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Colleges and universities are facing new pressures to provide an educational experience that is engaging, motivating, and effective. Regardless of circumstances, effective learning shares many attributes like collaboration, exploration, and experiential techniques to foster student accountability for their learning. Engaging and providing stimulating tasks and activities to students are important and at the same time enunciate the need for the right approach, right technology usage, and relevancy. Collaborative learning not only helps to develop higher order thinking skills among students but also boosts their confidence, self-esteem, and understanding of diverse perspectives. Collaborative activities maximize educational experience by demonstrating content while also enhancing social and interpersonal skills. This paper focuses on the fundamentals of Discussion forums and Padlet as tools of best practices. Employment of these tools accelerates the learning process in synchronous and asynchronous environments thereby driving them toward success in this exponential landscape. In addition, these tools enhance student engagement through interactive, collaborative learning environments, fostering peer interaction, and feedback, ultimately improving retention and participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of international students in South Korea, which dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, reached its highest level in 2023. It is predicted that the number of international students will continue to increase with the active growth in international exchange and due to diverse government support. This study introduces Padlet's canvas layout in a class for international students to organize the course and boost engagement and interactions among the students and with the instructors. A survey and interviews with 22 undergraduate students from eight different countries, studying in Korea, were conducted to comprehend how they benefited from using the Padlet platform and their experience with it. The results indicate that Padlet enhances the students' sense of belonging, expands their thinking processes through collaborative interactions and feedback from professors and colleagues, and increases their knowledge, leading to positive effects on class participation. Moreover, the use of Padlet accommodates diversity among different cultures and has a positive impact on cooperative learning in an international context. Based on these findings, several strategies for the implementation of Padlet in an educational setting can be suggested. To stimulate the participation of international students in learning, professors should consider offering the option of staying anonymous versus using real names when posting on Padlet. To improve the effectiveness of feedback, instructors should visualize their feedback. In addition, it is critical to institute guidelines to evaluate the relevance of the information in order to provide information that meets the students' level of understanding and to establish a healthy level of information exchange. However, due to the limited sample size, the findings from this study cannot be generalized. Thus, we recommend expanding the sample in future studies to enable the use of inferential statistics, such as investigating differences in student attitudes by demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge addressed in this study is how the effectiveness of Padlet, Panopto video-embedded quizzes and Google Docs can be evaluated in terms of student engagement. Using a range of data sources, we discussed whether each technology influenced various dimensions of student engagement. The study found that certain technologies improved students' behavioral and cognitive engagement and they provided students with flexible opportunities for social, collaborative and emotional engagement. By enhancing the online opportunities for behavioral, cognitive and interpersonal engagement, specific technologies helped engage students with what and how they were learning. It concludes with further recommendations aimed toward the intentional use of technology for improving students' online learning engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of international students in South Korea, which dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, reached its highest level in 2023. It is predicted that the number of international students will continue to increase with the active growth in international exchange and due to diverse government support. This study introduces Padlet’s canvas layout in a class for international students to organize the course and boost engagement and interactions among the students and with the instructors. A survey and interviews with 22 undergraduate students from eight different countries, studying in Korea, were conducted to comprehend how they benefited from using the Padlet platform and their experience with it. The results indicate that Padlet enhances the students’ sense of belonging, expands their thinking processes through collaborative interactions and feedback from professors and colleagues, and increases their knowledge, leading to positive effects on class participation. Moreover, the use of Padlet accommodates diversity among different cultures and has a positive impact on cooperative learning in an international context. Based on these findings, several strategies for the implementation of Padlet in an educational setting can be suggested. To stimulate the participation of international students in learning, professors should consider offering the option of staying anonymous versus using real names when posting on Padlet. To improve the effectiveness of feedback, instructors should visualize their feedback. In addition, it is critical to institute guidelines to evaluate the relevance of the information in order to provide information that meets the students’ level of understanding and to establish a healthy level of information exchange. However, due to the limited sample size, the findings from this study cannot be generalized. Thus, we recommend expanding the sample in future studies to enable the use of inferential statistics, such as investigating differences in student attitudes by demographics.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, lecturers of higher learning institutions had to pivot quickly from face-to-face classes to online classes. The new normal of online teaching and learning challenged lecturers in keeping their students engaged, especially when teaching a language course that heavily focuses on the writing component. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ perception of using Padlet as a learning space to simulate real-life business communication. At the end of a 14-week semester language course, a cohort of 38 diploma students responded to a self-administered online survey with a 79% response rate. Findings from the descriptive analysis indicated high mean values for most survey items measured, implying that the students were generally favourable towards the use of Padlet and the simulation approach in learning business communication. Curriculum designers and lecturers of other courses could consider the potential of using Padlet as a learning space for simulation. Recommendations, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative learning offers benefits but there is insufficient information on how students perceive specific digital tools supporting collaborative learning and whether there are content-related differences in students’ perceptions. Here, we utilised Padlet to mediate collaborative learning amongst undergraduate students from two distinct disciplines, Dentistry and Bioscience to examine students’ perceptions of Padlet-mediated learning and identify any content-specific differences. Data distribution was assessed via Shapiro–Wilk test, Mann–Whitney U test was used to assess distribution of responses and correlations were studied via Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (ρ). Data revealed that majority of students across both cohorts perceived Padlet as easy to use and beneficial to learning. Dentistry students perceived Padlet to be more beneficial to learning and easier to use than Bioscience students (p < 0.01). Most Bioscience students liked to undertake collaborative learning via Padlet, whereas most Dentistry students felt more confident to ask questions and better understood content via Padlet. In the Bioscience cohort, perceived benefit-to-learning strongly correlated (ρ = 0.75; p < 0.01) with fondness to use Padlet, whereas in the Dentistry cohort, it moderately correlated (ρ = 0.5; p < 0.01) with better understanding of subject content. Thematic analysis of students’ textual responses revealed anonymity, peer-learning and engagement as key benefits. Thus, this study strengthened the evidence for using Padlet for collaborative learning in a wider context. Moreover, it uncovered significant disparities in students’ perceptions of the tool, when used to foster learning of different subject contents.

