Two students from a Chinese university have come up with a new app that allows more lesson engagement from students.

App allows students to easily participate in class

It is good news for those who have an aversion to speaking up in class. Lesson participation is not limited to a show of hands anymore. Thanks to a newly developed app called Zenkr, students can communicate with their teachers and engage in class by simply scanning a QR code with their smartphone.

"Actually, it's common that we have queries in class. Some students think they're losing face if they go ask questions, so they don't do it. Now when the teacher asks if there are any questions, at least he is able to grasp if everyone has understood the specifics," said Tao Ye, college student.

Ding Shu and Zhang Xinyu are both juniors studying at Shanghai Fudan University and majoring in Computer Science. They spent about three weeks developing the first version of the app last year, and have since been testing it out and making improvements.

Zhang explained why there was a need for such a digital tool.

"I feel that the traditional style classroom set-up is low in efficiency, when questions are asked but no one answers. Secondly, many of our generation are relatively more introverted, so this traditional way of taking part in class is not something that makes us more comfortable," he said.

After answering questions with their smartphones, results are collated and shown to the teachers. The app aims to increase interaction between students and their teachers, to make classroom participation more efficient.

It has even managed to win the approval of Sun Weiwei, the Associate Professor of School of Computer Science of Fudan University, who supervised the development of Zenkr.

"The most obvious feeling is that it has made communication more efficient in my class. I could only track a few students' understanding of the lesson before, but now I have a good idea of how the whole class is understanding specific parts," said Sun Weiwei, Associate Professor.

Zenkr has been widely used in more than 40 classrooms of Fudan University, New York University Shanghai, and even some high schools in the US.

The app is currently free, but is only available to those who have received invitations from Zhang and Ding.

And though some investors have already approached the pair, they say that they are still focusing on improving and upgrading the app, and have no plans to put it on the market for now.

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