Distance students’ readiness for social media and collaboration

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the use of social networking tools (e.g., Facebook) and social media in general, mainly for social, recreational, and entertainment purposes (Smith, Salaway, & Caruso, 2009). Many educators believe that these tools offer new educational affordances and avenues for students to interact with each other and with their teachers or tutors. Considering the traditional dropout rate problem documented in distance courses (Rovai, 2003; Woodley, 2004), these tools may be of special interest for distance education institutions as they have the potential to assist in the critical "social integration" associated with persistence (Sweet, 1986; Tinto, 1975). However, as distance students are typically older than regular on-campus students (Bean & Metzner, 1985; Rovai, 2003), little is known about their expertise with social media or their interest in harnessing these tools for informal learning or collaborating with peers. To investigate these issues, an online questionnaire was distributed to students from four large Canadian distance education institutions. A systematic sampling procedure led to 3,462 completed questionnaires. The results show that students have diverse views and experiences, but they also show strong and significant age and gender differences in a variety of measures, as well as an important institution effect on the student's interest in collaboration. Males and younger students scored higher on almost all indicators (past teamwork experience, cooperative preferences, attitudes toward technology, experience with social software, etc.). These age and gender differences should be interpreted cautiously, however, as they are based on self-reported measures. The limits of the study, as well as future developments and research questions, are outlined.

Students’ Perceptions and Experiences of Social Media in Higher Education

“…Some research has explored the extent to which students use particular social media tools. For instance, Poelhuber and Anderson (2011) examined the use of social media and other collaboration tools in the context of distance learning and found that males and younger students have more positive attitudes toward technology as well as greater experience with social media. Zula, Yarrish, and Pawelzik (2011) explored the use of social networking tools in business education and found that younger students (18-20 years old) spent less time on career exploration research than older students (21-24 years old) but found no significant difference with regard to time spent on social networks in general.…”

Online Education: Best Practices to Promote Learning

“…After considering software and hardware compatibility and access, student competency and comfort with technology must be addressed as it has been associated with the learning outcomes and student satisfaction (Moore, 2005;Poellhuber & Anderson 2011). Therefore, to facilitate improved learning outcomes and satisfaction, course design should include early and ongoing technological support for all students (Heale, Gorham & Fournier, 2010), contact information for technical support, integrated tutorials and e-links, as well as a list of menu items to navigate the site (Chou, 2003).…”

Effect of Social Media Usage on Research Competences and Completion during COVID-19: Case of Pre-Service Health Sciences Researchers

“…Pre-service researchers used information management tools, such as Monkey surveys and Google Docs, for data collection during the pandemic. Previous studies (3,31,32) showed that graduate students had frequently used information management tools, file sharing, research databases, and reference management tools to complete their research. The successful use of SM tools boosted the self-efficacy and transformed their negative attitudes into positive ones (20,33).…”