Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/2440/86462
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Type: | Journal article |
Title: | The academic journey of university students on Facebook: an analysis of informal academic-related activity over a semester |
Author: | Vivian, R. Barnes, A. Geer, R. Wood, D. |
Citation: | Research in Learning Technology, 2014; 22(1):24681-1-24681-16 |
Publisher: | Co-Action Publishing |
Issue Date: | 2014 |
ISSN: | 2156-7069 2156-7077 |
Statement of Responsibility: | Rebecca Viviana, Alan Barnesb, Ruth Geerb and Denise Wood |
Abstract: | This paper reports on an observation of 70 university students’ use of their personal social network site (SNS), Facebook, over a 22-week university study period. The study sought to determine the extent that university students use their personal SNSs to support learning by exploring frequencies of academic-related content and topics being discussed. The findings reported in the paper reveal that students used their personal SNSs to discuss academic-related topics, particularly to share experiences about doing work or procrastinating, course content and grades. Mapping academic-related activity frequencies over the 22 weeks illustrated that around certain points in the academic calendar, particularly times when students’ assignments or exams were nearing, academic activity increased, suggesting that SNSs may play an important role in a students’ academic experience. The findings suggest that many students today may be leaving traces of their academic journey online and that academics should be aware that these interactions may also exist in their own students’ online social spaces. This study offers opportunities for future research, particularly research which seeks to determine differences between individuals’ academic activity, the extent that intensive SNSs use supports or distracts students from learning, as well as the extent to which universities should or can harness SNSs to improve the student experience. |
Keywords: | Informal learning; social networking; Facebook; university students; social network sites |
Rights: | © 2014 R. Vivian et al. Research in Learning Technology is the journal of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), a UK-based professional and scholarly society and membership organisation. ALT is registered charity number 1063519. http://www.alt.ac.uk/. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license. |
DOI: | 10.3402/rlt.v22.24681 |
Published version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v22.24681 |
Appears in Collections: | Aurora harvest 2 Computer Science publications |
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hdl_86462.pdf | Published version | 558.73 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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