Abstract:

The article deals with the issue of introducing online services and other applications into university programmes. Google Drive, Google Apps, Google Hangoutchat, Realtimeboard facilitate cooperative student partnerships, collaborative learning and digital competences of future Public Relations specialists. It is assumed that the greater a student’s involvement in the cooperation process is, the greater their motivation is and the stronger is their ability to develop creative skills and discover innovative approaches to accomplish tasks. The project is initiated by two Russian universities with the expertise in a collaborative work in blended and online-based learning environments. The purpose of the study is to explore the effectiveness of apps in education and the specific challenges of implementing courses in such an environment.

The research is divided into three consecutive activities:
1) literature review on the foundations of online collaboration,
2) assessment of good practice examples of online collaboration,
3) comparison of students’ learning outcomes by splitting them into control and experimental groups.

One group had to attend a normal class and the other one used online services and apps to full extend. Both groups obtained better results after the experiment, however the experimental one flew at a higher pitch than the control group. Our work has led us to the conclusion that in order to improve teaching effectiveness, educational institutions should consider aiming at state-of-the-art web services that create new class environment where a teacher is assigned a role of a coacher and students become more engaged and cooperative.

Keywords:

Applications, online services, Public Relations students, blended learning, collaborative learning.