Padlet Adoption to Enhance Multidisciplinary Online and Hybrid Teaching and Learning at an Australian University

Abstract

This study examines the transformative role of educational technologies in higher education, with a focus on their impact on student engagement and collaboration in online and hybrid learning environments. It draws on data from 11 educators at an Australian university across Education, Health Sciences, and Humanities disciplines. Utilising the online tool Padlet, these educators facilitated interactive activities that enhanced teaching and learning. This article analyses Padlet’s unique features and how they were employed to optimise student engagement and learning outcomes. Semi-structured interviews reveal how Padlet supported multimedia presentations, group work, and discussions. The findings underscore the versatility of Padlet in promoting critical thinking and knowledge sharing, ultimately enhancing the student experience in both online and hybrid learning settings. This study encourages educators to adopt innovative strategies that incorporate Padlet and similar technologies to enhance their teaching practices.

1. Introduction

University educators are continually challenged when designing and delivering online and hybrid learning initiatives for students. Global transformation to increased online delivery occurred rapidly during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, requiring educators to adopt a range of online learning approaches and e-learning (digital) tools and technologies (Singh et al., 2021). The opportunities for students and educators to engage with effective online and hybrid learning approaches have continued beyond the pandemic, and, as digital tools evolve, challenges, as well as opportunities have been identified.

Digital tools can promote online student engagement and enable collaboration at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels with educators strategically selecting tools to meet the behavioural, cognitive, and emotional needs of student learning in their context (Heilporn et al., 2021). As digital education evolves, online students are often challenged by self-regulation of learning and the use of diverse learning technologies. Online educators also face challenges in effective technology use, relying on their higher educational institutions to provide relevant digital tools and associated training and support (Rasheed et al., 2020). Hybrid learning, on the other hand, involves a combination of scaffolded online and face-to-face learning components, affording flexibility to learner engagement, with challenges often identified in the online components (Rasheed et al., 2020). In a hybrid learning environment, interactive opportunities, flexibility of asynchronous learning, facilitation of learning, and developing an effective learning community are identified as key challenges (Boelens et al., 2017), while students and educators also have opportunities to interact synchronously in face-to-face classes. Choosing the most appropriate digital tools to provide engaging e-learning opportunities is an ongoing challenge for many educators in both hybrid and fully online pedagogies.

Perhaps due to their availability and simplicity of implementation, discussion boards, as an inbuilt feature of many Learning Management Systems (LMSs), have become a core pedagogical tool in online and hybrid learning environments. Resembling a basic online forum, where threads are nested within topics, these are designed to serve as virtual spaces where learners can engage with course content, teaching staff, and peers, and are often the ‘default’ medium through which online learning does or does not occur (de Lima et al., 2019). Whilst there are benefits to this approach in terms of flexibility and the subsequent capability to accommodate the increasingly busy lives of students, there are also significant drawbacks. For example, discussion boards often become dominated by a small number of active participants, whilst the majority remain passive and/or disengaged (Hew & Cheung, 2012). In addition, students who lack motivation or perceive discussion boards as merely a requirement rather than an interactive learning opportunity may contribute minimally, leading to surface-level responses and limited dialogue (Xie et al., 2011). Subsequently, the discussions often become fragmented and repetitive, diluting the depth of conversation and reducing their value as a critical thinking tool (Wise et al., 2013).

Due to the limitations of discussion-board-based pedagogy, this research sought to examine a potential alternative, Padlet. As a relatively new pedagogical tool, Padlet employs wall-style feeds, card-based layouts, and scrolling interfaces, which can leverage users’ existing digital literacy through its similarity to social-media-style interfaces (Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2012; Waltemeyer et al., 2021). In addition to this, multimedia features, including images, videos, and links, further enhance engagement and align with multimodal learning principles, which suggest that diverse content formats improve comprehension, engagement, and retention (Hossain, 2023; Mayer, 2005; Waltemeyer et al., 2021).

The research discussed in this paper sought to examine ways in which Padlet, as a technological tool, can help foster student social engagement in university online and hybrid courses. More specifically, it sought to answer the following research questions:

• In what ways can Padlet help foster social interactions among students in online and hybrid courses?
• In what ways can Padlet help foster collaborative learning among students in online and hybrid courses?

2. Context of the Study

The data presented here were collected from 17 specialist content areas in online and hybrid delivery modes across three different disciplines of study.

Table 1. Demographic details of the innovation context.