Collaborative learning offers benefits but there is insufficient information on how students perceive specific digital tools supporting collaborative learning and whether there are content-related differences in students’ perceptions. Here, we utilised Padlet to mediate collaborative learning amongst undergraduate students from two distinct disciplines, Dentistry and Bioscience to examine students’ perceptions of Padlet-mediated learning and identify any content-specific differences. Data distribution was assessed via Shapiro–Wilk test, Mann–Whitney U test was used to assess distribution of responses and correlations were studied via Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (ρ). Data revealed that majority of students across both cohorts perceived Padlet as easy to use and beneficial to learning. Dentistry students perceived Padlet to be more beneficial to learning and easier to use than Bioscience students (p < 0.01). Most Bioscience students liked to undertake collaborative learning via Padlet, whereas most Dentistry students felt more confident to ask questions and better understood content via Padlet. In the Bioscience cohort, perceived benefit-to-learning strongly correlated (ρ = 0.75; p < 0.01) with fondness to use Padlet, whereas in the Dentistry cohort, it moderately correlated (ρ = 0.5; p < 0.01) with better understanding of subject content. Thematic analysis of students’ textual responses revealed anonymity, peer-learning and engagement as key benefits. Thus, this study strengthened the evidence for using Padlet for collaborative learning in a wider context. Moreover, it uncovered significant disparities in students’ perceptions of the tool, when used to foster learning of different subject contents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the contribution of collaborative tools towards enhancing engagement with online learning in a blended learning MSc. in Community Systems Health Research by an Irish/Malawian partnership. The MSc. utilized a number of technologies to support a collaborative and effective online learning environment. These included Padlet, Twitter, and Wikispaces, - tools specifically selected to enhance learner-content, learner-learner and learner-instructor communications. The aim of the case study reported in this article is to explore the contribution of collaborative tools to enhance student engagement with online learning in the context of a blended learning programme delivered to students in Malawi. Physical distance from students can make engagement challenging. Specifically, this case study explores the extent of engagement and the influence of learning technologies, staff, and other factors on student engagement. Participation across online activities was measured, and the influences on that participation were investigated. Additional factors impacting engagement in this MSc included learner and teacher capabilities, the development of informal collaboration and the limited technical infrastructure in Malawi. The lessons learned from the programme included the importance of developing social online presence for all, the collaborative affordances of specific learning technologies, and the need to adopt best practices for facilitating learning in the online space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a case study of using an online collaborative tool - Padlet® (www.padlet.com) in two sessions of a course on Animal Rights and Welfare. The animal rights and animal welfare course is divided in two sections: section A (n = 40 students) and section B (n = 42 students). Padlets act as a giant online post-it board allowing participants to post text, audio, image, GIF, video, or URL. Padlet® was used during one class in the semester in which students in both sections were asked to brainstorm on the question "What factor(s) would you consider to be able to use animals for entertainment?" with the learning objective of identifying if students recognized and were able to discuss the use of animals for entertainment. Students had five minutes to post their response to the question. Section A was in a general university classroom and students were not required to write their names on their padlet post. Section B was in a technology enabled active learning classroom and students were asked to write their names on their post. The padlets were analyzed using social-cognitive theory, with an emphasis on content and multimedia use. Observations were recorded in field notes, and student feedback and their perception of social community was collected through surveys. Additionally, the instructor's reflection was recorded on the experience of using Padlet in class. In section A, 6 of a total of 53 posts, and in section B, 17 of a total of 51 posts had multimedia such as image, video, or web URL. Further, all multimedia posts in section B were relevant to the discussion while only half the multimedia posts in section A contributed to the discussion. The use of this free media technology (Padlet®) allowed students to prime their responses simultaneously and thus encouraged discussion with more participants, some of whom do not usually respond in class. Lastly, while no statistical difference was found in student perceptions of social community (Section A = 107.88 ± 18.57, Section B = 109.91 ± 17.81; maximum 133), student feedback provides insight into differences in the overall success of the activity based on the nature of students' engagement in regular discussion, comfort with using technology in class, and availability of convenient device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]