Understanding Students’ Perceptions on the Benefits of Online Social Networking Use for Teaching and Learning

Publication date: Available online 6 March 2015 Source:The Internet and Higher Education Author(s): Suraya Hamid , Jenny Waycott , Sherah Kurnia , Shanton Chang The recent popularity of social technologies has motivated some university lecturers to use them for Online Social Networking (OSN) educational activities. Furthermore, social technologies have been adopted and used actively by students for non-educational activities. These technologies have enormous potential to enhance the teaching and learning experience. However, there have been limited studies assessing how to effectively use social technologies and what the impacts are on students’ learning experience, particularly with regards to their value in enhancing interactions. This paper focuses on students’ experiences with using OSN for student-student and student-lecturer interactions. A total of nine focus group discussions with 46 students were held in Malaysian and Australian universities. A thematic analysis revealed that students identified a number of positive outcomes from using OSN to interact with each other and with their lecturers. The findings of this research increases current understanding about how students leverage social technologies to enhance interaction among themselves, with their lecturers, and with the knowledge or content of the course.

Source: The Internet and Higher Education - March 12, 2015 Category: Information Technology Source Type: research