Discipline	Subject No.	Focus of Subject	Subject Level	Delivery Mode
Education	S1	Classroom Management	Undergraduate
	S2	Design and Technologies	Undergraduate
	S3	Preparing for the Teaching Profession	Undergraduate
	S4	Introduction to Humanities and Social Sciences Education	Postgraduate
	S5	Advanced Humanities and Social Sciences Education	Postgraduate	Fully online and hybrid
	S6	Foundations of Teaching	Undergraduate
	S7	Academic Literacies	Undergraduate
	S8	Teaching Primary Mathematics	Undergraduate
Humanities	S9 & 10	Introductory Chinese
	S11 & 12	Intermediate Chinese
	S13	Advanced Chinese	Undergraduate	Hybrid
	S14	Chinese Translation Skills and Practice
	S15	Chinese to English Translation
Health Sciences	S16	Human Anatomy and Physiology	Undergraduate	Hybrid
	S17	Foundations of the Human Body

details the demographic elements of subject delivery, followed by an account of the teaching innovation implemented using Padlet in each subject.

The Bachelor of Education courses provide initial teacher education (ITE) for those studying to become registered teachers. As a core behaviour management subject, S1 explores a range of learning theories, provides the opportunity to reflect on personal philosophy regarding behaviour management, and asks pre-service teachers to analyse relevant literature, scenarios, and videos. Padlet was used to facilitate discussion between peers and tutors in place of traditional discussion boards in order to better support student interactions and improve participation in learning activities. Similarly, in S2, an optional non-assessed weekly Padlet task was incorporated to encourage social engagement (enhance belonging and engagement), supplementary guidance (a unique way to convey important considerations), and critical thinking (develop a shared experience of critical thinking). The introduction of the Padlet task was intended to increase the frequency of responses and stimulate discussion to offset the difficulty of creating a combined study community between students in the online and hybrid study modes. Low engagement and discussion participation were also observed in S3. This subject houses the nationally mandated Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) and is a co-requisite to the final professional experience placement. The introduction of Padlet uncoupled from synchronous weekly discussion activities created spaces where students were able to respond to provocations in relation to the visited materials rather than content timeframes, providing more autonomy for students and more flexible engagement with the subject teachings.

S4 and S5 are postgraduate core subjects within the specialisation of the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum. Students are introduced to five key concepts within the Economics and Business learning area within the Australian Curriculum. Padlet was utilised to allow students to create a resource repository related to the topics that informed the planning of an assessable lesson sequence for teaching Economics and Business. S6 introduces students to the world of teachers’ work and orients new pre-service teachers to key concepts that will be explored throughout their ITE course. It was noted that the students’ demonstrated lack of confidence inhibited their participation in group discussion boards, fearing other perceptions if their posts were not ‘right’, despite support and encouragement from tutors and peers. Padlet was introduced as an anonymous, formative feedback and learning tool with the aims being to both familiarise beginning students with the online learning environment and to support the development of their self-confidence related to content learning and discussion board posting. Similarly, S7, a mandatory foundational subject, aims to develop tertiary learning skills in newly enrolled students. The subject further develops students’ agency, highlighting their new roles as pre-service educators within a professional degree and the importance of developing personal and professional literacy skills to meet the demands of tertiary study and their future careers. Padlet was chosen as the tool for learning activities where peer examples are used to scaffold learning, as it is embedded in the LMS, meaning students do not need to navigate away from the current content page, and anonymous posting encourages participation.

S8 is the first of two compulsory mathematics pedagogy subjects in the Master of Teaching degree. Students access teaching materials online and are expected to contribute to weekly discussion boards, where interaction with the educator and other students should occur. However, engagement with this element was low. Padlet was introduced to address concerns about few discussion posts and to provide a forum for sharing and collaborating with students to increase participation.

S9, S10, S11, S12, and S13 are the core Chinese language subjects offered in the Chinese major in Humanities, while S14 and S15 are designed for students who are native or native-like speakers of Mandarin Chinese and its dialects. The incorporation of Padlet within the subjects encouraged students to engage with subject matter both in and out of class. The aim was to foster knowledge sharing and collaborative learning, particularly in grammar and vocabulary learning, as well as translation practice for S11, S12, and S13. In addition, in S9 and S10, Padlet was used as a space for introductions and as a repository for shared resources, perspectives, and insights concerning the subject matter.

S16 and S17 are offered as both core and elective units in a range of health courses. The aim of each subject is to provide students with a foundation of human biology knowledge that they will then build upon in subsequent subjects in their course. Insights from Padlet activities informed the content design and key learning activities during the semester.

In light of the context of this investigation, the following section describes the synthesis of the literature in relation to the use of educational technology tools in higher education, specifically focusing on Padlet’s role in enhancing student engagement and collaboration. It also explores Padlet’s potential to help establish a learning community.

