Abstract
This article focuses on the characteristics of online education that promote academic engagement among students through an online format. The course utilised various digital collaborative tools to enhance projects and sessions, paying special attention to the international (Latin American) and interdisciplinary experiences of lectures on health research, as well as the cultural differences and experiences of the partners. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the academic engagement experience in an online format that applied several digital tools to generate fluent interaction, collaboration, and rapport. It also examined students’ perception of the benefits they obtained from these collaborative tools. A quantitative-descriptive method was developed considering a sample of 59 students from different countries who participated in the course. Subsequently to the course, participants answered a nine-question survey focused on their academic engagement and an open question related to the perceived benefits of technological tools. Results showed that experienced academic engagement was high in most aspects asked. The open question to both students and teachers showed four key main elements related to the perceived benefits of using technological tools: 1) working with people of different specialities and cultures, 2) organising work and feedback, 3) allowing fluent collaboration, and 4) preparing and designing collaborative research in a better way. These results emphasise the importance of using technology based on a clear and well-oriented teaching-learning process to improve engagement and the learning experience.