Abstract
Computer based technology has infiltrated. All aspects of life and industry. Yet there is no understanding of. The best ways to use it to promote. Student engagement which is a topic. That has received a lot of focus. In higher education due to its relationship. A range of academic results that are. Positive the aim of this article is. To provide a thorough study of. The literature of the past five years. Related to the ways that web. Conferencing software blogs wikis social networking. Sites facebook and twitter online. Games influence the engagement of students. We classified articles our research suggests. That digital games provide the most far. Reaching influence over different forms of student engagement.
Introduction
The digital revolution has profoundly. Affected daily living evident in. The ubiquitous use of mobile devices. As well as the seamless integration. Technology into common tasks such. As shopping reading or finding routes. Anderson 2016 smith & anderson 2016. Zickuhr & raine 2014 the use of. Computers mobile electronics as well as internet access is at. Its current highest point and will. Continue to rise because technology. Becoming more accessible particularly for users. In the developing world Poushter 2016. Additionally there is an increasing number of people who are dependent on smartphones and relying on smartphones for Internet access (Anderson and Horrigan in 2016) rather than more expensive devices like laptops or tablets.
Student engagement
The interest in student engagement started more than 70 years ago, with Ralph Tyler’s studies on the relationship between time spent on coursework and learning (Axelson & Flick, 2011; Kuh 2009). Since then, the study of student engagement has developed and expanded considerably, through the seminal research of Pace (1980; 1984) and Astin (1984) on how the quality and quantity of student work affects learning and other recent research about the environment and individual dispositions that contribute to involvement of the student (Bakker, Vergel, & Kuntze 2015; Gilboy, Heinerichs, & Pazzaglia 2015; Martin, Goldwasser, and Galentino, 2017; Pellas, 2014).
The impact of technology on the engagement of students
Literature search i.e web-conferencing. Blogs wikis social media sites. Digital games to include in our study. Based on frequency in which. They appeared in the literature over. The last five years a commonality. Among them is the potential. Value in promoting a constructivist. As the active discovery of knowledge. Through reflection of experiences with one’s. Surroundings the linking of new information. To previous knowledge and the interaction. With other people Boghossian 2006. Clements 2015 another commonality is that most of. These technologies aside from perhaps for digital games.
Web-conferencing
Web-conferencing software offers a virtual meeting space that allows users to log in simultaneously and exchange messages on a particular subject. While every software application has its own unique features, many feature similar functions, like audio, video, or instant messaging options for live communication, whiteboards, screen sharing, and digital pens to present or demonstrations. They also have polls and tests for testing comprehension or eliciting feedback; and breakout rooms that can be used for small-group work (Bower, 2011; Hudson, Knight, & Collins, 2012 Martin, Parker, & Deale, 2012. McBrien, Jones, & Cheng, 2009). From the technology reviewed in this study web-conferencing software the most closely mimics the face-to-face classroom environment.
Blogs
A blog, short for Weblog is an online journal of personal entriesthat are posted online and presented in a chronological order with the intention that users (or subscribers) may respond by providing additional commentary or feedback. To make a blog, the author must create content for an entry, which can include text, hyperlinks, images and audio as well as publish the post via a blog application and notify readers that the new content has been published. Blogs can be informal and personal however they could also serve as formal comments within a particular genre for example, like in politics or education (Coghlan and co., 2007). The good news is that many blogging apps are completely free, and numerous educational management platforms (LMSs) provide blogs that can be seamlessly integrated into the online classroom.
Wikis
A wiki is a type of web page that is editable by multiple users simultaneously (Nakamaru, 2012). Wikis have gained popularity in the context of education as a tool that can be used for group projects where group members work together to create content (i.e., writings, hyperlinksand images and graphics, media) and track revisions with a robust versioning system (Roussinos & Jimoyiannis, 2013). A majority of studies on wikis are related to behavioral engagement, with less research on cognitive engagement and zero on emotional engagement. Studies on the subject of behavioral engagement have mixed findings, with some revealing the absence of any lasting participation in websites beyond the first couple of months of the program (Nakamaru, 2012; Salaber, 2014) and another demonstrating active participation, evident in high volumes of posts and edits (Roussinos and Jimoyiannis in 2013).
Social networks
Social networking is “the practice of expanding knowledge by making connections with individuals of similar interests” (Gunawardena and others., 2009, p. 4). Social networking websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram as well as LinkedIn, allow users to publish and share digital content on a public basis or with people with whom they’re connected and to communicate in private using messaging functions. Two of the most-loved social networking sites in the academic research literature include the Facebook as well as Twitter (Camus, Hurt, Larson, & Prevost in 2016; Manca & Ranieri, 2013) that is consistent with recent statistics suggesting that both sites also are exceedingly popular among the general population (Greenwood, Perrin, & Duggan, 2016). In the next section we look at how Facebook as well as Twitter influence different kinds of student engagement.
Digital games
Digital game are “applications using the characteristics of video and computer games to create engaging and immersive learning experiences for delivery of specified learning goals, outcomes and experiences” (de Freitas 2006, p. 9). Digital games often serve two purposes: encouraging the attainment of learning outcomes while making learning fun by providing simulations of real-world scenarios along with role-play, problem-solving, and repetition and drill activities (Boyle and others. 2016; Connolly, Boyle, MacArthur, Hainey, & Boyle, 2012; Scarlet and Ampolos 2013; Whitton, 2011). Additionally, gamified aspects like leaderboards and badges that are digital, can be integrated into teaching to give students a boost in motivation to studying for assignments and other learning activities (Armier, Shepherd, & Skrabut 2016. Hew, Huang, Chu, & Chiu, 2016)