3. Relevant Literature

3.1. Overview of Educational Technologies in Higher Education

In the context of higher education, the integration of educational technologies plays a pivotal role in fostering collaboration and engagement in online and hybrid learning environments. Most online environments incorporate the use of LMSs, such as Blackboard, Moodle, and Canvas, which provide a centralised platform for course materials, discussions, assignments, and assessments. They also facilitate collaboration among students and instructors (Paille, 2021). Video conferencing tools, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, enable synchronous communication and can enhance engagement and collaboration (Ally, 2020). Real-time communication technologies can help break down geographical barriers, promoting accessibility and inclusivity (Eden et al., 2024). Collaboration can be further extended through collaborative documenting platforms, such as Google Docs, which enable simultaneous editing and commenting on documents (Paille, 2021). In addition, tools such as Kahoot! and Gimkit incorporate game-based elements (Mishra & Mehta, 2020), with gamification being shown to enhance motivation and increase engagement through making learning enjoyable and rewarding (Paille, 2021). Quite clearly, these tools provide flexible opportunities for students to engage collaboratively and emotionally, thus enhancing their learning experience (Getenet & Tualaulelei, 2023). Other educational technologies, like Padlet, offer interactive features that encourage student engagement through active and collaborative learning (Dianati et al., 2020). Moreover, technologies such as Oculus VR and Google Expeditions (AR) offer immersive experiences and simulations (Ally, 2020). Such simulations can provide students with virtual field trips and interactive experiences that can deepen understanding in complex subjects (Mishra & Mehta, 2020). There is broad consensus that the integration of educational technologies improves the quality of education and student performance (Barbashova et al., 2024). Nevertheless, it is important to note that successful integration of these educational technologies requires strategic planning, appropriate online pedagogy, and ongoing support (Mishra & Mehta, 2020). Technology use needs to be aligned with pedagogical goals and requires digital literacy in educators, with consideration also required to make technologies accessible to learners.

3.2. Relevant Studies on Using Padlet in Higher Education

Several studies have reported on the use of Padlet as a tool to enhance student collaboration and engagement within online and hybrid learning activities in higher education, with best practices identified by Waltemeyer et al. (2021). Padlet has been used in higher education contexts as an instructional aide (e.g., as a “question wall” during lectures) (D. Ellis, 2015), as a way to capture real-time responses to discussion prompts during tutorials (Hossain, 2023), as a platform for students to develop their own learning content (D. Ellis, 2015), as a tool for implementing a “flipped classroom” (Frison & Tino, 2019; Puspitasari & Arifin, 2024), to promote collaborative learning (Devi & Puspitasari, 2023; Mehta et al., 2021; Naamati-Schneider & Alt, 2023a; Park et al., 2023), and as a means for formative and summative assessment (Albarqi, 2023; Jong & Tan, 2021).

Research on Padlet in higher education has demonstrated that the tool can improve students’ cognitive engagement with taught content (Gill-Simmen, 2021), critical thinking in flipped classrooms (Puspitasari & Arifin, 2024), and their participation in learning activities (Getenet & Tualaulelei, 2023). Student interaction is motivated by the capacity to engage with Padlet anonymously, allowing those students who lack confidence or may find verbal communication challenging to participate in discussions. A review of the use of three educational technologies in a higher education subject (Getenet & Tualaulelei, 2023) found students engaged more often with Padlet activities than with activities using Google Docs and Panopto quizzes. It must be noted, however, that Padlet does have the potential to hinder student engagement in some circumstances. Geography students reported that while Padlet enabled them to integrate information, it limited their capacity for collaboration and communication compared to other digital platforms (Park et al., 2023). Crowded Padlets can feel overwhelming for some students (Dianati et al., 2020), which can negatively impact their engagement. The repetitive use of Padlet in teaching can also be demotivating for students, with student engagement with Padlet shown to decrease across the breadth of a learning period/course (Getenet & Tualaulelei, 2023).

3.3. Integration of Padlet in Higher Education

A Community of Inquiry (CoI) (Garrison et al., 1999) emphasises the interconnectedness of cognitive, social, and teaching presence for effective learning. The following review explores the potential of Padlet to foster a CoI within the hybrid learning context and examines how Padlet can contribute to each of the three distinct types of CoI presence.

