The Facebook GenerationBoon or Bane for

E-Learning at Universities?

Martin Ebner, Walther Nagler

#edmedia11 + [#question oder #notice oder #http]

http://twitterwall.tugraz.at

Technology enhanced Learning

http://flickr.com/photos/powerbooktrance/289992273//

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sovietuk/141381675

u-Learninge-Learning

m-Learning

p-Learning

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toddhiestand/197704394/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toddhiestand/197704394/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toddhiestand/197704394/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toddhiestand/197704394/

Mobile Generation

http://flickr.com/photos/thomcochrane/416206133/

Future is mobile

http://i.imgur.com/r9Rov.png

http://i.imgur.com/r9Rov.png

http://i.imgur.com/r9Rov.png

http://i.imgur.com/r9Rov.png

http://i.imgur.com/r9Rov.png

http://i.imgur.com/r9Rov.png

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maebmij/123180774

„Our students have changed radically. Today‘s students are no longer the people our educational

system was designed to teach.“Mark Prenksy 2001

RT @twitter ist die Uni auf Facebook? #DigitalUniversity #l3tMartin Ebner

Net Geners, Digital Natives, Millenials, Multitaskers oder generation@

Digital Natives (Prensky)Net-Generation (Tapscott)

Generation @ (Opaschowski)Homo Zapiens (Pelevin & Bromfield)

...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ergonomic/3363073562

Digital Native /Digital Immigrants

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oso/2343596768

"As Digital Immigrants learn - like all immigrants, some better than others - to adapt to their

environment, they always retain, to some degree, their "accent", that is, their foot in the past."

Marc Prensky "Digital Natvies, Digital Immigrants", 2001

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43331433@N00/314937044

• Read visual image• visual spatial skills• inductive discovery• attentional deployment• fast response time

Oblinger, J. L., 2005, Is it age for IT: First Steps Toward Understanding the Net Generation

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Microsoft_Surface_demo_4.jpg

Digital Literacy

http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/InternetMap/medium/worldWhite.jpg

Digital Gap

http://www.flickr.com/photos/icecream/22316672

• Economic divide• Usability divide• Empowerment divide

Jacon Nielsen Digital Divide, The Three stages

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/digital-divide.html

Digital Divide

„These new generations of learners do not see technology as something foreign. They readily accept technology and consider technology to

be part of their lives. Moreover, the use of mobile technology is a 21st Century skill that

students and workers must have to function in society.“

Ally, M. (2007). Mobile Learning.The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(2).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dantekgeek/189891071

Is there a Net@generation and is there a difference to former students?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/menlophoto/2826598720

http://flickr.com/photos/thomcochrane/416206133/

Research Questions

http://www.flickr.com/photos/everyplace/12684903/

• technical equipment?• internet access at study home?• communication behaviour?• useage of e-Learning platforms at seondary school level?• Web 2.0 competence?

Which trends can be seen towards ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pshab/498122926

> 640 million user

10.208.000 comments / 20 minutes

about 30.000 server

2.716.000 phots / 20 minutes

and there is a special eye ...

Study over 4 years (n=2858)

• Term 2007/2008 n=578 • Term 2008/2009 n=821• Term 2009/2010 n=757• Term 2010/2011 n=702

Comparision of Devices

0,00%

10,00%

20,00%

30,00%

40,00%

50,00%

60,00%

70,00%

80,00%

90,00%

iPod

iPod +

Video

MP3 Play

er PC MAC

Lap

Netboo

k iPad

Other S

mart de

vice

Kindle

Sony e

-read

er

Other e

-read

er

iPhone

Andrio

d

Other m

obile

Mobile

+ W

LAN

Mobile

+ www

Mobile

no w

ww

Comparision of Devices

2007 2008 2009 2010

Communicational Behaviour I

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Communicational Behaviour II

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+,-,.$ ./.,01$ 23,+$ 4/501$ +26$78,79,4$

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</7,=229$

>68,.$?275/0$+,6@2.9?$A,@?B.2CD?$

E91D,$

Internet Access at Study Home

0,00%

10,00%

20,00%

30,00%

40,00%

50,00%

60,00%

70,00%

80,00%

No Public Smartphone Modem ADSL Mobil Others

Internet Access at Study Home

2007 2008 2009 2010

Usage of e-Learning Platforms before Study

0,00%

10,00%

20,00%

30,00%

40,00%

50,00%

60,00%

70,00%

80,00%

90,00%

100,00%

never rarely often daily not checked

Usage of E-Learning Platforms before Study

Schoole Moodle

Schoole Platform

School Homepage

E-Learning Plattform outside School

Overall Usage of Web 2.0 I

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Wik

iped

ia

YouT

ube

Face

book

MyS

pace

Stu

diV

z

Aud

iopo

ds

Vide

opod

s

Web

logs

Twitt

er

RS

S

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er W

ikis

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kr

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olla

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pbox

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uny

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edia

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ious

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er v

irtua

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ds

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erpa

d

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icro

blog

s

Soc

ial B

ookm

Overall Usage of Web2.0

not checked

unknown

use + learning

Overall Usage of Web 2.0 II

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Wik

iped

ia

YouT

ube

Face

book

MyS

pace

Stu

diV

z

Aud

iopo

ds

Vide

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s

Web

logs

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er

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edia

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icro

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s

Soc

ial B

ookm

Overall Usage of Web2.0

not checked

unknown

known no use

passive

active

for learning

Facebook

• 94% of all freshman use Facebook active or passive

• Increase of more than 200% compared to 2009

• Decrease of MySpace, StudiVZ and FlickR

• „QR Code“-, „Twitter“-, „Xing“-, „Dropbox“- and „Etherpad“-User use

Facebook daily per 100%

• Facebook is part of daily student life

http://www.flickr.com/photos/svenwerk/858381180

Discussion

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitsu/404092967/sizes/o/

• Freshmen are well equipped - over years now

• Comprehensive Internet access; trend to mobile access

• Communication through Web technologies is standarized

• Web competence means mainly Wikipedia, YouTube, E-Mail and

Facebook

• Facebook Usage influences the decrease of other platforms (Myspace,

FlickR, ...)

„The long-term study shows that students use so called Web 2.0 applications - it‘s

just media for them. Facebook is primarily a

communicaton medium, so it will influence our

communication and collaboration behaviour“

Graz University of Technology

SOCIAL LEARNINGComputer and Information Services

Graz University of Technology

Martin Ebner

http://elearning.tugraz.athttp://elearningblog.tugraz.at

http://twitter.tugraz.at

Slides available at: http://elearningblog.tugraz.at

mebner