The Proceedings of the European Conference on Social Media ECSM 2014 University of Brighton Brighton, UK 10‐11 July 2014 Edited by Asher Rospigliosi and Sue Greener University of Brighton Brighton, UK
Copyright The Authors, 2014. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission may be made without written permission from the individual authors. Papers have been double‐blind peer reviewed before final submission to the conference. Initially, paper abstracts were read and selected by the conference panel for submission as possible papers for the conference. Many thanks to the reviewers who helped ensure the quality of the full papers. These Conference Proceedings have been submitted to Thomson ISI for indexing. Further copies of this book and previous year’s proceedings can be purchased from http://academic‐bookshop.com E‐Book ISBN: 978‐1‐910309‐28‐5 E‐Book ISSN: 2055‐7221 Book version ISBN: 978‐1‐910309‐28‐5 Book Version ISSN: 2055‐7213 CD Version ISBN: 978‐1‐910309‐30‐8 Published by Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited Reading UK 44‐118‐972‐4148 www.academic‐publishing.org
Contents Paper Title
Author(s)
Guide
Page
Page
No.
Preface
xiv
vi
Committee
xv
vii
Biographies
xxiii
xi
Knowledge Sharing Through Social Media in Higher Educa‐ tional Institutions of Saudi Arabia
Amal AlMana and Nesrine Zemirli
1
1
The Use of Social Media In Higher Education Learning: Swot Analysis of Using Social Media for Learning
Abdallah Al‐Shawabkeh and Andriew Lim
2
10
Egyptian Youth; Social Networking Sites and Civic Participa‐ tion
Mona Arslan, Passent Tantawi and Farid El Sahn
2
18
Virtual Risks of e‐Participation in Online Learning Environ‐ ments and Dialogue
Bob Barrett
3
26
Using Twitter for What? A Segmentation Study of Twitter Usage During Gezi Protests
Lemi Baruh and Hayley Watson
4
33
Who Wants Police on Social Media?
Saskia Bayerl, Kate Horton, Gabriele Jacobs1and Babak Akhgar
5
42
Exploring Non‐experts’ Preconceptions on the use of Crowdsourcing as an Innovative Tool
Christine Bernadas and Baptiste Hallier
6
50
How the Social Media Contributes to the Recruitment Process?
Roberto Boselli, Mirko Cesarini, Fabio Mercorio and Mario Mezzanzanica
7
57
Motivating Participation in Citizen Science
Anne Bowser, Yurong He, Dana Rotman, Jennifer Preece, Derek Hansen, Carol Boston, and Jen Hammock
8
64
9
72
The Small Business Social Media Web Presence: An Australian Stephen Burgess and Scott Bingley Snapshot Exploring User Behavior and Needs in Q & A Communities
Smitashree Choudhury and Harith Alani
10
80
Using and Creating Augmented Reality in Education
Jozenia Colorado and Patrick Resa
11
90
IT Based Communication in Professional Service Firms: the Long and Winding Road.
Ilenia Confente, Alessandro Zardini, and Lapo Mola
12
94
Social Media and Open Innovation – a Systemic Approach to Commercialisation of Socio‐economic Solutions
Leona Craffert, Kobus Visser and Johan Breytenbach
13
103
Customer Complaints and Service Recovery on Social Media: An Investigation into Barclays Bank Facebook Page
Nurdilek Dalziel
14
111
Using Social Networks in Smart City: Organizational Challenges, Synergies and Benefits
Renata Paola Dameri and Francesca Ricciardi
15
120
Conceptualising Brand Consumption in Social Media Community
Robert Davis , Inna Piven and Michael Breazeale
16
128
How to Develop Social Media Skills in Vocational Education
Christina Di Valentin, Andreas Emrich, Dirk Werth and Peter Loos
16
136
Filling the Gaps With a Virtual Learning Commons at an Online University
Jon Dron and Terry Anderson
17
144
Pro‐Am Writing: Towards a Framework For New Media Influence on Old Journalism
Andrew Duffy
18
152
i
Paper Title
Author(s)
Guide
Page
Page
No.
Combining Social Media and Collaborative E‐Learning for Developing Personal Knowledge Management
Tiit Elenurm
19
159
Civic Conversations and Citizen Engagement – A New Framework of Analysis for Web 2.0 Mediated Citizen Participation
Nick Ellison and Johanne Orchard‐ Webb
20
167
Using Social Media To Inform Policy Making: To Whom are we Listening?
Miriam Fernandez Timo Wandhoefer, Beccy Allen, Amparo Elisabeth Cano and Harith Alani
21
174
Comparative Analysis on Personal Learning Environment of Russian and Slovakian Students
Georgy Gerkushenko, Svetlana Gerkushenko, Olga Shabalina, Valeriy Kamaev, Alexander Davtyan and Marian Hostovecky
22
183
How Social Media's can Help Universities with Job Placements
Ginevra Gravili
23
193
Social Media Marketing – A Win‐win Situation?
Kerstin Grundén and Stefan Lagrosen
23
201
Children, Online Behavior and Organizational Studies
Hayley Henderson‐Martin
24
208
Social Media in Crisis Communication: What Can we Learn From Elite Sport?
