The Application of Blogs and Facebook in Scaffolding the Internship Learning Process

CHAN, Randolph Chun HoFaculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Outline Literature reviews

Educational use of Blogging and Facebook

Research methods

Finding and Discussion Behavioral difference between blogs and

Facebook Perception of using blogs/Facebook for

learning Learning experience through blogs/Facebook

Literature reviews Social media technologies have become widely

employed in higher education (Maloney, 2007).

Compared with conventional learning, social media-supported learning encourages information sharing between learners and facilitate the exchange of ideas outside the classroom (Barczyk & Duncan, 2011).

Blogs and Facebook are two of the most commonly used social media applications for educational purposes (Blood, 2002; Churchill, 2009; Selwyn, 2009).

Blog A blog or “web log” is a web-based

application that allows users to publish content online (Cardus, 2006; Churchill, 2007).

The content of blog entries ranges from personal diaries, expressions of opinion, to sharing of knowledge and resources (Burgess, 2006; Carter, 2008).

Blogging and Learning Blog environments have been found to

encourage feedback by means of comments (Chu, Kwan, & Warning, 2012; Ellison & Wu, 2008).

It helped facilitate knowledge sharing among students, and built up a social context for collaborative learning (Chu & Kennedy, 2011).

Facebook Facebook has been considered as the

most commonly used social networking site (Wiley & Sisson, 2006).

It is an online social platform that allows users to connect and interact with their ‘friends’.

Facebook and Learning Facebook could enhance social integration

and promote positive learning outcomes as a result of peer interaction (Selwyn, 2009; McEwan, 2011).

It could support communications between learners who face common dilemmas, by allowing them to connect with each other through online networks (Selwyn, 2009).

Research Gaps The educational use of the two social

media tools has been increasingly recognized, as evident in recent research.

However, a well-structured comparison between blog and Facebook in scaffolding students learning is scarce.

Research Questions What are the students’ perceptions of

the learning processes with the use of blogs and Facebook?

How do blogs and Facebook differ in scaffolding students’ cognitive, reflective, social-collaborative, and affective engagements during internship?

RESEARCH METHODSMixed-method approach

Participants The participants consist of two groups of students

(n=73) from the Bachelor of Information Management (BScIM) program at the University of Hong Kong.

Group 1: Blogs (e.g. Xanga, Blogger, etc.)

• The first group of participants (n=53) comprise of three cohorts of students who enrolled in the years of 2006 (n=16), 2007 (n=16) and 2008 (n=21).

Group 2: Facebook

• The second group of participants (n=20) who were admitted in the year of 2010, used Facebook when they undertook their internship.

Data collection The participants had to response to a set

of structured and open-ended questions over the phone. evaluate the effectiveness of blogs/Facebook

as an online learning platform describe how they used blogs/Facebook for

the internship learning

Data collection The blog entries, Facebook posts and

comments were extracted from the online blogging system and Facebook in the end of each internship period for qualitative content analysis.

Blog and Facebook

Qualitative coding framework

• Positive emotions• Negative emotions• Affect and support

• Providing questions• Providing feedback

• Knowledge• Experience

• Information sharing• Knowledge

construction• Problem solving

Cognitive Reflective

AffectiveSocial-

collaborative

FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONStudents’ behavior, perception and experience of using blog/Facebook for internship learning

Behavioral difference between blog and Facebook users - 1

Blogging/posting behaviors

Blog users (n=53)

Facebook users

(n=20) Sig. Mann–

WhitneyMean (SD) Mean (SD)

Writing one’s own blog/post 3.21 (0.79) 2.70 (0.73) 0.02*

Reading classmates’ blogs/posts 3.04 (0.96) 2.85 (0.81) 0.38Notes: Participants answered according to a scale of 1-5: 1-‘Once a month or less’, 2-‘Once every two weeks’, 3-‘1-2 times a week’, 4-‘3-6 times a week’, and 5-‘Once every day or more’.*statistically significant at p < 0.05.

