An Analysis of Communication, Engagement, and

Collaboration Practices in the Use of ICTs in the English

Teaching Program at the University of Costa Rica
M.Ed. Tamatha Rabb Andrews
Universidad de Costa Rica

M.Ed. José Miguel Vargas Vásquez

Universidad de Costa Rica
Resumen
The goal of the study is to determine good practices and challenges in the implementation of
ICTs in three critical aspects of language learning supported by
technology: communication, engagement, and collaboration. This was done within three
populations: professors (18), students (115), and graduates (37) from the English
Teaching Program. The project used a quantitative survey design with an exploratory-
descriptive focus. The participants rated the frequency of occurrence of a series of ICT
practices related to each aspect using a four-point scale. Subsequently, an average
frequency score was obtained for each of the aspects: communication, engagement, and
collaboration. The results were compared across the three groups of participants to
identify trends. The main findings included 1) a high usage of communication tools, 2)
classes that were planned with a variety of apps, 3) tools that favored interaction and
group learning, 4) oral communication was fundamental for synchronized classroom
management, 5) both teachers and students perceived there is a lack of engaging
activities, and finally 6) collaboration was also perceived as being used infrequently by all
three populations. The study concludes with a series of recommendations to improve the use
of ICTs for each of the critical aspects.
Key words: ICTs, Communication, Engagement, Collaboration, and Teaching English as a
Foreign Language

1. Introduction and justification

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become an essential norm
since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. ICTs became the means to move forward
in people’s daily lives, especially regarding education where students experience technology
daily but more so than ever before. Now technology is being implemented to teach fully
online at the University of Costa Rica (UCR) since March of 2020. Professors and students
alike scrambled to find a way to instruct and learn successfully through this means, which had
only been explored by a few and on a small scale. Then, there is the social component which,
on the one hand, seems to be integrated within technological communication as students
grew-up on Instagram, Twitter, and for many Facebook, or the like. However, in an online
learning environment, the university’s social life students thrived on became a hiccup as they
struggled to obtain a fluid internet connection while others waited to obtain tablets and
laptops to even begin the first semester of this most infamous year in decades, which greatly
hindered not only a means of good communication, but also securing students in being
engaged in their course work along with collaborating well with their classmates and
professors.
Throughout the struggles of the first semester at the Sede de Occidente (western campus)
of the Universidad de Costa Rica within the English Language Teaching career, three key
factors were identified which the researchers aimed to scrutinize in the second semester of
2020: communication, engagement, and collaboration in the context of online learning and
blended learning.
The present study is framed within a more extensive investigation that was, and continues
to be, based upon the use of ICTs in the English Teaching Program at the UCR, Sede de
Occidente, which began in 2019 with the exploration of “An Insight in the Current Use of
ICTs in the Field of Teaching English at the UCR, Western Campus.” Interviews from
professors and students became the current study's spark to understand the importance of
incorporating ICTs in Blended/Synchronized/Asynchronized classes. Moreover, to that end,
the best practices in its assimilation within the students' study plan, encouraging others to find
new ways to implement ICTs for the betterment of all.