Cognitive presence refers to the process by which learners actively engage with learning material and each other, constructing meaning through ongoing communication within the hybrid learning environment. Padlet provides a platform for this to occur, whereby students can engage in critical thinking and debate, and co-construct knowledge through sharing ideas with peers and receiving guidance from teachers (Beltran-Martin, 2019; Hossain, 2023; Zheng et al., 2015; Zhi & Su, 2015). Recent studies highlight Padlet’s effectiveness in supporting student brainstorming and concept mapping, enabling collaborative idea generation and visual exploration of ideas for deeper understanding (Beltran-Martin, 2019; Hossain, 2023; Lowe & Humphrey, 2018; Zainuddin et al., 2020; Zhi & Su, 2015). Students can gather and organise information from various sources on Padlet, facilitating research skills and critical analysis of learning materials. In this regard, Padlet supports cognitive flexibility (Naamati-Schneider & Alt, 2023b) and contributes to higher-order learning outcomes, ultimately deepening students’ understanding of critical concepts (Beltran-Martin, 2019; Naamati-Schneider & Alt, 2023b; Sætra, 2021).

Social presence describes the sense of connection learners experience in an online environment. It involves the ability to project their personality as they build relationships with others, fostering a sense of community. Padlet is designed to foster social presence within its interactive environment, creating an online learning community where students can reflect and build upon each other’s contributions, including visual representations (Beltran-Martin, 2019; Naamati-Schneider & Alt, 2023a). Equally, students can engage in peer review and feedback and share resources, ideas, and drafts, thereby promoting social learning (Beltran-Martin, 2019; England, 2017; Lowe & Humphrey, 2018; Sætra, 2021), as Padlet offers a variety of collaboration options to support this (Beltran-Martin, 2019). Studies report increased student satisfaction due to the collaborative engagement fostered by Padlet (Awaludin et al., 2017; Beltran-Martin, 2019; Hossain, 2023). In essence, Padlet not only enhances collaboration but also contributes to a more authentic and connected learning community.

Teaching presence involves shaping and guiding the learning experience for students. It encompasses designing effective learning activities and actively facilitating student engagement with the material. Padlet is a versatile tool for educators, empowering them to guide and support student learning through posing questions, curating discussions, and providing feedback, thereby stimulating active learning (Sætra, 2021; Zainuddin et al., 2020; Zheng et al., 2015). Additionally, it serves as a centralised repository of course materials, handouts, and multimedia resources, promoting student access and engagement (Beltran-Martin, 2019). Formative assessments become more effective with Padlet, facilitating real-time feedback and adjustments to teaching strategies (Beltran-Martin, 2019; Sætra, 2021; Zainuddin et al., 2020). Notably, Padlet accommodates students who may otherwise lack confidence to contribute due to fear of criticism of their ideas by enabling anonymous contributions, making it a valuable resource in educational settings (Beltran-Martin, 2019; Naamati-Schneider & Alt, 2023a; Sætra, 2021).

4. Methods

This research used both qualitative and action research approaches. This study was conducted by a group of university educators, with teaching and research roles, working together as a Community of Practice (CoP). These educators came together with different lengths of teaching experiences in higher education, as well as disciplines they teach. What is shared within this group is that these educators have all identified a challenge: the lack of engagement among students studying online. In responding to this identified challenge, a variety of teaching initiatives were organised in individual subjects. These included teaching initiatives from three disciplines: Education, Humanities, and Health Sciences. These teaching initiatives took place over a 13-week semester in 2023.

Some of these teaching initiatives involved the use of Padlet as the platform for student interactions online. This paper will focus on the results from these initiatives. The educators involved in this study had a dual role. Many of them were both educators in the individual subjects where the teaching initiative took place, as well as participants in the research study. They participated in semi-structured interviews with a research assistant to have their experience conducting the teaching initiatives documented. The semi-structured interviews ranged from 30 to 45 min. The academic participants were interviewed twice during the semester when the teaching initiative was conducted, once at the beginning of the semester in February and once at the end of the semester in June. The first round of interviews focused on the planning of the teaching initiative, as well as expectations of the educators themselves. The second round of interviews provided opportunities for the educators to reflect on their teaching initiative, any feedback they received from their students, and how student feedback might inform their future planning. Example questions from the interview protocols are provided below in

Table 2. Example questions from interview protocols.

Example questions from first interview with educators

Would you be able to briefly describe the teaching initiative you are hoping to take in your subject? Can you tell me more about the students’ characteristics and needs in your subject? In which ways are you hoping the teaching initiative will help these students? Could you unpack how you hope the teaching initiative will further enhance student experiences in these areas? For instance, from the teaching aspect, how would you think it will help enhance the course design and organisation of the subject? Looking at the social aspect, in what ways would you think the teaching initiative could encourage the social interactions and a sense of belonging of online students? Looking at the cognitive aspect, how would you think the teaching initiative could help support active learning among online students? For instance, exploration of knowledge, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Are there any challenges that you can foresee in implementing this teaching initiative?

