A framework of social-based learning interaction through social networking tool

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to develop a framework of social-based learning interaction through the use of social networking tool; Facebook. The sample for this study was Masters’ students of Educational Technology program. The data collection was done through two phases. Phase 1 involved 49 students who responded to the questionnaire, and phase 2 involved 11 students and 2 instructors who participated in one semester’s online interaction via Facebook. This research employed a pre-experimental design, which involved a one-group pretest-posttest to measure the improvement in students’ academic performance after going through online interaction via Facebook. A questionnaire was used to collect data about students’ perceptions of instructor-student interaction (ISI), student-student interaction (SSI) and students’ social presence (SP) while Facebook discussion group was used to collect interaction data among students and instructors. Questionnaire data were analyzed through means and standard deviations and Facebook transcripts were analyzed through frequencies of each investigated category. Next, the data mining decision tree technique was used to identify which SSI categories contributed to higher students’ grades and the association rule was applied to establish a social-based learning interaction framework. The findings of the questionnaire showed that students have high perceptions of ISI (μ= 4.06) and SSI (μ= 4.18) via Facebook. Moreover, students showed high perceptions of their SP when using Facebook for learning (μ= 4.15). Findings from Wilcoxon’s Signed Ranks Test indicated a significant improvement in students’ performance in test after going through interaction via Facebook, while the effect size test confirmed the large effect of the interaction via Facebook on students’ performance. The findings from the Facebook transcripts showed that the instructors mostly used facilitating discourse (FD) followed by direct instruction (DI). Instructional design and organization (IDO) was the least frequently used category by the instructors. On the other side, students tended more to deliver clarification (C) followed by the interpretation category. Moreover, students transmitted more support (S) than reflection (Ref) or replies (Rep) to others’ questions and asking questions (Q) compare to the Judgment (J) category; which was the least frequently used category. Noticeably, students declined to transmit conflict, assertion and consensus-building statements during their interaction via Facebook. Additionally, students tended to promote more interactive responses (IR) than cohesive responses (CR) or affective responses (AR) in their SP. However, data mining analysis using the decision tree technique showed that students need to transmit more clarification (C) and interpretation (I) categories of SSI in order to achieve grade A in their tests. The social-based learning framework suggested that the FD and DI categories of ISI are associated with the Rep, C and I categories of SSI and the IR category of SP to assist students’ learning and enhance academic performance.