Impact of Using a Smart Online Teaching Tool “Rain Classroom” on Sophomores’ Class Engagement in an Intercultural Communication Course

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether Rain Classroom, a smart online teaching tool, influences sophomores’ class engagement in an Intercultural Communication Course (ICC). ICC is a compulsory course for students majoring in English in China. Few studies have been done to improve the participation of ICC from the perspective of joining the smart teaching platform. Tsinghua University introduced Rain Classroom in 2016, which is widely used in higher education in China. In this study, a quantitative (embedded quasi-experimental design) method was adopted. Pre- and post-tests based on the class engagement scale, ANCOVA were used to analyze the data. 131 sophomores were encouraged to learn with Rain Classroom to investigate whether such a platform was conducive to improving their engagement lasting 4 weeks, while 112 students were learning traditionally. The experimental group was involved in the intervention based on the Presentation-Assimilation-Discussion (PAD) classroom teaching model. After the intervention, the results of ANCOVA showed the students in the experimental group had a significantly higher level of cognitive engagement (F = 6.34, p < 0.05; η²= 0.03) compared to the students in the control group after engaging in Rain Classroom and learned in PAD mode for 4 weeks. This revealed learning in this way may enhance students’ capacity of self-regulated learning, and deep learning strategies, and exert the necessary cognitive strategies for the comprehension of complex ideas. However, no significant differences between these two groups were observed in students' emotional engagement (F = 2.52, p = 0.11; η²= 0.01) and behavioral engagement (F = 1.82, p = 0.18; η²= 0.01) after the intervention. This left a direction for further study.