Example questions from second interview with educators

We chatted earlier in the semester about your teaching initiative in the subject. How did it go in general? To what extent did the teaching initiatives you implemented achieve your expectations? How did the teaching initiative help your students? I remember you shared some difficulties and challenges you could face last time. Did these happen when you implemented the initiatives? Can you share a bit about that? How did the teaching initiative affect your students’ learning experience and engagement? Any other aspect of the initiatives you would like to share?

.

The interview data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach, using NVivo as a tool (Braun & Clarke, 2022). This process used an inductive approach. Two members of the research team read through the interview transcripts data line by line, identifying key themes that emerged from the interview transcripts. During this process, the researchers stayed open to what themes may emerge from the analysis. Significance of the themes was recorded according to their frequency of appearance. Padlet adoption was identified during this process as one key theme throughout the dataset.

5. Results

All the entries pulled into the key theme of Padlet adoption were then read through again to identify underlying categories and codes.

Table 3. Categories, codes, number of participants, and frequency of appearance.

Categories	Codes	Number of Participants	Frequency
Padlet as a Pedagogical Tool to Support Curriculum Design	Padlet as a contemporary teaching method	9	17
	Padlet as alternative tool to discussion boards	9	12
	Accessibility, ease of use, and visibility of Padlet	9	15
	Padlet enabling scaffolding of content	7	16
	Padlet enabling student interaction with content	3	4
Padlet-supported Social Engagement	Padlet fostering student sense of belonging and trust	9	26
	Padlet allowing flexibility in interactions	9	11
	Padlet fostering a sense of community	3	5
	Padlet fostering a sense of autonomy in and for learning	2	2
Padlet-supported Collaborative Learning	Padlet fostering collaboration and partnership among students	7	15
	Padlet allowing feedback on each other’s learning	5	8

below presents the three emergent categories along with their associated codes.

5.1. Padlet as a Pedagogical Tool to Support Curriculum Design

Padlet was embedded by participants into online content in the learning management system to engage students in the curriculum. The participants were particularly keen to explore the affordances of Padlet as an engagement tool and as a possible alternative to discussion boards. The results from the participant interviews highlight affordances, including ease of accessibility through embedding it in content pages, ease of use, and visibility. Comparisons with discussion boards were also a common theme that emerged from the results.

The responses from the participant interviews identified that they prepared innovative Padlets to encourage interactions embedded within the online content to connect with student learning:

“With Padlet it’s embedded in the page in my unit, so they post into the page.”

(Rose, Education)

“Then I put a Padlet in for them to engage with immediately. So they weren’t moving away from the content to a different section.”

(Mandy, Education)

This enabled scaffolding of content to be quite visible in the online environment and easily accessible, as students could keep working through the learning content rather than accessing another page to post to a discussion board.

Many participants identified the Padlet platform as visually appealing, relatively easy to use, and visible in the delivered content:

“I think Padlet’s layout lends itself to just jumping on and clicking a heart like, or a thumbs up.”

(Mandy, Education)

“It appears to be user friendly at this stage, and the posts are more visible and easy to go through, and we hope the students will feel a similar way.”

(Fiona, Education)

The participants traditionally used discussion boards to encourage student interaction online. Comparisons with discussion boards identified advantages of Padlet, highlighting its visibility and the opportunity to enable diverse interactions:

“The Discussion Boards are a bit hidden whereas Padlet is very visible.”

(Tina, Health Sciences)

“Traditionally the online Discussion Board was used, and this year we are hoping to use Padlet which is more visually appealing and would allow diverse ways of interactions between students.”

(Fiona, Education)

“It was easy for us to see who had engaged … it was easy for us to see who we’d responded to, and it was easy for each other to see what people had talked about more so than a discussion board.”

(Mandy, Education)

Traditionally, discussion board posts are set up to show student names so the students know with whom they are interacting, but in most initiatives in this study, the Padlets were made anonymous, which can favour interactivity of some students:

“I sensed that people were much more willing to post to Padlet because it was anonymous.”

(Rose, Education)

“[Students could] post anonymously so they didn’t feel embarrassed to say something they didn’t understand.”

(Tina, Health Sciences)

The participants also identified that Padlet did not necessarily replace the discussion boards but could be used to complement them and indeed act as a scaffold to build the students’ confidence to post to the boards:

“I still have the Discussion Boards. I still bring them to the discussion. So it’s just really scaffolding them to feel more confident to post on Discussion Boards.”