Maria Hopwood and Hamish McLean
25
213
Perceptions of EFL Students on Educational Use of Facebook
Ilknur Istifci
26
219
Social Media for Informal Minority Language Learning: Exploring Welsh Learners’ Practices
Ann Jones
26
226
Students Perspectives on the Reliability of Academic Information Sharing Via Facebook Groups
Marina Kandroudi and Tharrenos Bratitsis
27
234
Social Media in Classroom Education or Let's Transfer Education into Cyberspace
Jana Kapounova and Zuzana Homanova
29
241
Facebook and the Changing Way we Speak
Andrea Kelz and Azra Hodic
29
249
Leadership, Leaderlessness and Social Media: The Case of the Occupy Movement
Amir Elmi Keshtiban
30
257
Using Social Media Interactions for Personalization and Adaptation in Digital Games
Johannes Konert
30
263
Social Network Services as Fiction Generating Platform and the Rise of Social Media Fiction
Eugenia Kuznetsova
31
271
The Digital Age: A Challenge for Christian Discipleship?
Bex Lewis
32
277
Using Social Media to Promote Local Culture and Development – Patzun Case Study
Jorge López‐Bachiller, Gilber Corrales and Elsa Estévez
33
284
Zero Moment of Truth: A new Marketing Challenge in Mobile Consumer Communities
Łukasz Łysik, Robert Kutera and Piotr Machura
34
294
Information Seeking and Sharing During a Flood ‐ a Content Analysis of a Local Government’s Facebook Page
Monika Magnusson
35
305
Social Media as an Influencer of Public Policy, Cultural Engagement, Societal Change and Human Impact
Sandra Moffett and Jose Santos
35
213
The Power of Social Media in Political Processes ‐ A Case Study of Politics in Pakistan
Darren Mundy and Amna Asmi
36
320
A Case Study of the Impact of Instructional Design on Blogging and Terms Networks in a Teacher‐Training Course
Minoru Nakayama, Amy Leh and Rowena Santiago
37
328
ii
Paper Title
Author(s)
Guide
Page
Page
No.
Uncovering the Value of Formative Assessment in the Wiki Projects of Early Childhood Student Teachers
Eugenia M.W. Ng
38
335
Getting New Professional Contacts in Foreign Markets Through Social Networking Sites
Aitziber Nunez‐Zabaleta , María‐Elena Olábarri‐Fernández and Sergio Monge‐Benito
39
342
Issues of Using Information Communication Technologies in Higher Education
Paul Oliver and Emma Clayes
40
349
Ranking the Authenticity of Social Network Members
Dan Ophir
40
359
Learning From Others Mistakes: How Social Media Etiquette Distorts Informal Learning Online
Nicola Osborne
41
369
The Using of Social Media Platform in Modern Journalism Education
Dali Osepashvili
42
378
Behavior Patterns for Romanian Users on Facebook
Corina Pelau, Stelian Stancu and Alexandra Maria Constantin
43
388
Is There a Role for Social Media in Enhancing Environmental Citizenship? Lessons From a UK Case Study
Monica Pianosi, Richard Bull and Martin Rieser
43
394
Alternate Visualisations of the Diffusion of Innovations Framework
Kiru Pillay and Manoj Maharaj
44
403
Crowdsourcing Design and Citizen Science Data Using a Tabletop in a Nature Preserve
Jenny Preece, Kazjon Grace, Carol Boston, Mary Lou Maher, Tom Yeh and Abigale Stangl
45
413
A Massive Open Online Courses Odyssey: A Confessional Account
Alejandro Ramirez
46
421
How Facebook Led us to Love IT: Student‐Led Support in an Undergraduate Business Course
Martin Rich
46
428
Fact Checking the Fact Checkers: Online Verification Organizations and the Search for “Truth”
Kenneth Rogerson
47
434
The use of Facebook and Twitter During the 2013‐2014 Protests in Ukraine
Alexander Ronzhyn
48
442
Social Media: How Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises Perceived and Used Them?
Andrée Roy and Claude Dionne
49
449
The Importance of Social Media for Validating University Brands
Richard Rutter, Fiona Lettice and Stuart Barnes
49
456
Application of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions in Social Networking
Char Sample and Andre’ Ara Karamanian
50
466
Social Media in Russian Higher Education
Daniyar Sapargaliyev
50
474
Implementing Facebook in University Learning: Ukrainian Case Study
Iryna Sekret
51
478
Social Media Marketing Analysis: New Metrics From Relational Sociology?
Paola Signori and Chiara Grosso
52
488
Social Media and E‐Health Development in Lithuania
Aelita Skaržauskienė and Rūta Tamošiūnaitė
53
497
An Examination of the Nexus Between Social Media, Relationship Marketing and Market Research and their Influence on Customer Satisfaction, in the ICT Sector in India.
Thelma Solomon, Raja Peter and Barbara Crump
54
504
iii
Paper Title
Author(s)
Guide
Page
Page
No.
