The use of Socrative in university social science teaching

Abstract

Socrative is an online platform that allows a teacher to put questions to students through an app on their smart phone or tablet. In existence since 2011, its use is now quite common in university teaching. But is Socrative any good? This article reviews the literature on the device and discusses my research on the use of the app, the first carried out with social science students. The secondary research findings are that students find Socrative easy to use, fun, of genuine benefit to their learning and a medium that aids active participation. Further, there is evidence that it benefits attainment as testing helps memory retention. My research findings broadly concur. Also considered is how Socrative use can be extended beyond revision style testing, to introduce students to new information that challenges existing beliefs and to elicit controversial opinions and sensitive information.