(Rose, Education)

Some limitations regarding the use of Padlet within the curriculum design were also identified, particularly in the area of student interactivity:

“Students are posting their own comments but are not commenting on other people’s posts as much as we would hope to see, so interactions between students are an area that can be improved … we don’t see many interactions between them.”

(Fiona, Education)

In summary, for this group of participants, the features and affordances of Padlet enabled it to be utilised as a useful pedagogical tool that facilitated student interaction with the content but not necessarily with each other.

5.2. Padlet-Supported Social Engagement

The adoption of Padlet was found to support students’ social engagement with their peers and educators. Underpinning this was a sense that Padlet offered a safe environment for students to share their experiences and perspectives. Being able to post anonymously on Padlet contributed to the students’ feelings of safety:

“I think that’s why Padlet in particular might actually help, because it gives them an opportunity to play with ideas anonymously because I’ve set it up as anonymous so other people can’t tell who’s posted, but they can still respond to each other and have some back and forth about their different perspectives.”

(Rose, Education)

The safe environment afforded by Padlet also contributed to students’ sense of belonging in the learning environment, with trust being built between students and with their educators. Padlet activities encouraged students to invest energy into building social connections with others:

“In a way, it is the same as any other tool: the more you engage, the more belonging you feel. Naturally, if you invested time in something, the more you get familiar with something, the more connected you would feel, and therefore, a sense of belonging.”

(Fiona, Education)

These social connections supported peer-to-peer interaction, enabling a more collaborative learning experience and a sense of community in the learning environment. Reflecting on the students’ completion of Padlet tasks, one participant remarked:

“So it was a good forum to introduce themselves to everybody, people could say who was in there … on Padlet, where they engaged quite well, there was good interaction. There were people clicking and acknowledging their messages and starting little comments and things.”

(Mandy, Education)

The success of Padlet for encouraging social interaction between students, as compared to other learning activities, such as discussion boards, was evident:

“They do have discussion boards that they kind of use… but I feel they work in isolation when they’re online. I think they’re very isolated online at the moment … I feel if they’re actually all posting to Padlet, which I can go back to and post again, they should feel that they’re more part of a community of learning in that online environment.”

(Tina, Health Sciences)

The use of Padlet had additional benefits for learners, including fostering within them a sense of autonomy in and for their learning. Two participants explained how interactions between students in Padlet can support the students in their preparation to be self-motivated and self-sufficient learners:

“I think [Padlet] leads to a more collegial feel for them because they’re right on the cusp of graduating and becoming professionals … So for them to be able to communicate and me to be able to kind of guide them, and then it makes for a much more self-directed process for them, more in control of it, and they kind of get independent before graduation.”

(Mandy, Education)

“I’m encouraging them to reply to other people’s posts. So again, they’re trying to connect with other students, and not just me.”

(Tanya, Education)

Finally, the asynchronous nature of Padlet interactions met students’ needs for flexibility in their interactions with others. Padlet allowed them to contribute to conversations at any time or in any location:

“So the social aspect is that having Padlet with all the students and all of the tutors, we can all interact around the questions. And they’re always available and they’re always evolving and we can contribute to it at any time. And the way that I’ve created the unit is that it’s not time sensitive, so it’s uncoupled from a linear timeframe … so students can come and go.”

(Mandy, Education)

As identified in the participants’ comments, Padlet was found to be a useful tool for encouraging and developing students’ social engagement. This was aided by Padlet’s flexibility and capacity to facilitate anonymous posting. These features added to the students’ sense of safety and belonging in the learning environment and helped establish trust between peers and educators.

5.3. Padlet-Supported Collaborative Learning

The integration of Padlet has transformed the way students collaborate and learn together. An important concept that emerged from the interviews was that Padlet plays a crucial role in fostering collaborative learning through enhancing interactions between educators and students, as well as amongst students. Padlet enabled activities that allowed students to take ownership of their learning. Educators, on the other hand, took on a facilitator role, providing guidance to students on methods for exploration of their studies collaboratively:

“I want them discussing and unpacking things together and I can hop in and out of that space and still guide and be part of the discussion without having to lead it. And I think that leads to a more collegial feel for them because they’re right on the cusp of graduating and becoming professionals.”

(Mandy, Education)

“I’ll respond to them, and I’ll say, well, have you thought about doing it in a different way or something like that? And sometimes people will respond, but often they don’t. I guess one of my aims is to see if this system actually can result in them returning to the discussion board because then it is a real discussion.”

