USING ONLINE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR ENHANCING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN LEARNING: THE USE OF FACEBOOK AND BLOGS AT CPUT

Dr Eunice Ivala and Mrs Daniela Gachago, Educational Technology Unit, Fundani, CPUT

Research background South Africa still struggling with low level of

student success and throughput Student engagement can help enhance student

learning

Student engagement definition: Amount of physical and psychological energy

students devote to academic activity and the interest in courses (Astin 1984)

Indicators: initiative, self-motivation, independent experimentation, spontaneous collaboration and peer coaching, enthusiasm and frustration (Sandholtz, Ringstaff and Dwyer 1994)

Aim of Current Research How have CPUT lecturers enhanced

student engagement with their studies through the use of Facebook and Blogs?

1. How are FB and blogs used in T&L at CPUT?

2. What are staff and students perceptions on the use of FB and blogs?

3. What are the challenges staff and students are facing?

Theoretical framework

Learning ecology perspective (Barron 2006) Individuals are simultaneously involved in

many settings; Individuals create learning contexts for

themselves within and across settings; The boundaries among settings can be

permeable; and Interest-driven activities can span contextual

boundaries and be self-sustaining given adequate time, freedom, and resources.

Research methods

3 courses at CPUT investigated: First year Engineering course (ENG) Third year Design course (Design3) Fourth year Design course (Design4)

Literature review on the field Interviews with course lecturers Focus groups with students Analysis of Facebook walls and blog

postings

RQ1: How did lecturers use FB and blogs in T&L?

1st yr. ENG blog

Third year Design blog

Third year Design Facebook Group

Fourth year Design class blog

Fourth year Design student blogs

RQ2: Perceptions on blogs

Class blogs Good for information sharing Mainly one way communication from lecturer to students Problems getting students to comment Modelling function Developing sense of belonging to class Perception of “distance” to students’ lives

Individual student blogs Good reflection tool – very honest postings Sharing of experiences – staying in touch Creation of content Marketing themselves to the industry– start of eportfolio Compulsory nature of activity helped students start process of

blogging

Students comments

E: …it helps you socially because you get to commenting and say now you comment on that thing and someone’s comments assist with yours and they agree on something and you are actually communicating with each other. …it is my first time to go through this stuff and I start enjoying commenting and writing stories…

A: The idea of one’s blog was quite exciting… and the idea of what it’s trying to do. I mean essentially it’s promoting your thoughts, your opinions, your works…

RQ2: Perception on FB

Worked well for more mature students Academic and moral support 24/7 support by peers and lecturer

F: …Another thing is, sometimes lecturers forget often and its human nature to forget about giving us work or something which is needed probably for the next day or for the weekend and maybe she will remember only to give to us maybe the night. Then she will post it, post it like on Facebook for us, 10:00 at night and most of us are awake till frikking 4:00 the morning…its perfect.

I: Facebook [shows us], that we all suffer together. Like one big, happy, sad family.

Peer support!

It helped student interaction and peer learning, especially FB group

B: The thing is, just coming back to the whole communication that you actually …know your fellow students…actually you can go to for advice…not just highlighting the top students in the class…gaining confidence in your fellow students not just asking [the lecturer] all the time.

Improved students-staff interaction

Also helped student – staff interaction and vice versa (FB)

Staff-student interaction (blogs) Very honest feedback on Facebook group

A: And the other thing I will say it created that relationship with the lecturers so I believe after this whole Facebook thing I understand like my lecturers better than I thought, you know. And know I am free, I am free like to chat to them….it created that.

RQ 3: Challenges encountered Time constraints on the part of lecturer to

visit and update FB and blog Need for lecturers to keep abreast of new

technologies close to students’ lives Insufficient Internet quotas (50

megabytes) for younger students Workload-influenced voluntary

participation on blog and FB Distractive nature of FB for younger

students Resistance to blurring of social and

academic life for younger students

Student feedback

H:…we just use Facebook most of the time because most of us are on it anyway for social, so it will just, when there is a notification or a brief it will pop up in your newsfeed while you are busy socializing, you’re always up to date…

A: “I think students feel that’s their personal space away from class, that’s how I fell…I don’t want it to be forced on me, that I have to go read there, I have to join this group…this is my personal space, I don’t want to be forced to do something personal.”

Strategies for usage

Know the tools & what they can offer for learning Select, explore and use tools in collaboration

with your students – shared ownership Objective of using the tool- clearly

communicated to students Discuss netiquette with students (eg privacy,

befriending lecturers, language used) Champions should share and spread the word

amongst colleagues Let students take initiative! Use as a supplementary material

Summary of findings Use of FB and Blogs on-campus & off-campus-agree

with learning ecology persp’ notion that Individuals are simultaneously involved in many

settings; individuals create learning contexts for themselves

within and across settings & that the boundaries among settings can be

permeable (Barron 2006) Students’ reports on FB and blogs reveal indicators

of student engagement, such as initiative, self-motivation, independent

experimentation, spontaneous collaboration and peer coaching, enthusiasm and frustration (Sandholtz, Ringstaff and Dwyer 1994)

Conclusion

Technologies in everyday students life, such as Facebook and blogs, should be utilized in higher education to promote student interaction and greater engagement with learning activities on and off campus - which may lead to improved performance and student retention.

THANK YOU!We would like to specifically thank all the lecturers and

students who took part in the study!