WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SOCIAL MEDIA, SOCIAL CLASSROOM

Bowman, N.D.

2 April 2014

#UTSMW

Media and Interaction Lab

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Mass lectures are an historical and integral part of University experience…

• …that often leave students disengaged and disenfranchised

“…if the Professor has to use a mike, maybe that’s a sign…[of what?] ”

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Mass = one to many• Lecture = one-way

delivery

Join “Us”

Mass lectures, as with mass networks are incredibly efficient at distributing information, but their structure does not foster engagement.

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Common complaints:– Lack of cognitive engagement – Lack of “attendance”– Lack of P2P connectedness

• P2Peer & P2Professor

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• One way to supplement the mass lecture is to increase out-of-class contact, but:– Office hours & study sessions are

corporeally restrictive (and can be cost-prohibitive)

– e-mail is attentionally restrictive – Learning management systems are

administrative, anti-social, and “artificial” to the Millenial(?)

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Facebook might address these by providing a persistent classroom– a ‘ready space’ for

engagement and relationships

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Given the (a) persistent nature and (b) natural usage of Facebook, the platform might serve as– Classroom Commons (Scharwtz,

2010)

– “Third Places” (Steinkuehler & Williams, 2006)

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Sample– N = 321 students in

one mass lecture (195 male, 126 female; variety of majors)

– Voluntary enrollment in supplemental Facebook page

• Facebook Usage– 46% joined (n = 148)– Avg. of 6.88 posts (SD =

9.50, skew = 4.09); 1.88 responses per post

– Heavy positive skewed, suggesting a few ‘super-posters’ with many lurkers

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTSExam

ReviewAdmin Class-

Related Links

Peer Support

Humor Affect Unrelated Links

Instructor Support

Random

# posts 201 119 61 17 16 15 13 8 27

Avg # comments

per post3.60 2.47 1.46 3.41 2.74 .292 .288 .375 1.64

# posts initiated

by Instructor 64a60 39 0 3 1 5 8 13

Avg # of comments per post

3.66 1.22 .923 0 4.33 0 0 .375 2.92

# posts initiated

by students 137b59 22 17 13 14 8 0 14

Avg # of

comments per

post

3.54 3.71 2.00 3.41 1.15 4.39 3.75 0 .357

One student posted 81 times! 14 starts, 67 responses(final score = 81%)

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Cognitive learning – In-group: (M = 78.55%, SD

= 8.54) – Out-group: (M = 72.64%, SD = 13.60)

• “No” correlation between number of posts and grades – r = .158, p = .061

t(319) = 4.71, p < 001, eta-squared = .056

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Students’ had more positive dispositions toward – each other

• n = 133 “well-wishings”

– the course• One of 283 student posts expressed

negative commentary (test difficulty)• Of 17/96 negative comments about the

course in eSEI, none referenced technology

They also showed their Instructor a unique brand of … err … love.

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Students engaging class online scored higher on their exams– Increased contact with content– Increased contact with each other

• A ‘double-dose’ of (persistent) content, from multiple perspectives

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

SIX POSTS = SIX POINTS

• Quasi-experimental design does not account for self-selection– “rich get richer” effect?

• How accurate are the “super-users”– Invoking the jury theorem

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

TWEETING TO TEACHERS

• Twitter is useful for:– enhance

social presence in distance learning (Dunlap &

Lowenthal, 2009)

– Sharing knowledge nuggets “in the moment” (Skiba, 2008)

Twitter can get a great way to engage students when a “teachable moment” hits,

in particular one outside the classroom.

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

TWEETING TO TEACHERS

• Early sample of tweets from #WVUCOM425– Course on Computer-Mediated

Communication– N = 34 in class (n = 13 involved on Twitter) – Course also used ‘combined’ Facebook page

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

Can you identify the two-step flow process in the #wvucom425 map?

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

TWEETING TO TEACHERS

Pros

• Connects students in a meaningful way with extra-curricular content (and people)

• Sustains conversations beyond the classroom

• Data easy to trace

Cons

• Cognitive demanding (Bowman et al, 2013)

• Exposes students (and their thoughts) to the general public

• Open for “hijacking” • Data easy to trace

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

CONCLUSIONS

• Social media can serve as a supplemental course activity

• Aid in… (Keitzmann et al 2011)

– Sharing of content– Conversations around content– Groups generating new content

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

CONCLUSIONS“His facebook page is awesome! It helps with studying for the test and getting general questions answered fast ...You could tell that he loves the subject and enjoys teaching it too.”

~ Blind Student Eval

“Dr. Bowman would stay on almost all night helping students with last minute questions”

But also….

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

…BUT A WARNING!

• “Millenials” ≠ “teched” (Hargittai, 2014)

• Not all tech is seen as easy to use (Bowman et al., 2012)

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Nick Bowman, Ph.D. [CV]Twitter (@bowmanspartan)Skype (nicholasdbowman)nicholas.bowman@mail.wvu.edu

Media and Interaction Lab

http://comm.wvu.edu/fs/research/lab

WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITYDEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

COLLABORATORS

• Mete Akcaoğlu• Megan Bryand• Lindsay Carr• Matt Martin• Keith Weber• Martin Hawksey

• #WVUCOM105• #WVUCOM425• David Westerman• Elizabeth Cohen• Jaime Banks • Nicole Ellison