Enabling the Casual Entrepreneur: Artists and Artisans on Social Media
Kardi Somerfield
54
512
Shaping the Future through Cybernetic Approaches of Social Media Monitoring
Sebastian Stiehm, Florian Welter, Anja Richert and Sabina Jeschke
55
524
Fostering Academic Success Through the Use of Social Networks in chools
Marjolaine St‐Pierre
56
533
Twitter based Analysis of Public, Fine‐Grained Emotional Reactions to Significant Events
Martin Sykora, Thomas Jackson, Ann O’Brien, Suzanne Elayan and A. von Lunen
57
540
The Social Media Canvas and Its Use in Strategy Formulation
Greg Tallent
58
549
Trip Advisor as a Tool of Customer Relationship Management of Turkey’s Hotels
Nezahat Hanzade Uralman, Deniz Akcay and Banu Dayanc Kiyat
59
533
Investigating Civic Engagement Behaviour on Facebook from a Social Capital Perspective
Anne Marie Warren, Ainin Sulaiman and Ismawati Noor Jaafar
60
561
Social Media Initial Public Offerings (IPOs): Failure and Success Factors
Piotr Wiśniewski
61
571
An Empirical Phenomenological Investigation into the Infotainment Blogosphere: A Case Study of ‘Beautifulnara’ in Malaysia
Ira Normardiana Yusof, Azizul Halim Yahya and Raja Putri Nadiah Raja Ahmad
61
578
Ontology of Brand Messaging Domain in Social Media Communication
Ligita Zailskaitė‐Jakštė and Robertas Damaševičius
62
584
The Antecedents of Social Media Adoption
Izzal Asnira Zolkepli and Yusniza Kamarulzaman
63
594
PHD Research Papers
65
603
Youth’s Political Participation In Pakistan: Current Behaviour and Emerging Trends
Fahad Asmi, Amna Asmi and Darren Mundy
67
605
Analysis of the Facebook Privacy Settings of Young People With an Emphasis on the Czech Republic and France
Radim Cermak, Zdenek Smutny and Vaclav Janoscik
68
613
Measuring the E‐Word of Mouth Reputation and its Influence on Financial Performance
Eleftheria (Roila) Christakou and George‐Michael Klimis
68
622
From Demos to Data: Social Media, Software Architecture, and Public Space
Jennifer Forestal
69
628
Networked Learning Based on Digital Curation
Rivka Gadot and Ilya Levin
70
635
Establishing Marketing and Changing an Organizational Culture through Social Media: A Pilot Study of a Hotel Organization
Karin Högberg
71
643
Social Media Based Value Creation in Innovation Community in Mechanical Engineering Industry
Sanna Ketonen‐Oksi, Jani Multasuo, Jari J. Jussila and Hannu Kärkkäinen
72
649
Studying Social Micro‐worlds as Personal Learning Environments
Andrei Kojukhov and Ilya Levin
73
657
Radio 2.0: How Facebook is Enhancing Audience Participation for Irish Radio Audiences
Daithi McMahon
74
665
Do Technology‐Based Entrepreneurs Perform Better in a Networked Environment?
Carla Riverola and Francesc Miralles
75
671
76
681
Social Networks: Communication Channel or Compliance‐Risk Alexander Rossudowski and Stephanie Minefield Teufel iv
Paper Title
Author(s)
Guide
Page
Page
No.
Big Data, Little Information – Extending the Data Warehouse for Social Media Analysis
Michael Schulz
76
688
Social Media Embeddedness for Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises
Ramona Statache, David Watts, Ernesto Compatangelo and Colin Hunter
77
696
Seeking and Sharing Research Information on Social Media: a 2013 Survey of Scholarly Communication
Yimei Zhu
78
705
Work in Progress papers
81
713
Social Media in the US 2008/2012 Presidential Elections
Stanley Adjabeng
83
715
The Implementation Of Knowledge Management In Sustainable Procurement Using Social Network Analysis
Emelia Akashah P.Akhir, Robert T.Hughes and Karl Cox
83
721
Wisdom of Crowds or Mob Mentality
Catherine Beaton and Ronald Vullo
84
724
The SHU Social Media CoLab: Developing a Social Media Strategy Through Open Dialogue and Collaborative Guidance
Sue Beckingham, Alison Purvis and Helen Rodger
84
728
Evaluating Academic Conference Discursive Development using Twitter and the Blogosphere
Sally Eaves
85
731
Social Recruiting: Towards a State‐Of‐The‐Art Synthesis
Mariam El Ouirdi Asma El Ouirdi, Jesse Segers and Erik Henderickx
86
734
Social Media Guidelines and Policies: an Exploratory Study
Asma El Ouirdi, Mariam El Ouirdi, Jesse Segers, Erik Henderickx
86
737
Towards a Social Data Enriched Search Algorithm for Business Tobias H. Engler, Michael Schulz, Intelligence Portals Patrick Winter
87
740
Building Trust in Government through Social Media: An InterPARES Trust Research Project
Patricia Franks and Mark Driskill
88
743
Understanding the Implications of the Use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Web Based Learning Environments in University Learning and Teaching
Siddharth Nakul Gulati and Matthew Tingchi Liu
88
748
LinkedIn as Part of the Daily Work of Professionals
Hilkka Merisalo‐Rantanen, Petri Hallikainen and Antti Syväniemi
89
752
Social Networks’ (SNs) Effect on SMEs: Focused Study on Saudi Arabia (S.A)
Hanaa Namankani, Hossam Ismai and Matthew Tickle
90
755
Content Quality and User Ranking in TurboTax AnswerXchange
Igor A. Podgorny and Todd Goodyear
91
758
Is the use of Social Media Within the NHS Supported by the 50 Plus Workforce and Used as a Development Tool?
