CommEasy: An innovative interactive communication system for promoting communication and participation

The advancements made in handheld devices and the widespread use of these devices among users all over the world has opened up new avenues for the use of these devices in education. Many applications have been developed to work on these devices to support the teaching and learning process in all its dimensions. CommEasy is an innovative, interactive communication system for smart handheld devices based on Internet and WiFi technology. This system has been developed mainly to enhance communication and participation in distance-learning classrooms that use video-conferencing technology. It allows students to pose questions for the instructors using their own Apple smart handheld devices, guarantees them complete anonymity and allows the instructors to respond to their students. It also enables instructors to evaluate the learning of their students by posing questions with multiple answers to which students can respond through their devices. This paper concentrates on the role of CommEasy in enhancing teacher-student communication and interaction. The hypothesis to be tested is that CommEasy will increase the level of student participation in the distance-learning classroom. According to the results of the experiment conducted in King Saud University, the null hypothesis is rejected, and the experimental hypothesis mentioned above is accepted.