Web 2+, Students, and Learning

This is one of the items in the AUGUST 2008 edition of Trends in Higher Education (PDF), a bi-annual publication of SCUP; the category is "Technology":

Observation

There is no question that a large percentage of students engage in what can be loosely called online social networking activities. Initial results of an EDUCAUSE survey found that 89 percent of students have a presence on Facebook (Bytes From Lev, June 10, 2008,
• A study of university admissions departments conducted by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth found that 33 percent said they blogged for recruitment purposes and 29 percent had a presence in Facebook or MySpace (The San Diego Union Tribune, August 19, 2008).
• Sending emails is the least popular form of daily social communication, only 14 percent of 12-17 year-olds use emails, compared with 28 percent who send instant messages, 27 percent who use text messaging, and 21 percent who send messages via social networking sites (Pew Internet & American Life Project, December 19, 2007, “Teens and Social Media”).
• Half of the students in the EDUCAUSE survey used their preferred social networking site for communicating about course-related activities (Bytes From Lev, June 10, 2008).

Our Thoughts

Higher education needs to find ways to leverage learning within the boundaries of students’ engagement with social networking. Students are willing to use course management systems to keep up on grades and assignments, but they do their collaborative learning on Facebook (Campus Technology, May 28, 2008, ; Bytes From Lev, June 10, 2008).
• Multiplayer online games appear to have the capacity to encourage scientific thinking. A study of discussion posts on World of Warcraft found that 86 percent of them focused on sharing knowledge to solve problems and 58 percent used systematic and evaluative processes (eSchool News, August 19, 2008).
• A study of 16- to 18-year-old students who used social networking sites (77 percent) revealed that the respondents view technical skills as the top lesson they learn from using such sites. Following technical skills, students cited learning creativity, becoming open to diverse views, and communication skills as what they were taking away from their interactions (University of Minnesota News, June 24, 2008).
• The opportunity to help students understand the skills they are learning and practicing on social networking sites may be as important as using them directly for coursework or discussion (University of Minnesota News, June 24, 2008).