Lydia Selby
91
763
Impressions of Social Media use by Dutch aid and dDevelopment Organisations
Anand Sheombar
92
768
Innovative Collaboration and Communication Models: From Social Networking to Social Enterprise : An example from Porsche’s newly introduced digital working environment Carrera Online
Elena Stefanova
93
773
v
Preface These Proceedings represent the work of contributors to the inaugural European Conference on Social Media, ECSM 2014, hosted in its first year by the University of Brighton, UK. The Conference Chair is Asher Rospigliosi and the Programme Chair is Dr Sue Greener, both from Brighton Business School, at the University of Brighton. The conference will be opened with a keynote address by Dr Farida Vis from the University of Sheffield in the UK who will be talking about the evolution of research on social media. David Gurteen, well known for the Gurteen Knowledge Community, will give a presentation on Towards Smarter Socially Mediated Conversations and John Traxler, Professor of Mobile Learning from Wolverhampton University in the UK will present Taking Education into Cyberspace – Chaos, Crisis and Community. The scope of this inaugural conference was deliberately intended to be broad as we were keen to see the range of disciplines undertaking social media research. We have certainly not been disappointed – with mini tracks on e‐Participation and De‐ mocracy, Social Network Analysis, Social Media Innovation and Social Informatics. In addition tracks have evolved showing the current trend in social media research and areas include social media and marketing, the use of Facebook and social me‐ dia in business – to name just a few. With almost 200 people joining this first annual event, we look forward to ECSM becoming a valuable platform for individuals to present their research findings, display their work in progress and discuss conceptual advances in many different branches of social media. At the same time, it provides an important opportunity for members of the social media research community to come together with peers, share knowledge and exchange ideas. With an initial submission of 266 abstracts, after the double blind, peer review process there are 76 academic papers, 14 PhD Papers and 16 Work in Progress papers in these Conference Proceedings. These papers reflect the truly global nature of re‐ search in the area with contributions from some 35 countries including Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Macau, Ma‐ laysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK and the USA. Papers published in the conference proceedings will be considered for further development and publication by a number of journals, including the Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management, The Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society (JICES), The International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments and The International Journal of Web Based Communities. Additionally extended/advanced versions of papers presented in the mini track on e‐ Participation and Democracy will be considered for publication in The International Journal of Electronic Governance. We wish you a thought‐provoking and lively conference. Dr Sue Greener Programme Chair and Asher Rospigliosi, Conference Chair July 2014
vi
The Using of Social Media Platform in Modern Journalism Education Dali Osepashvili I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU),
[email protected]
Abstract: The usage of social media platform, especially Facebook, is increasing daily in higher educational system. The purpose of this paper is to present the role of social media in modern Georgian journalism education (Case of I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University) and to determine how effective the usage of social media and e-learning as an educational tool during the journalism studies is. This study examines students’ attitudes towards using two online platforms - Moodle and Facebook. Quantitative method - survey among journalism students was used as a research method (n=121). The survey showed that Facebook’s closed groups are more popular among students than MOODLE platform and social media is very popular as a supplementary instrument during the learning and teaching process. Keywords: Social Media, Blended Learning, Facebook, e-learning, Moodle, Journalism Education, Computer-mediated Communication
1. Introduction The usage of social media platform is increasing daily in higher educational system. Online platforms, as social media tools as well as e-learning methods are actively being used especially, in journalism education. Based on knowledge management, modern journalism education cannot be imagined without digital technologies and it can be stated that the role of E-learning is of immeasurable - importance. Though, of course, it does not replace traditional learning, it only diversifies and perfects teaching processes (Osepashvili, D. 2010); “Technology should not and will never replace education, but assist educational practice, improve teaching efficiency, and enhance student learning experiences” (Liu,Y., 2010,). Technologies are mediators between students and lecturers. “ICTs can enhance the quality of education in several ways: by increasing learner motivation and engagement by facilitating the acquisition of basic skills, and by enhancing teacher training. ICTs are also transformational tools which, when used appropriately, can promote the shift to a learner-centered environment“ (Tinio, 2003). Computer-mediated learning has already been implemented at TSU (I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. MOODLE platform was launched 5 years ago (Spring Semester 2009) and some journalism courses were prepared on this platform e-learning.tsu.ge. But over the last 2-3 years Facebook as an informal and supplementary educational tool became popular among students and teachers. There are a lot of journalism courses which have special Facebook groups. I am one of the pioneers who used MOODLE at TSU and at present beside this, I am using social media in teaching processes, especially Facebook because students require this. The purpose of this paper is to present the role of social media in modern Georgian journalism education on the example of Tbilisi State University. This aim is interesting parallels of using LMS in teaching and learning processes. Accordingly, this study examines student’s attitudes towards using two online platforms - Moodle and Facebook in order to determine how effective the usage of social media and e-learning as an educational tool during the journalism studies is. In the next part of this paper literature review, research questions and hypothesis will be presented. Then research method will be described and main research findings will be presented. In the final part discussions and conclusions of this research will be given.