2. Conceptual framework
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) became a focal point in 1997.
Stevenson coined the phrase in his report on the use of technologies in UK schools giving his
account of ICTs managing information and aiding communication through the use of the
internet, emails, and other hardware and software. For this project, a brief definition of
communication, engagement, and collaboration follows with sample apps for each.
Anas and Musdariah (2018) underwent a study that categorized web-based
technologies/tools for language teaching in which they touched on virtual communication as
being called "communication 2.0" as individuals use it to stay connected within communities.
Apps for communication may use Gmail, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger,
Skype, TokBox, Jabberwacky, Verbot, Whatsapp, Voxopop, among others. Through these
apps, instructors can reach their students beyond space and time to motivate students and
facilitate learning.
 Engagement is a critical element in the construction of any learning task. It fosters a sense
of advancement and commitment to the learning process, which also goes together with
collaboration. Colás, Reyes de Cózar, and Conde (2015) see engagement as a construct
consisting of six key elements: interaction, exploration, relevance, intellectual challenges,
multimedia, and authentic assessment. These authors recognize ICTs as a vehicle to increase
students' engagement. It allows for multiple possibilities to learn through discovery, select
topics that are personally relevant, interact with people nationally and internationally, and
receive a myriad of stimuli. Engagement in learning tasks allows for a better quality of
instruction in a Blended/Synchronized/Asynchronized educational setting, and in turn, it
becomes an indicator of enhanced learning. Some applications used to this end include
Kahoot, Bitmoji interactive classroom with Google Slides, Sli.do, Factile, PollEv, YouTube,
Flipgrid, Padlet, etc. (Ferrero 2020).
According to Ibrahim, Mohd, Zaidi, and Yasin (2015), who explored collaborative
learning, found that the Latin term collaborare from the 19th century meant to ‘work together’
while constructing something through an interactive experience. As such, online collaboration
among learners involves combining intellectual tasks/activities using apps such as Twiddla,
Google Drive, Bubbl.us, Edmodo, Yammer, Skype, Vyew, Wiki, Facebook, Google Hangouts,
Zoom, Cacoo, Twitter, Bouceapp, Wiggio, and more. (Walsh 2014). With these types of tools,
students and educators alike have an endless lineup of interactive ICTs to work
collaboratively.

3. Methodology
The project used a quantitative survey design with an exploratory-descriptive focus. The
population consisted of 18 professors, 115 students, and 37 graduates from the English
Teaching Program. A survey was administered consisting of a series of open and closed-ended
questions about good practices with ICTs, particularly for uses related to communication,
engagement, and collaboration. A Likert scale was also used to measure the participants'
frequency of use of digital tools and apps, attitudes, and capability to learn, adapt, and
integrate ICTs into English teaching. The participants rated the frequency of occurrence of a
series of ICT practices related to each aspect using a four-point scale. Subsequently, an
average frequency score was obtained for each of the aspects: communication, engagement,
and collaboration. Then, the results were compared across populations.
 4. Results

The first data coming from each of the three questionnaires from teachers, students, and
graduates was tabulated to identify the overall assessment of the three critical aspects of the
present study. A breakdown of related practices is then provided to identify strengths and
weaknesses for each of the aspects under scrutiny and triangulated to point coincidences and
discrepancies in the three populations.
Figure 1. University of Costa Rica: Average results per critical dimension of ICT use according to population,
2020.
3,75
Reported Percentage of

3,8
3,6 3,51 3,47
critcal aspects

3,43
3,4 3,32
3,18 3,14 3,19 3,18
3,2
3
2,8
STUDENTS PROFESSORS GRADUATES
COMMUNICATION 3,43 3,51 3,75
ENGAGEMENT 3,18 3,32 3,47
COLLABORATION 3,14 3,19 3,18

Source: Survey administered to students, professors, and graduates between September and November of 2020.

The results were compared across the three groups of participants to identify trends.
The main findings included 1) The students’ assessment of ICT use was the lowest of the
three populations, while the graduates reported the highest use, 2) The dimension with the
highest scores was in communication, 3) Communication is fundamental for classroom
management, 4) Students reported a lack of engaging activities using apps, and 5)
Collaboration was perceived as being used infrequently by all three populations. These
dimensions need to be investigated further to identify the applications, practices, and
techniques used to understand the differences in perception between the three groups. The
following three sections contain a view of the key elements within this study, beginning with
communication.