Behavioral difference between blog and Facebook users - 2

Notes: Participants answered according to a scale of 1-5: 1-‘Once a month or less’, 2-‘Once every two weeks’, 3-‘1-2 times a week’, 4-‘3-6 times a week’, and 5-‘Once every day or more’.* statistically significant at p < 0.05.

Commenting behaviors

Blog users (n=53)

Facebook users

(n=20) Sig. Mann–

WhitneyMean (SD) Mean (SD)

Receiving comments from classmates 1.96 (0.83) 2.65 (0.81) 0.03*

Receiving comments from supervisors 1.08 (0.27) 2.10 (0.97) <0.01*

Perception of using blogs/Facebook for learning - 1

Reading others’ blogs/posts during in-ternship is useful

Blogging/Posting facilitated information sharing

Blogging/Posting facilitated knowledge construction

Blogging/Posting is suitable for learning from others’ internship experience

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

FacebookBlog

Notes: Ratings are based on a 4-point Likert-type scale: 1-‘Strongly disagree’, 2-‘Disagree’, 3-‘Agree’, and 4-‘Strongly agree’.

Perception of using blogs/Facebook for learning - 2 The most common benefit claimed by

students was the ability to learn some general skills needed at workplace, e.g. interpersonal skills.

Students revealed that social media was also helpful when they faced a job specific problem as they could post their problem on the platform and their peers would share possible solutions to it.

Perception of using blogs/Facebook for learning - 3 Students also utilized the online platforms to

obtain information and learn about other organizations in terms of their peers’ work nature, job responsibilities and working environment.

Learning experience through Blogs/Facebook

• Positive emotions• Negative emotions• Affect and support

• Providing questions• Providing feedback

• Knowledge• Experience

• Information sharing• Knowledge

construction• Problem solving

Cognitive Reflective

AffectiveSocial-

collaborative

Learning experience through Blogs/Facebook - cognitive

  Blog entries (Mean)

Facebook posts (Mean)

Cognitive 5.66 3.65

Information sharing 1.7 1.4

Knowledge construction 2.3 0.8

Problem solving 1.66 1.45

Learning experience through Blogs/Facebook - cognitive

Retrievable and archival features of blogs (e.g. tags, blog archive) facilitate the discussion and co-construction of knowledge. makes the blog content

more easily accessible to blog owners and readers

Learning experience through Blogs/Facebook - reflective

 Blog entries

(Mean)Facebook posts

(Mean)

Reflective 5.24 25.35

Knowledge 3.19 10.6

Experience 2.06 14.75

Learning experience through Blogs/Facebook - reflective Facebook users showed a high degree of

engagement in metacognitive process of learning which involve the reflection of user’s knowledge/experience.

The wide popularity and user-friendly interface of Facebook allow it overtake blogs in instant and quick experience capture.

Learning experience through Blogs/Facebook – collaborative

  Blog entries (Mean)

Facebook posts (Mean)

Collaborative/social 0.51 6

Posting questions 0.19 1.3

Providing feedback 0.32 4.7

Learning experience through Blogs/Facebook - collaborative Participants recognized

that Facebook has more advanced group features. E.g. all messages posted

onto the group wall would generate group notifications and greater attention among the users.

It enhances communications and interaction between individuals, thereby facilitating the social-collaborative process of learning.

Learning experience through Blogs/Facebook - affective

  Blog entries (Mean)

Facebook posts (Mean)

Affective 4.96 9.15

Positive emotions 2.42 3

Negative emotions 1.57 0.6

Affect and support 0.98 5.55

Learning experience through Blogs/Facebook - affective Facebook was associated with greater

social and emotional support. Facebook users could read and respond

to each other’s postings by giving ‘Like’s. “Like represents a kind of

encouragement” “Like is the expression of concerns about

each other’s status”

Conclusion Students’ perception of using blogs and

Facebook during internship was found to be generally positive.

This research provides empirical evidence that supports the significance of blog and Facebook in pedagogical scaffolding during internship.

Conclusion Based on the functional difference

between blogging and Facebook shown in this study, educators can consider the roles of the two social media tools in scaffolding students’ learning so as to maximize the pedagogical benefits of the social media platform.

Thank you!