The use of Mentimeter to enhance student engagement during online learning in the School of Accountancy

Avani Sebastian and Lanelle Wilmot

Background The online delivery of lectures has exacerbated existing difficulties in engaging students’ interests in academic material. Mentimeter can be used in remote teaching and learning environments to encourage students’ engagement and interaction. It was used across various disciplines at a postgraduate and undergraduate level in the School of Accountancy at a South African university. Purpose This paper offers the perspectives of academics on the use of Mentimeter, an online, interactive presentation platform. Methodology Using a phenomenological lens to interpret the experiences of academics, we explore the benefits and drawbacks of the technology. Interviews were held with 12 academics who used Mentimeter in their online lecture and/ or tutorial sessions. Findings Our findings indicate that academics successfully used the application to increase student engagement and interest in the subject matter. Despite the additional time required to include Mentimeter in their lectures, they are likely to continue using it. The tool allowed them to gauge students’ understanding of material in real time which was particularly useful in an online environment. The synchronous, online delivery of lectures, which is required for the use of Mentimeter, was identified as being onerous because of unreliable internet and electricity connections in South Africa. Contributions

This research provides a contextual contribution to the exiting literature on student engagement. It is particularly useful to academics in the context of online teaching.

Type of Contribution

Presentation