4.1. Communication
All three populations agree that conference tools make online teaching more efficient
and engaging (S= 95,5%; T=97,5%, G=93%)1. Professors and graduates claim that they use

1
S= Students
T= Professors/ Teachers
G= Graduates
activities to regularly exchange opinions and ideas to make classes more interactive
(T=100%, G=100%). There is a slight discrepancy between teachers and graduates on one
side and students on the other side when it comes to including activities that require active
participation in online learning (S= 85%; T=97,5%, G=100%). Key applications used for
communication consisted of Zoom (41,7%) and WhatsApp (34,9%), predominantly with the
added support from institutional emails. From these results, it can be inferred that although
the applications used for communication are robust, more attention is needed to their uses in
synchronous interaction to improve students’ perception about active class participation.

4.2. Engagement
Engagement-related activities report the highest result among graduates (see Figure 1).
This may be related to institutional policies of different workplaces outside the
university. Professors and graduates claim to use challenging activities (T=92,5%,
G=93,75%), while promoting critical thinking and autonomy (T=90%, G=100%). Students
agreed to a lower extent (S=84,8%; S=88%, respectively). To promote engagement, students
suggest using polls to explore their interests (S=68,2%) and carry out activities requiring
collecting information outside the classroom (S=68,9%). The application reported to be used
more frequently is Kahoot (31,8%). Then, there was not a close second, but more a list of
other applications that have been used (15,8%) such as Flipgrid, Padlet, YouTube, Perusal,
Nearpod, Quizlet, and PollEv, among others. The fact that the different applications used for
engagement received such a low rating may be indicative that the populations do not clearly
understand this construct or that it may not represent a priority for them.

4.3. Collaboration
Tools and applications for collaborative work were implemented by all three
populations especially in Zoom breakout rooms (26,1%) and Google Docs (16,4%). In
general, there is a need for additional guidance in integrating project-based learning activities,
especially with students and professors (S= 72,6%; T= 72,5%). Regarding peer and group
assessments, university-level students and professors are using them constantly (S= 72,5%;
T= 70%) while graduates are noted to need additional training to integrate these collaborative
assessments within group work activities (G=62,5%). It should also be noted that students’
interest in using Nearpod and Canva when it comes to collaborative tools is indicative of the
need to expand on the different uses of these collaboration applications and explore other
alternatives beyond project-based learning.

5. Recommendations and limitations

In this section, key recommendations and limitations were identified per each of the critical
aspects:

5.1. Communication
Among the main recommendations, the different populations suggest using polls,
breakout rooms, and the chat feature to promote communication between teachers and
students. Additionally, for effective management of a class, especially large groups, various
communication strategies are needed to provide students with ample opportunities for
communication and vivid learning experiences. As for the limitations, technology is time-
consuming as it requires continuous attention to ensure fluid communication. There seems to
be a difference in the perception of communication between the three populations, an aspect
that is worth exploring in a future study.

5.2. Engagement
To promote engagement, activities must be based on the students’ interests, and there
should be ongoing surveys to this end. The students’ interests can be used as attention
grabbers to guarantee more engagement. To avoid monotony, links should be included for
students to perform tasks on other platforms. Moreover, it is highly recommended that
feedback be received automatically or through peer or self-assessment. Finally, activities with
ICTs should be carefully scaffolded, allow for exploration, and promote critical thinking and
autonomy to comply with the principle of engagement. The downside is that it is difficult to
appeal to everyone’s interests. Another limitation is creating an engaging learning
environment online is time-consuming and laborious for the instructors.

5.3. Collaboration
For successful collaborative learning, students should receive clear guidance to
perform different responsibilities in the tasks assigned. Learning tasks should include a
student-centered assessment to promote collaboration as well as engagement. The three
populations need to use digital tools that favor group-based learning extensively. i.e., Forums,
Wikis, Flipgrid, among others. As for reported weaknesses, specific digital tools are more
time-consuming in the creation of collaborative tasks. i.e., Wikis. Another weak link in this
area consists of finding strategies to ensure participation from all group members, especially
if the group is larger than three. Finally, instructors need more training on creating
collaborative tasks/activities and related assessments, especially in the online environment.

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