2. Literature Review Facebook, which is a popular social network site, is the most commonly used. It was founded by Harvard students, by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends in 2004. The purpose of Facebook was to allow university students to create and maintain social ties which were relevant to the university experience (Ross et al. 2009; Dogruer et al, 2011, etc). According to Voorn, R.J. and Kommers, P., the potential of social media as a facilitating tool to achieve high level learning results was presented in literature and was further recognised in a UNESCO policy document (Voorn, and Kommers,, 2013; Kommers, 2011).
378
Dali Osepashvili There are various studies in recent years, which consider social media as an informal educational tool in higher educational system. Especially Facebook is the object of such studies because of the popularity of this social network in the world. Why do students use Facebook? What is the motivation for using it? – This topic is discussed in some researches (Ross, et al, 2009; Dogruer, N., et al, 2011; Cheung, Ch., Chiu, P. Lee, M, 2011; Deng, L. Tavares, N. 2013; Petyrovich. N. et al.2014; etc). Such aspects as social communication (maintaining interpersonal relationships and social enhancement), information exchange, and entertainment value all appear to be significant motivations for Facebook users (Hurt et al. 2012; Cheung, Chiu, & Lee, 2010; Madge et al. 2009; etc.). Facebook provided an excellent platform to run a hybrid inperson/online courses (LaRue, 2012). According to Liu: “There are mainly two ways to use of social media tools for educational purpose. One way is to integrate social media tools into the current educational system as a teaching and learning resource to assist the process of curriculum delivery... Another way is to use social media as a parallel learning channel to compliment current curriculum delivery and to extend the learning environment...” (Liu, Y.2010). As other researchers mentioned, despite a lot of discussions in recent years, questions related to the role of social and new media technologies in teaching and learning still remain. (Hurt, N. Moss, 2012). Researchers mention positive, as well as negative sides of using Facebook in higher education. Using of Facebook has many advantages in higher educational system. Most students agree that the advantages are: it’s convenient, easy to use, instant interaction is possible. The only disadvantage is that it’s too open to public (Saikaew, Krutkam and et al, 2011). Other researchers mentioned other disadvantages. Facebook as a distractive is discussed in some research (Madge et al, 2009; Wise et al, 2011 etc.). Facebook cannot compete with other CMS in grading, assignment uploading and online testing (Loving, and Ochoa, 2011). Some researchers found out that the users of “Facebook” had significantly lower GPAs (Kirschner and Karpinski, 2010). Facebook is so actively used that it can be said, that it competes with e-learning tools, such a Blackboard; MOODLE and other LMS (Learning Management System) platforms. There are some comparative studies on this topic. For example, Facebook & Blackboard (Parslow, P., 2008); The Portuguese researchers studied MOODLE & Facebook (Patrao, C., Figueredo, A. 2011; Petrovich, N., Jeremic, V., et al, 2013; Petrovich, N., Jeremic, V., et al, 2014; Deng. L., Tavares, J.,. 2013) etc. In addition, compared with Facebook – which is an effective tool for students to discuss with each other about their learning, CMS (course management system like Blackboard, Moodle etc.) is more directly involved in the learning process, providing an online learning environment that allows an instructor to post course content on the Web (Madge et al., 2009; Mendez et al., 2014). This study is an attempt to compare the usage of MOODLE and. Facebook in journalism educational system of Georgia, for example, at Tbilisi State University.
3. Research Hypotheses Although TSU has MOODLE platform and some journalism courses are based on this platform, Facebook groups are more popular among students. 4.
Research Questions
RQ1. How frequently Moodle platform and Facebook groups in journalism and mass communication study courses are used? RQ2. What kind of activities of Facebook and Moodle courses are used during journalism and mass communication teaching process? RQ3. Which is more popular among journalism and mass communication students of TSU – e-learning platform on Moodle or Facebook groups?
379
Dali Osepashvili
5. Methods 5.1 Data collection This study aims to determine and compare how effective the usage of social media and e-learning as an educational tool during the journalism studies is. This paper examines student’s attitudes towards using two online platforms - Moodle and Facebook. Quantitative method - survey among journalism students was used as a research method.
5.2 Instrument An electronic survey was conducted in March, 2014 among journalism and mass communication department students at TSU (I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University). The questionnaire included closed, multiple choice questions as well as open ended questions. The questionnaire consisted of 3 parts. The first part referred to Facebook usage; the second – Moodle platform usage and the third – demographical data of respondents (see Appendix). The first and as second part had included the same 10 questions.
5.3 Participants The online survey was created using gmail forms and this web-link (docs.google.com/forms/d/1bOAS1akxGb8FL-OPlEk5WmNYFgz2j9pAg7LaOvNGSpI/viewanalytics) was emailed to 150 students as a personal mail or Facebook message and responses were received from 121 students (n=121). In this survey, 89 BA level, as well as 32 MA level journalism students participated (As a whole there are 600 students in Journalism and Mass Communication department at TSU).