(Tanya, Education)

This method allows for more student-centred approaches, empowering students to take control of their learning and collaborate effectively. This can help foster a community of learning and enhance the overall educational experience for students. For instance, one participant mentioned the difference in student engagement over the course of a semester. At the beginning of the semester, she reported:

“If it is supporting them to get onto those discussion boards and unpack their ideas a little bit more and to challenge each other in their thinking, then it’s working. But look, I don’t think there’s been anything really significant happening, to be honest with you, that’s all that different to the past.”

(Rose, Education)

However, at the end of the semester, she stated:

“I noticed that 144 of the online students used that and most of them had three or four or five goes at it, so they’re obviously coming back to check their understanding and if they didn’t quite have it right, they were coming back and using it over and over again, which was really good to see.”

(Rose, Education)

Collaborative learning was fostered through Padlet by allowing students to provide feedback on each other’s learning. This was recognised as essential for a dynamic and effective learning process:

“The platform allows students to interact with each other and also with us. And they can collaborate on something and provide feedback to each other so that I think they find if they do that, they can certainly feel that sense of achievement.”

(Elizabeth, Humanities)

“What I’ll be looking for next is to make sure that students are talking to each other and liking each other’s posts. So it’s not just a me-and-them kind of conversation … I am hoping that this will create more of a sense of interaction because they can just … click the like without writing a comment, or they can do both, or they can just write a comment.”

(Mandy, Education)

“I think that’s why Padlet in particular might actually help … they can still respond to each other and have some back and forth about their different perspectives.”

(Rose, Education)

Together, these results provide important insights into how Padlet facilitates collaborative learning. It was suggested from the data that the use of Padlet has reshaped the traditional online learning experience into a more interactive, collaborative, and engaging process. By enabling students to discuss, interact, and provide and receive feedback, Padlet use has fostered a sense of belonging and collaborative learning for the students involved.

6. Discussion

Technology-enhanced learning is increasingly expected by higher education students, for whom digital tools are ubiquitous (Quinn et al., 2019). Among the many platforms supporting online and hybrid learning (Dziuban et al., 2018), Padlet stands out for its ease of use, helping to address pedagogical challenges associated with fostering connection, communication, and collaboration between educators and students (Caldwell & Heaton, 2016; Guinau Sellés et al., 2017).

This study examined Padlet adoption across online and hybrid courses in various subject areas at an Australian university. Participating educators were encouraged to integrate Padlet as both a technological and pedagogical tool to enhance student learning. Thematic analysis of educator responses revealed both perceived benefits and limitations in the use of Padlet. Despite certain constraints, Padlet consistently enhanced student engagement, supported collaborative learning, and fostered meaningful social interaction and a sense of community in the online and hybrid context at this university.

The results of this study highlight the potential of Padlet as a technological and pedagogical tool to support curriculum design in online and hybrid courses. Student disengagement is a known challenge for those teaching in online environments, in particular, fully online courses (Maimaiti et al., 2023), and social engagement is a key indicator in the numerous frameworks that describe core elements of student engagement in higher education (Fredricks et al., 2004; Garrison et al., 1999; Pittaway, 2012). The academic participants involved in this study recognised the importance of social engagement among their students. This understanding informed the development of their teaching initiatives involving Padlet adoption, often as an additional or alternative asynchronous tool to online discussion boards, as well as their collaborative effort to design these teaching initiatives in a community of practice (Coleman et al., 2025).

The participants saw Padlet as a welcome alternative to the traditionally used discussion boards. The potential of Padlet to promote a student-centred approach was mentioned multiple times by the participants in this study. They were able to design tasks and activities that students could undertake collaboratively with each other, with the participants supporting in a facilitator role. In these activities, student learning appeared to be more autonomous, self-directed, and motivated, compared to what was observed in traditional online discussion boards. In addition, being visually appealing, user friendly, and visible on the content page were mentioned as preferred qualities of Padlet. These findings are consistent with those of current research, which also highlighted the use-friendliness of Padlet (Beltran-Martin, 2019; Naamati-Schneider & Alt, 2023b). Students involved in the teaching initiatives in this study quite often indicated support for other students’ posts using the ‘heart’ or ’thumb up’ buttons. These appeared to be useful features that promoted interactions among the students, in particular for those who would like to show agreement with a post but not necessarily leave a comment.

The study results show evidence of the positive impact of Padlet adoption to support social engagement in an asynchronous setting. That was reflected in enhanced social interactions of students with peers, potentially fostering collaborative learning online. It is interesting to note that while all the participants involved in this study observed increased interactions among students in Padlet, they also expressed an awareness that interactions do not necessarily indicate collaborative learning among students. Rather, collaborative learning occurs when a group of learners work together towards a learning goal and where co-construction of knowledge happens (Dillenbourg, 1999). The participants were constantly looking for evidence of this knowledge co-construction through posts that showed critical thinking, provided constructive feedback to other students, or continuous reflections on one’s own understanding.

