Utilizing Microsoft Sway to Make Interactive Presentations for Language Students in a Public Asian-Pacific University

This research focused on teachers' and students' feedback on the application of Microsoft Sway in creating interactive presentations in an English-speaking Country Study course at a public university in Vietnam. Forty-five third-year English-major students were divided into five groups and required to create online presentations on different aspects of life in English-speaking countries, using specific templates in Microsoft Sway and incorporating various online and offline multimedia sources. The study was conducted through focus-group discussions with students and semi-structured interviews with teachers. Results showed positive feedback from students on improving their academic performance and language skills, citing benefits such as saving time with the tool's effortless design and easy access to a variety of useful reference sources. Teachers' interviews revealed improvement in students' reading, writing, and critical thinking skills during the process of creating content for the interactive presentations. However, students encountered difficulties searching, filtering relevant information on the web, and creating outlines for presentations. The study has practical implications for teachers and researchers looking to apply new online learning and teaching tools in similar educational contexts.