6. Main Findings Respondents profile: 78 % (n=96) of the questioned respondents were women and 22 % (n=25) men. Table 1: Gender of respondents: Female
96
78%
Male
25
22%
Table 2: Study Level of respondents: 70% (n=89) of the questioned respondents were Journalism students BA level and 30% (n=22) MA Students. BA Students
89
70%
MA Students
32
30%
Table 3: In how many courses do you use MOODLE and Facebook group? Number of Courses 1 2 3 and more I never used
Number of Respondents MOODLE 59 31 16 15
Facebook 5 15 98 3
380
Percentage of Respondents MOODLE 49% 27% 14% 12
Facebook 4% 12% 81% 2%
Dali Osepashvili
150 98
100
59
50
31 5
0
1
27
15 2
15
MOODLE 3
I never used
3 and more courses
Figure 1: Number of Courses Table4: How frequently do you use MOODLE and Facebook for study purpose? Frequency of Using
Number of Respondents MOODLE 3 1
Several times a day Once a day
Percentage of Respondents
Facebook 63 13
MOODLE 3% 1%
Facebook 52% 11%
Once a week
39
0
34%
-
Several times a week seldom never
25 31 17
40 5 0
22% 27% 15%
33% 4% -
80
63
60
39
40 20 0
31
25 3
1
13
27
22
17 15
MOODLE Facebook
0
several once a once a several seldom never times a day week time in a day week
Figure 2: Frequency of Using Table 5: Do you use MOODLE or Facebook group for obtaining information referring to these study courses? Obtaining information referring to these study courses
Yes No
Number of Respondents
Percentage of Respondents
MOODLE
Facebook
MOODLE
Facebook
59 57
114 33
51% 49%
96% 4%
381
Dali Osepashvili Table 6: Do you use MOODLE or Facebook group for uploading home tasks? Uploading home tasks
Yes No
Number of Respondents
Percentage of Respondents
MOODLE
Facebook
MOODLE
Facebook
82 33
74 44
71% 29%
63% 37%
Table 7: Do you use discussing forums with course mates or professors for study purpose? Discussing study forums
Yes No
Number of Respondents
Percentage of Respondents
MOODLE
Facebook
MOODLE
Facebook
7 106
67 50
6% 94%
57% 43%
Table 8: Do you use MOODLE or Facebook Chat with course mates or professors? Using the Chat
Yes No
Number of Respondents MOODLE 1 120
Facebook 100 21
Percentage of Respondents MOODLE 1% 99%
Facebook 83% 17%
Table 9: In your opinion, what are the advantages of MOODLE or Facebook as supplementary tools for study purpose? Advantages
Possibility of collecting study resources on one platform Possibility of uploading home tasks
Number of Respondents MOODLE 77
Facebook 70
Percentage of Respondents MOODLE 36%
Facebook 21%
81
0
38%
-
Possibility of testing
51
0
24%
-
Possibility of discussing forums
0
43
-
13%
Sharing texts, links , photos or videos with others Interactivity
0
89
-
27%
0
49
-
15%
Reinforcing communication ability
0
50
-
15%
Entertaining
0
18
-
5%
other
5
10
2%
3%
Table 10: In your opinion, what are the disadvantages of MOODLE or Facebook as supplementary tools for study purpose? Disadvantages
It takes a lot of time
8
Number of Respondents MOODLE -
Facebook 63
Percentage of Respondents MOODLE
Facebook 50%
-
38
It is less interactive
61
-
43%
-
Does not have the function of sharing other
61
-
43%
-
21
24
15%
19%
382
32%
Dali Osepashvili Table 11: In your opinion, how important the usage of MOODLE or Facebook in teaching processes is? Importance of using Facebook in Education
MOODLE
or
Number of Respondents
1 2
MOODLE 12 23
3
32
30
28%
25%
4
30
49
26%
42%
5
17
26
15%
22%
60
0
MOODLE 11% 20%
Facebook 2% 9%
49
40 20
Facebook 2 11
Percentage of Respondents
23 12
32 30
30
11
26 17
MOODLE
2
1
2
3
4
5
Figure 3: Importance of using MOODLE or Facebook in Education
7. Discussion According to the results of this research, the frequency of using Facebook for educational purposes is higher than MOODLE platform. 81 percent of questioned students have 3 and more study courses on a Facebook groups while only 14 percent of respondents have 3 and more study courses on e-learning portal. It may be explained by the fact that most of these Facebook courses have mostly communicational purposes to spread some information about this study subject while the main goal of MOODLE based courses is to upload home tasks, study resources and organize testing. As students mentioned in open ended questions it would be better if professors used academic forums more actively on Facebook groups as well as on Moodle platform. As for the frequency of using Facebook during the day, 52 percent of respondents use it several times a day and 11 percent, once a day while as a previous research showed, 55 percent of students visited this site at least once a day (Dwyer et al. 2007) According to this research results, most of the journalism students at TSU think that the usage of Facebook as a supplementary tool for teaching process is more important than e-Learning platform based on MOODLE. The students’ assessment should be explained by so called Facebook ‘effects’: its interactive, communicative, entertaining etc. which are its advantages. As the questioned students emphasized in open ended questions, Facebook group has a lot of advantages. It’s more effective, more convenient, easier to use and a more vivid form because of instant interaction. These groups help them and learning process becomes more interesting and improved. First of all, they obtain information referring to study courses. 96 percent of questioned student think so; 83 percent of respondents use Facebook chat as a synchronal communication with professors or course mates. Besides, as students mentioned in additional open ended questions, Facebook is very useful and important, because of its sharing function. Journalism students can share and spread their media products not only among Facebook group member but also via social media.
