Using the Groupme App to Increase Student Engagement in Online Courses

Students in online courses often don't have the option to interact live with instructors and other students. With more students taking online courses in the post-COVID era, creating opportunities for such interaction becomes problematic. To address this issue, I have used the free GroupMe app to engage in weekly chat sessions with students in my online courses. With this app, students in a particular class can interact with one another and the instructor through text messaging, a communication format that they are comfortable using. The GroupMe app has a polling feature, which can be used to ask students questions regarding the weekly reading assignments. Through the app, the instructor can post links to a Google Jamboard or a Padlet, where students can post written responses to an instructor's questions. Instructors can post links to Kahoot and Quizizz and allow students to compete for points by answering multiple-choice questions. Such activities enable students to assess their understanding of course material on a weekly basis and remain engaged in the course.

By the end of this workshop, participants know or will be able to:

• Identify the main features of the GroupMe app.
• Identify and access different online programs (Padlet, Jamboard, Kahoot, Quizizz) which can be deployed in a GroupMe chat session.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the GroupMe app for stimulating student engagement.

All webinar participants can obtain, at no additional cost:

• A digital badge and certificate that provide a web-enabled, verifiable documentation of your professional learning experience.
• CEUs, which are awarded by passing the post-webinar learning assessment with a score of 80% or better.