International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM) – eISSN: 1865-7923 – Vol. 14, No. 13, 2020 Short Paper—Perception and Acceptance of Padlet as a Microblogging Platform for Writing Skills Perception and Acceptance of Padlet as a Microblogging Platform for Writing Skills https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i13.14493 M. Kharis (), Cut Nyak Dameria Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia m.kharis.fs@um.ac.id Martin Ebner Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria Abstract—This research is intended to answer the question, how are the stu- dents' perceptions of internet technology in learning and how is the acceptanceof Padletas a microblogging platform for writing skills in German language level A2-B1 CEFR standards for the student. In summary, 21 students within the range of 19-22 years participated, whichconsisted of 2 males and 19 females- data ob- tained through opened and closed questionnaires. The results of data analysis showed that students had positive perceptions using internet technology in learn- ing. However, students cannot accept Padlet as a microblogging platform in learning German writing skills due to several factors that influence it. This re- search has an essential finding: before conducting online learning, lecturers have to consider internet availability and the adequacy of reviews to their smartphones as a learning infrastructure. Keywords—Perception, acceptance, Padlet , microblogging, writing skills 1 Introduction The use of technology as one of the learning media has been widely implemented in education. It is essential to implement Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching-learning process because internet technology has great potential to revolutionize the learning process in academic institutions [1]. Technology can sup- port the teaching process in the classroom. Internet as a technology of Information and communication facilitate students to improve their learning outcomes. Jones, in his research, found that internet use changed the way for most students to interact with other people [2] and information while undergoing their studies. There are student’s perceptions of the use of the internet as a learning medium. Their perception determines the importance of the internet and how often they access it to get information [3]. Nowadays, many students use the internet to access lecture material. Students with a positive perception of the internet use it as a source of information. In other words, those who have the skills to operate technology can keep up with globalization, especially in the field of education. Shuell & Farber suggest that student's iJIM ‒ Vol. 14, No. 13, 2020 213 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i13.14493 mailto:m.kharis.fs@um.ac.id Short Paper—Perception and Acceptance of Padlet as a Microblogging Platform for Writing Skills perceptions of the use of technology can be interconnected, so it is found that students' perceptions depend on how technology is used [4]. Students who actively use technology have a positive perception of technology, while less active students could have obstacles. The use of internet-based media can be a constraint if resources do not have a sufficient understanding of their use [5]. One form of utilizing internet technology is microblogging, which can be a medium for learning to write. Students generally prefer methods that are fun and practical. Sim- ilar to the use of media for education, microblogging is one of the most successful in- novations in the Web 2.0 era [6]. Research work by Ebner et al. has revealed that mi- croblogging media can be viewed as an informally convenient form of communication outside the classroom [6], and improve critical thinking skills as well as evaluation skills [7]. Besides, microblogging is an activity to convey aspirations and stages in communicating using application assistance and internet access [8]. One application that has a microblogging platform is Padlet, an online virtual bulle- tin board, where students and lecturers can collaborate, reflect, and share links and im- ages on a platform [9]. The application Padlet has two forms, i.e., desktop with pc and with smartphone/mobile device as a social media. In this study, students use smartphones to get writing assignments, do writing assignments, and interact with other students, because the use of social media increases collaborative learning, supporting student learning, and simplifying the teaching and learning process [10]. Padlet allows users to create hidden pages with a URL, so only individual lecturers and students have access to the page. This is the advantage of Padlet as one of the learning media because using Padlet in instruction offered a non-threatening space for gathering and restoring collaborative classroom work [11]. With Padlet, the teacher can create and moderate posts, delete posts, and manage the page freely. This provides an opportunity for lec- turers and students to use Padlet as a means of learning and communication academi- cally, in this case, as a microblogging platform. Previous research has shown that the use of Padlet can increase student grades, foster interest in learning [7], motivate stu- dents to address the subject effectively and to engage in the completion of classes [12], and improve student writing achievement [13]. In addition, students give a positive at- titude towards Padlet as a medium of learning [14]. Based on the explanation above, it is known that the use of Padlet could have a positive influence on students in the learning process. However, is the use of Padlet in the learning process acceptable? So far, there have been many studies on the use of mobile learning, such as application-based and web-based, but how do students accept the use of learning applications or online learning? Thus, this study seeks to answer the question, how are students' perceptions of internet technology and Padlet's acceptance as a microblogging platform for writing skills? What is the student's attitude toward the assignment? This research needs to be done because the use of Padlet should be directly proportional to acceptance [15] and also their satisfaction in using it [16]. 214 http://www.i-jim.org Short Paper—Perception and Acceptance of Padlet as a Microblogging Platform for Writing Skills 2 Methodology of Research This research used a descriptive qualitative approach and was conducted to students of the German Language Education Study Program Universitas Negeri Malang. The Students have Geman competences at the A2-B1 level CEFR standard. Sources of data were obtained from Aufsatz II class students, totaling 21 students, consisting of 2 men and 19 women, with a range of ages 19-21 years. Primary data were obtained from a questionnaire in the form of students' perceptions of Padlet. Secondary data in the form of students' attitudes towards writing assignments were obtained from questionnaires, text written by students, and metadata from the Padlet. The research procedure starts from giving a tutorial on the Padlet platform and giving writing assignments through Padlet, and finally, students fill out a questionnaire. Primary data were analyzed using a Likert scale, while content analysis techniques analyzed secondary data and described by descriptive analysis techniques. 