Students' Perceptions About the Impact of Using Padlet on Class Engagement: An Exploratory Case Study

Student engagement is a multidimensional construct that includes four distinct, though interrelated, aspects: behavioral, emotional, agentive, and cognitive engagement. The present study investigates students' perceptions about the impact of Padlet as a learning and assessment tool on the four aspects of class engagement. Padlet is a virtual wall that allows students to interact and contribute to class discussions and at the same time provides teachers with feedback on the learning process. The exploratory study was conducted on 27 female students in a 3-credit sociolinguistics course in which Padlet was used as a learning and assessment tool. At the end of the course, a survey and a personal interview were used to get students' feedback on the effectiveness of Padlet through addressing various aspects of their perceived engagement. The results showed that using Padlet enhanced student engagement, fostered active learning and offered positive assessment experiences. Its perceived effectiveness was mainly due to Padlet features that supported student collaboration, promoted students' agency and helped in creating a positive learning atmosphere. Its major shortcoming as an assessment tool was the lack of written feedback to students. However, teachers could use a combination of online and written assessments to compensate for this shortcoming.