Evidence for the Effectiveness of Learning Technologies in Improving Student Engagement and Learning

This study presents lesson- and course-level evidence for the effectiveness of learning technologies in enhancing student engagement and learning. E-learning tools such as Google Classroom, Google Slides, Kahoot!, and Edpuzzle were used to design and facilitate blended learning and flipped classroom activities in four undergraduate marketing courses. For each activity, information such as participation rates and on-time submissions were collected to illustrate the level of engagement of the students. In addition, an analysis of the students’ performance data in flipped classroom activities showed that watching a particular flipped video before class had a small to medium positive effect on the performance of students in a related in-class elearning activity. At the course level, qualitative data for engagement and performance was collected using focus groups at the end of a particular course. In these focus groups, the informants mentioned that they found the teaching and learning activities to be convenient and that they felt it allowed them to have more meaningful interactions and to learn more effectively. These findings were supported by how students used words such as “interactive,” “encourage,” “interesting,” and “better understanding” in the teaching evaluation questionnaire to describe their level of engagement and learning in the course. Finally, analyzing the teaching evaluation scores provided by students in items related to engagement and learning were found to be significantly higher (and with effect sizes between medium and high) for the cohort that extensively used learning technologies compared to the previous cohort that did not use these tools.