welcome. social learning space supporting students articulating from fe to he by utilising social...
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome
Social Learning Space
Supporting students articulating from FE to HE by utilising social media technology
By Dawn Carmichael
Abertay University
Introduction
• Social Learning Space (SLS)• Tayside and Fife Articulation Hub funded• Innovative browser based web apps• Informed by Social Networking design
patterns• School of Engineering, Computing &
Applied Mathematics students
Rationale
• Students from Further Education to Higher Education challenges:– Social contacts (networks)– Background information (culture)– Mismatched subject knowledge & skills
(subject)• SLS Project seeks to address all three
Nature of project
• Five web applications including ‘FB Group App’
• The project:– Doesn’t seek to promote (or measure)
academic achievement– Does seek to promote social connections and
social learning• FB app evaluated by:
– Questionnaires, Interviews– Computer logged data
Project Resources – the app
Social Networks
• Isolation a reason for non-progression• Social Networks – social presence &
communication• Social Networking software:
– Sharing opinions and promoting reflection– Promote sense of academic community
• Facebook – 85%-99% student use• Increasing academic interest
Facebook pros & cons
• Pros– Promote digital literacy– Social presence– Promote reflection– Promote social capital
• Cons– Student privacy concerns– Time wasting
Academic Facebook
• Student preference for communication over email and VLEs
• High levels of Facebook checking > low engagement
• Commenting on content > high engagement
• Facebook groups – questioning, collaboration and feedback
Results – interviews with articulating
students• Facebook checked for communication
more often that email• Facebook not preferred overall to VLEs• Privacy demarcation between ‘groups’
and profiles • Facebook group app –
– Helped with integration– Preferred to other SLS apps
Results ‘FB Group App’ – Survey of articulating
students
Academic communityTutor Participation
Results ‘FB Group App’ – Survey of articulating
students• Correlation between engagement and
participation in using the app• No evidence of a causal relationship• Social capital & the app – an average of
36 more friends
Social Network Analysis & the App
• Before and after using the app– Degree significant increase– Betweeness significant increase– Eigenvector value no significant increase
• Increases may have occurred anyway• Future study into dynamic measures of
social capital
Results – Social Network Analysis
Tutor high betweeness > connectednessProvides connectivity for the graph
Conclusions
• The Facebook group app with ‘social tools’ promoted – Academic community– Social capital
• Tutor participation is important• Preserve student privacy by demarcation• Using social networks means meeting
students where they are
