Can mobile devices help students improve their academic results?

Abstract

Nowadays, students are suffering from a decreased motivation which entails that implementation of new educational techniques is required. Due to the advantages of Information and Communication Technologies and in order to solve this problem, using a sample of Spanish undergraduate students we have developed two initiatives. In parallel with theoretical and practical classes, teachers propose anonymous surveys to be completed by students through their mobile computing devices as well as questionnaires whose results are incorporated in the course' assessment criteria. The degree of “success of this teaching initiative” is measured as follows. Firstly, the number of students who participated in both initiatives. Also, for the surveys, the percentage of students who chose the right answer was taken into account. Regarding the questionnaires, we compare the average value of the students' final mark in the exams (and then with the mark of the four questionnaires undertaken) between students of the current academic course and those of the previous one. Besides, in both academic courses the pair wise correlations between the average mark of the questionnaires and in the exams are calculated. The results suggest that in both degree courses the average marks of questionnaires have significantly increased. Furthermore, positive and significant correlations between questionnaires and exams' average marks were found in both degree courses for both academic years. Finally, by means of an anonymous questionnaire it was possible to find out the students' opinion about these initiatives. Drawing upon this information, improvements that could be included into future courses are shown.