Whether collaborative learning occurs seems to be influenced by both the focus of the subject and the design of the learning activities in the subject. Where the activities required students to demonstrate critical thinking or be involved in groupwork, there appeared to be more collaborative learning among students. Overall, adoption of Padlet may have further encouraged collaborations between students who were willing to interact or collaborate in the first place; however, it takes considerable effort to design activities to be used in Padlet, to maintain active interactions, and to shift the perceptions and actions of those who prefer to learn on their own.

The findings of this research contribute insights into curriculum and pedagogical design for online and hybrid students. Comments from the educator participants on their own teaching experiences and observations of their students’ reactions to learning show positive responses to Padlet adoption. The ease of use was mentioned as one of the most significant promoting factors. The findings of this paper support the emerging theory of materiality in trying to understand how material objects, in particular technological tools, can help to enrich university students’ learning experiences (R. A. Ellis et al., 2025). As in this research, Padlet provided wider options of involvement and interactions to students as compared to the traditional online discussion boards and thereby led to higher motivation and more positive learning experiences among the students.

The findings of this research also contribute to the understanding of social integration of students in online and hybrid courses. The adoption of Padlet as a technological and pedagogical tool presented value in enhancing student social interactions and collaborative learning, which are key to students’ social integration (Tinto, 1999). Being able to work together with other students towards a shared goal helped develop a sense of belonging for those involved. This is also supported by relevant literature, which emphasises the importance of emotional presence among students (Cleveland-Innes & Campbell, 2012). Student approaches to learning differ between cohorts, for instance, between online and hybrid students, different disciplines, and different institutions. With the increasing number of students studying in online and hybrid courses in Australia and worldwide, students studying in the same mode will continue to become increasingly diverse (Kember et al., 2023). It is important to understand the student cohort and context in order to provide the appropriate pedagogy that best suits the learner cohort.

To sum up, according to this study, Padlet’s effectiveness was largely attributed to features that promoted student engagement, peer collaboration, and the cultivation of a positive learning environment. In terms of practical implication, to optimise the integration of Padlet into online and hybrid learning and teaching, educators should receive targeted professional development that addresses both technical proficiency and pedagogical application. Strategies may include workshops on co-designing collaborative activities and providing guidance on aligning its use with specific pedagogical goals and instructional design principles. Additionally, future investigation is warranted to explore the applicability of Padlet across diverse learning modalities, including face-to-face and fully online learning cohorts. It is anticipated that such comparative studies could yield insights into student perceptions, thereby informing more nuanced implementation strategies.

7. Conclusions

This study sought to investigate the implementation of Padlet as a multifaceted technological and pedagogical tool to augment students’ social engagement and collaborative learning in university online and hybrid courses, while also exploring its potential to support curriculum design. The results of this investigation indicate that Padlet facilitates interactive discussions, fosters a sense of community, and cultivates a collegial environment that is crucial for the holistic development of students. By facilitating asynchronous and synchronous communications, Padlet allows students to engage meaningfully with both their peers and educators. Furthermore, the flexibility of Padlet in allowing varied forms of interaction caters to different learning preferences, making it a versatile tool in the modern educational landscape.

While this study provides important insights, several limitations exist, which open avenues for future research. Firstly, this research focused exclusively on Padlet; therefore, its findings may not be generalisable to other educational technology tools. To confirm and extend these findings, future studies could compare the use of Padlet with other technological tools. Secondly, these findings were derived solely from interviews with the educators without incorporating the students’ perspectives. To enhance the robustness of the findings, future research could investigate further the nature and desire of online students, which will inform future adoption of technological tools, such as Padlet. Additionally, this study relied mainly on semi-structured interviews, which may lead to biased responses. Considering a mixed-methods research approach, future studies could explore how technological tools such as Padlet could help shape student perceptions towards collaborative learning, as well as how students from different backgrounds could benefit from the affordances provided by such technological tools as Padlet. Lastly, the sample size was relatively small and was drawn from a single institution. Future research could include multiple institutions to enhance the applicability of the conclusions.

In summary, the findings from this study provide evidence that students in the online and hybrid subjects responded positively to the use of Padlet as a tool to enrich their learning experiences, both academically and socially. While this study underscores the positive impact of Padlet in online and hybrid learning environments, it also highlights the need for continued exploration and evaluation of various educational technologies to fully harness their potential in enhancing student engagement and collaborative learning in higher education.