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Dali Osepashvili MOODLE is a less vivid form and almost excludes interactivity. Despite this, MOODLE is as useful tool as social media. MOODLE has its own advantages – as some questioned respondents mentioned in open ended questions, besides testing, home task module and possibility to collect all study recourses together, is more comfortable, because its availability in any time. In some organizations, especially, in state institutions social networking during working hours is forbidden and accordingly, students who are employed there can’t have access to Facebook study group. What are the disadvantages of using social media for educational purpose? As students mentioned in open ended questions, Facebook sometimes distract them from learning processes. As 52 % of questioned students think, it requires a lot of time. They become so addicted to social network that very often during the whole day they even check their Facebook account via mobile phone. But this issue, how frequently students use mobile phones for educational purpose is another topic of our future research. The limit of this research was only to determine the students’ attitudes toward the usage of Facebook and MOODLE platform. For further research it will be interesting to study professors’ opinion about this topic too.
Conclusion Main research hypothesis which has been confirmed is that although TSU has MOODLE platform and some journalism courses are based on this platform, Facebook groups are more popular among students. 81 percent of questioned students have 3 and more study courses on a Facebook groups while only 14 percent of respondents have 3 and more study courses on e-learning portal; 52 percent of respondents use Facebook several times a day while the frequency of Moodle is 3 percent. According to the results of this research, social media platform, especially, Facebook groups are actively used by journalism and mass communications professors of TSU during the learning process as a supplementary instrument of teaching but in most cases it has communication purpose. As it was revealed by this study, these closed groups are more popular among students than MOODLE platform. Main finding which was revealed by this research is that the usage of Facebook in journalism education is useful because it gives students an opportunity to share and spreading their media production (videos, newspapers, magazines or some photos or articles) not only Facebok group members but also via social media users. As previous studies reveal despite the using social network sites in education, CMS (Course management system like of Blackboard, Moodle etc. dominated while according to our research in Georgian case, Facebook dominates. In my opinion and from my practical experience, despite such popularity of Facebook in modern journalism educational system in Georgia, MOODLE platform is not less useful and valuable compared with social media platforms (because of tests and home modules). It should not be considered as MOODLE vs. Facebook. They don’t exclude each other. Moreover, they complement each other and despite the challenges, it makes learning environment more interesting, more effective and more student-oriented. As a result of this research some practical recommendations appear: Usage of Social media tools are important during the learning and teaching processes of journalism courses but it is desirable to use Facebook not only for communicational but also for collaborative aim. It is especially desirable to use it more actively in practice based subjects;
It would be good if teachers used Moodle platform together with Facebook tools; It is desirable, to promote using of Moodle among teachers; because of its academic character it less distractive from learning processes; It would be better if academic discussions forums were used more actively on Moodle as well as on Facebok groups.
References Cheung, Ch., Chiu, P. Lee, M,.(2011) “Online social networks: Why do students use Facebook?’, Computers in Human Behavior 27, pp.1337-1343
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Dali Osepashvili Cole J., H.,(2008) Using Moodle: Teaching with the popular open source course management system, Second edition, Published by O’REILLY. Deng, L., Tavares, N. J., (2013) “From Moodle to Facebook” Exploring students’ motivation and experiences in omline communities” Computers & Education, N68. pp.167-176 Dogruer, N; Menevis, I., Eyyan. R., (2011) ‘What is the motivation for using Facebook?’, Procedia Social and Behavioural Sciences 15, pp.2642-2646 Dwyer, C.,Hiltz, S & Passerini, K. (2007). “Trust and privacy concern within social networking sites: A comparison of Facebook and MySpace”. AMCIS 2007 Proceedings. paper 339. Hurt, N., Moss, G. and at all. (2012) “The ‘Facebook’ Effect: College Students’ Perceptions of Online Discussions in the Age of Social Networking”. International Journal for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Vol. 6, No 2 (July 2012). Kirschner, P. A. & Karpinski. A. C. (2010) Facebook and Academic Performance. Computers In Human Behavior, 26, 12371245 LaRued, E. M (2012) ‘Using Facebook as course management software: a case study’ Teaching and Learning in Nursing, N7, pp.17-22 Loving, M and Ochoa, M.(2011) ‘Facebook as a classroom management solution’, New Library World, Vol.112. No.3/4 pp.121-130 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1915474 Accessed May 12, 2014. Liu,Y. (2010) “Social Media Tools as a Learning Resource”. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, Vol. 3 (1), 101-114 Madge, C., Meek, J., Wellens, J,.& Hooley, T.(2009) ‘Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university’ Learning, Media and Technology, 34 (2) pp.141-155. Mendez, J. P et al.