Abstract:

For decades, increasing student participation in lectures has been a recurring challenge, mainly due to the passivity that many of them show, especially in certain subjects considered more ‘tedious’. For this reason, in recent years, different software applications have been developed and used in the classroom to favour the attention and participation of the students. The main advantages they offer are clear: real-time tests, immediate feedback, use from any device (Smartphone, Tablet, PC…), and the possibility of having tests and games outside the classroom (at any time and from anywhere). Besides, gamification is one of the aspects that has increased the most in the field of ICT-enhanced innovation in education. Given these apparent advantages, this work analyses and critically reviews the work conducted and reported to date on using several question-response applications in higher education.

Some of the most used apps for those purposes are Socrative and Kahoot, although Quizizz and Quizlet are also widely known and used. While Socrative is focused on conducting quizzes (although it also has a competition module: Space race), Kahoot was initially developed to directly perform gamification tasks through a competition by individuals or teams based on test questions. Both can be used in a complementary way, establishing a type of blended learning between traditional teaching and the use of tests. For example, Socrative is very effective in taking students' pulse, while Kahoot helps increase the satisfaction and interest of students for attention and acquisition of concepts and materials.

Owing to these excellent features, lecturers may overuse these applications, which negatively impacts the students’ perception of such learning tools. When lecturers ask students if they have previously used click-based programs such as Kahoot or Socrative, they usually respond positively. Therefore, the continuous use of one of these applications in the same course or through several courses results in students losing interest in them, or in the worst scenario, they end up disliking such apps for learning purposes. On the contrary, it is curious how one of the typical responses of students who have not used (or have done so on a few occasions) these applications is the desire to take more and more tests (especially in gamification) during the course. They even ask to make it a common thing for every lecture. Given these pros and cons, lecturers have to be careful with a possible tendency to satisfy these students’ wishes since an excessive use of these applications makes them lose effectiveness. This is particularly important if the leading cause of their use is to increase students’ motivation. Over depending on these applications may result in students being more interested in the software than the lecture itself. As a result, students could stop attending if there is no test or gamification.

Keywords:

Engagement, Socrative, Kahoot, Quizizz, Quizlet, ICT.