Discipline: Computer Sciences and Information Management
Subcategory: Computer Science & Information Systems
Michelle Lane - Winston-Salem State University
Not knowing how well students are responding to faculty instruction and the content covered can be frustrating. Usually, a survey is given to students to take at the end of a semester to evaluate the class material, the instructor or both. However, such surveys are too broad, does not give faculty any information about a specific course interaction or pedagogy and it does not help current students in the class. If faculty could have a quick way of gathering student impressions, then it will help the faculty to reflect on those impressions in real time. Some students feel afraid, or even ashamed to give feedback or ask questions in class. Having a way for students to evaluate the instructor or subject matter anonymously in class would be beneficial for both faculty and students. Faculty can take the information and use it constructively to help deliver a more helpful learning experience for current students in the class. With this goal in mind, a mobile survey app that can be used in class, in real-time, was designed and developed. It is universal because faculty can deploy a survey of any type and with any number of questions. Most importantly, it provides a real-time summary of anonymous survey answers for faculty. It was developed to help the faculty to know how well students are comprehending instructions and material that is being taught. Not all instructors have the same teaching methods and not all students have the same learning abilities. This is where the survey app will help bridge that gap of communication during the semester, not at the end, when it is too late. The instructors may need to make adjustments to their teaching methods and this app will help them know how to adjust accordingly. Other existing apps and approaches were taken into consideration and matched against our requirements. Most had limitations on questions, responses, customization, mobile devices and cost issues. The app that was developed has no such limitations on how many questions can be asked or how many responses can be obtained, and it is free. In conclusion, developing this survey app will help students to provide quick feedback and faculty to gather real-time class responses. The survey app is still under testing and will be used in class in spring 2016 using Mobile Response System software. The app currently does not support contextual questions, however in the future we are going to research on this issue and allow cascading questions in the app.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This study was supported by NSF grant # 1332531 that was awarded to Dr. Fuad.
Faculty Advisor: Muztaba Fuad,