Student Perceptions of and Satisfaction With Mobile Polling Technology: An Exploratory Study

Purpose of the Study To further mobile polling research, this study examines student perceptions of and satisfaction with new polling software, Socrative (www.socrative.com), which is comparable to Poll Everywhere but provides instructors with additional features. Method/Design : An exploratory study was conducted to assess how students perceived benefits, drawbacks, and the level of satisfaction from using this software in an upper level marketing course. Results The study identified four key categories using a thematic analysis of qualitative data: (a) student learning, (b) course delivery and assessment, (c) use of technology, and (d) satisfaction and adoption. Eighteen strengths and four weaknesses are presented. Some of the main strengths are as follows: anonymity, knowledge acquisition, interactivity, immediate feedback, usefulness, ease of use, and motivation to participate. Weaknesses include non-participation, distraction, software reliability, and motivation to cheat. In addition, students provided suggestions for improvement while urging other instructors to adopt this technology in their courses. Value to Marketing Educators Mobile polling is gradually replacing clicker technology as the student response system (SRS) of choice largely because students prefer to use their own devices to participate in class. So far, a handful of technologies have been investigated with respect to mobile polling. The current study adds to the emerging research on mobile polling in exploring the Socrative technology. It aims to examine whether this software is comparable to other available student response systems (SRSs), such as clickers and Poll Everywhere.