professors of the Financial Management II course to be aware of the difficulties and doubts that arise in the study of the subject.

In order to analyze the effect of Socrative on the learning outcomes, students were divided into two groups: the first was those following the traditional teaching system where students did not use Socrative, the second was made up of students who used the Socrative tool a few days before the scheduled date for the partial test.

Although the students valued this activity very positively, the teachers have not detected a significant improvement in the results with respect to the students who did not carry out this activity. The same final examination was used for both groups in order to avoid any bias in the comparisons. While the average scores of the groups in which the activity was carried out were 4.9 (first intermediate test); 4.5 (second intermediate test); and 4 (final exam); the average scores obtained by the group that did not perform this activity were 5.5 (first intermediate test); 5.5 (second intermediate test); and 4.5 (final exam).

Keywords:

Socrative, Financial Management, student participation, acquisition of skills.