Distance Students' Readiness for Social Media and Collaboration

Autor/inn/en	Poellhuber, Bruno; Anderson, Terry
Titel	Distance Students' Readiness for Social Media and Collaboration
Quelle	In: International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 12 (2011) 6, S.102-125 (24 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1492-3831
Schlagwörter	Expertise; Social Integration; Distance Education; Questionnaires; Educational Technology; Gender Differences; Mass Media Role; Mass Media Use; Social Networks; Network Analysis; Web 2.0 Technologies; Foreign Countries; Individual Differences; Age Differences; Readiness; College Students; Student Attitudes; Student Characteristics; Social Attitudes; Technology Uses in Education; Interest Inventories; Canada + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Expert appraisal; Soziale Integration; Distance study; Distance learning; Fernunterricht; Fragebogen; Unterrichtsmedien; Geschlechterkonflikt; Mediennutzung; Social network; Soziales Netzwerk; Netzplantechnik; Ausland; Individueller Unterschied; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Collegestudent; Schülerverhalten; Social attidude; Soziale Einstellung; Technology enhanced learning; Technology aided learning; Technologieunterstütztes Lernen; Interest profile; Interessenprofil; Kanada
Abstract	In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in the use of social networking tools (e.g., Facebook) and social media in general, mainly for social purposes (Smith, Salaway & Caruso 2009). Many educators, including ourselves, believe that these tools offer new educational affordances and avenues for students to interact with each other and with their teachers or tutors. Considering the traditional drop-out rate problem documented in distance courses (Rovai, 2003; Woodley, 2004), these tools may be of special interest for distance education institutions as they have potential to assist in the critical "social integration" associated with persistence (Sweet, 1986; Tinto, 1975). However, as distance students are typically older than regular on-campus students, (Bean & Metzner, 1985; Rovai, 2003), little is known about their expertise with social media or their interest in harnessing these tools for informal learning or collaborating with peers. To investigate these issues, an online questionnaire was distributed to students from four large Canadian distance education institutions. A systematic sampling procedure lead to 3,462 completed questionnaires. The results show that students have diverse views and experiences, but they also show strong and significant age and gender differences in a variety of measures, as well as an important institution effect on the student's interest in collaboration. Males and younger students scored higher on almost all indicators (past teamwork experience, cooperative preferences, attitudes toward technology, experience with social software, etc.). These age and gender differences should be interpreted cautiously, however, as they are based on self-reported measures. The limits of the study, as well as future developments and research questions, are outlined. (Contains 9 tables and 2 figures.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Athabasca University. 1200, 10011 - 109 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 3S8, Canada. Tel: 780-421-2536; Fax: 780-497-3416; e-mail: irrodl@athabascau.ca; Web site: http://www.irrodl.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10