Identifying learners personality in social network site (sns) among first-year undergraduate students based on online communication style

Abstract

Inonline learning, social network site (SNS) plays an important role because it provides an interesting platform for interaction among learners[43]. However, online students seem to have different personality characteristics than the students in the face to face classes. This research has been done to identify undergraduate learners’ personality in social network site (SNS)based on their communication style to help the educators or lecturers understand their students. The objectives of this research are; 1) To identify learners’ personality based on The Platinum Rule; 2) To identify patterns of communication styles personality based on The Platinum Rule in Social Network Site (SNS); and3 To identify similarity between learners’ personality and communication style in Social Network Site (SNS)[6][22]. 11 first year undergraduate students from one university were selected randomly as the respondents for this research. Questionnaire, online interaction activity via SNS and interview has been used as instruments for this research. The directive content analysis was used to analyze each respondent's personality. Findings from the survey instrument show that learners personality is not similar to their communication style in SNS. The results and findings obtained are expected to provide information for lecturers, to get to know their students better even without face to face interaction.