3 Results of Research 3.1 Student attitudes toward use of padlets in writing activities Students get the writing task essays two times with different themes. In the first as- signment, the theme of the essay was Kommentare schreiben (writing comments), and the second theme was Unterhaltung am Wochenende (entertainment on weekends). Each writing assignment uses the outline guidelines, called Leitpunkte. With this frame- work, students write texts. After getting a writing assignment, students upload text, photos, videos, and other files into the Padlet platform, while other students can comment on each other writing. There are no time restrictions for uploading essays and commenting. Comments provided on the forum by students may be in the form of queries, statements, or other non-linguistic comments. Thus, communication and interaction between students are expected to be created. The next phase is filling in a questionnaire about using the Padlet platform in writing skills. The following is data about students perceptions about the internet: iJIM ‒ Vol. 14, No. 13, 2020 215 Short Paper—Perception and Acceptance of Padlet as a Microblogging Platform for Writing Skills Fig. 1. Display screen as a teacher Fig. 2. Display screen as student Table 1. Student’s Perceptions of Internet Technology Nr. Statement SA A D SD 1. The internet has a great potential idea as a learning medium 17 4 2. The internet can provide online learning activities 15 6 3. Learning to use the internet can be positive for me 7 14 4. Being skilled at using the internet can improve my academic qualifi- cations 13 8 If the statement strongly agrees (SA) and agrees (A) is interpreted as a positive re- sponse, and disagree (D) and strongly disagrees (SD) is interpreted as a negative re- sponse, it can be seen that all respondents have positive responses about the internet. Students think that the internet has great potential as a learning medium. Students 216 http://www.i-jim.org Short Paper—Perception and Acceptance of Padlet as a Microblogging Platform for Writing Skills believe that the internet can provide online learning activities, and learning to use the internet can be positive. Besides, the use of the internet can improve the academic qual- ity of students. Next, in the following table, students' experiences in using the internet in the form of blogs are presented in any platform for writing skills. Table 2. Experience using the internet Nr. Statement Score SA A D SD 1. I once made a blog 6 13 2 2. The experience with Padlet was my positive experience 4 15 2 3. I read and comment on blogs belonging to another friend 3 4 13 1 4. The blog helps me to connect with other students 1 17 3 5. Thanks to blogging, I read more other previous research on the topic I'm working on 5 11 5 6. Thanks to blogging, my interaction with other students in this class has increased 1 12 7 1 3.2 Student attitudes toward use of padlet in writing activities The activeness of students in providing comments in this study was classified into two, namely academic and non-academic comments. The attitude of students towards the use of Padlet in writing skills, seen in the description below: In the first question, how often during respondents using blogs for academic pur- poses, 15% of respondents stated never, 15% of respondents stated very rarely, 70% stated rarely. Meanwhile, in the second question, how often during respondents using blogs for non-academic purposes as many as 25% of respondents stated never, 15% of respondents stated very rarely, 50% of respondents stated rarely, and 10% of respond- ents stated quite often. These results indicate that most students do not use blogs, both for academic and non-academic purposes. The results of writing German are as follows, based on the analysis of the words count in the text. Table 3. Average number of words in the essay Nr. Theme Average 1. Kommentare schreiben(write comments) 154 2. Unterhaltung am Wochenende (entertainment on weekends) 104 4 Discussion A study on the use of m-learning in different gender, ages, social and cultural influ- ence needs to be reported because that may act as barriers to its implementation [17]. In this study, students of the Department of German Literature, State University of Ma- lang, have a positive perception of internet use, in this case, the use of blogs by stu- dents. This reinforces Sudiran's research results, which show that students have a posi- tive perception of the use of the internet as a learning medium [3]. Indeed the use of the iJIM ‒ Vol. 14, No. 13, 2020 217 Short Paper—Perception and Acceptance of Padlet as a Microblogging Platform for Writing Skills internet by students in academic activities has a positive influence because of its ease in finding learning material that can support students to prepare themselves for learning [1]. In addition, most students also have experience in creating blogs, both for academic and non-academic purposes. Most students are also interested in reading other student blogs. Students claimed that they are connected with other students and thanked blog- ging activities. However, students' perceptions and experiences about using blogs for academic pur- poses are not directly proportional to the attitude shown in doing writing assignments. The results of the data analytics show that in the second assignment, the average number of words has fallen from 154 to 104 characters. These findings confirmed the research results conducted by Deni and Zainal that showed that Padlet's positive image as a learning tool did not affect student use rate [18]. In addition, there are other obstacles that students have regarding the use of Padlets, including internet networks and phone devices that do not support them, because the use of outdated smartphones will contribute to a slow loading of menus, which can respond to students not unwilling to use Padlet as a writing tool [19]. The use of inter- net-based media must consider the availability of internet networks and technological limitations. Otherwise, it will become an obstacle. This is as expressed by Lujan-Mora & de Juana-Espinosa that the use of technology-based media is often constrained by internet access, computer specifications that do not support, and the lack of user knowledge of technology [5]. 5 Conclusion Based on the results of the study, it can be inferred that the students' have a positive perception of the use of technology in learning German. However, students do not ac- cept Padlet as a learning medium. This opposite the different viewpoints and attitudes about using Padlet. This research is expected to be a reference and source of similar study or research on Padlet. The subsequent analysis is expected to dig more profound benefits of Padlet in the learning process, especially learning to write. 6 Acknowledgement Prof. Dr. Martin Ebner, Head of Department, OU Educational Technology, Graz University of Technology, Austria, is pleased to be of great appreciation to the authors for the contribution made to this study. 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Martin Ebner is a researcher in the field of seamless learning, open educational resources, learning analytics, making and computer science for children. He is now Head of Department, OU Educational Technology, Graz University of Technology, Rechbauerstraße 12, 8010 Graz, Austria. Article submitted 2020-03-31. Resubmitted 2020-06-14. Final acceptance 2020-06-18. Final version pub- lished as submitted by the authors. 220 http://www.i-jim.org https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v11i4.6185 https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v15i01.11804