(2014) “Integrating Facebook in the classroom: Pedagogical dilemmas” Journal of Instructional Pedagogies, Vol.13. pp.1-10 Mikulas, P. (2012).“Facebook in the External Communication of High Schools”. Journalism and Mass Communication, Sept. No. 9, pp.939-945 Osepashvili., D. (2010) “The first Results of Using of Multimedia forms in Journalism Educational System. How Web Changed Learning: from Personal Websites to LMS”. Proceedings of International Conference “From Higher Education to Innovation”. IHEPI 6-8 September, Budapest. pp. 355-363. Osepashvili., D. (2011) Media, Education, Analyzes. By “Universal Publishing”, Tbilisi; Osepashvili., D. (2011) “The Role of E-Learning in Modern Media Education”. International Conference ‘The Future of Education”, Florence, Italy, Proceedings are available on websites http://conference.pixelonline.net/edu_future/common/download/Paper_pdf/MLE06- Osepashvili.pdf Accessed February 12, 2014. Park, N. Kee, K. Valenzuela, S. (2009) |Being immersed in social Networking environment: Facebook groups, uses and gratifications, and social outcomes” Cyber Psychology & Behavior, Vol. 12, N 6. pp. 729-733 Parslow, P., Lundqvist, K. and et al. (2008) “Facebook & BlackBoard: comparative view of learning Environments”, University of Reading. 2008 centaur.reading.ac.uk/.../SSEConf2008_sis.. Accessed February 12, 2014 Patrao,C; Figueredo, (2011). A.D.“Education the new generation journalist: from Moodle to Facebook”. https://online.journalism.utexas.edu/2011/papers/Patrao2011.pdf Accessed February 12, 2014. Petrovich, N., Jeremic, V., and et al, (2014). ‘FACEBOOK Versus MOODLE in Practice”,. The Amer. Jrnl. of Distance Education, N28, pp.117-125. Petrovich, N., Jeremic, V., and et al, (2013). ‘FACEBOOK vs. MOODLE: WHAT DO STUDENTS REALLY THINK?; ICICTE 2013 Proceedings, pp. 413-421.http://www.icicte.org/Proceedings2013/Papers%202013/12-1-Petrovic.pdf Accessed February 12, 2014. Ross, C., Orr, E.S., Sisic, M, et al (2009). ‘Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use’. Computers in Human Behaviour, N25, pp.578-586 Saikaew, K. R. Krutkam, W. and et al. (2011). Using Facebook as a Supplementary Tool For Teaching and Learning. http://gear.kku.ac.th/~krunapon/research/pub/usingFB4Learning.pdf Accessed February 12, 2014 Tinio, V, (2003). ICT in Education, New-York Tiryakioglu, F., Erzurum, F. (2011) “Use of Social Networks as an Education Tool.” Contemporary Educational Technology, N 2(2), pp.135-150; Voorn, R.J.J. and Kommers, P.A.M. (2013) ‘Social media and higher education: introversion and collaborative learning from the student’s perspective’, Int. J. Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.59-73 Wise, L., Skues, J., Williams, B., (2011). ‘Facebook in higher education promotes social but not academic engagement’, Proceedings ascilite 2011. pp.1332-1342,Accessed May 24, 2014 http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/hobart11/downloads/papers/Wise-full.pdf
Appendix A block: 1. In how many courses do you use Facebook group?: 1 2 3 and more I never used
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Dali Osepashvili 2. How frequently do you use Facebook for study purpose? Several times a day Once a day Once a week Several times a week Seldom Never 3. Do you use Facebook group for obtaining information referring to these study courses? Yes No 4. Do you use Facebook group for uploading home tasks? Yes No 5. Do you use discussing forums with course mates or professors for study purpose? Yes No 6. Do you use Facebook Chat with course mates or professors? Yes No 7. In your opinion, what are the advantages of Facebook as a supplementary tool for study purpose? Possibility of collecting study resources on one platform Possibility of uploading home tasks: Possibility of testing: Possibility of discussing forums; Sharing texts, links, photos or videos with others; Interactivity; Reinforcing communication ability; Entertaining; Other. 8.In your opinion, what are the disadvantages of Facebook as supplementary tools for study purpose? It takes a lot of time; It can be accessible to others; It is less interactive; Does not have the function of sharing; Other 9. In your opinion, how important is to use Facebook in teaching and learning processes? 1 2 3 4 5 10. Would you like to add something? B block: 1. In how many courses do you use Moodle platform?: 1 2 3 and more I never used 2. How frequently do you use Moodle platform for study purpose? Several times a day Once a day Once a week Several times a week Seldom Never
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Dali Osepashvili 3. Do you use Moodle platform for obtaining information referring to these study courses? Yes No 4. Do you use Moodle platform for uploading home tasks? Yes No 5. Do you use discussing forums with course mates or professors for study purpose? Yes No 6. Do you use Moodle platforms chat with course mates or professors? Yes No 7. In your opinion, what are the advantages of Moodle platforms as a supplementary tool for study purpose? Possibility of collecting study resources on one platform Possibility of uploading home tasks: Possibility of testing: Possibility of discussing forums; Sharing texts, links, photos or videos with others; Interactivity; Reinforcing communication ability; Entertaining; Other. 8.In your opinion, what are the disadvantages of Moodle platforms as supplementary tools for study purpose? It takes a lot of time; It can be accessible to others; It is less interactive; Does not have the function of sharing; Other 9. In your opinion, how important is to use Moodle platforms in teaching and learning processes? 1 2 3 4 5 10. Would you like to add something? C block: Level of Study: BA MA Gender: Female Male
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