Personal Learning

Social Media Self-Regulated Learning Research

Nada Dabbagh, Anastasia Kitsantas, Maha Al-Freih, and Helen Fake

Using Social Media to Develop Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) and Self-Regulated Learning Skills: A Case Study

Personal Learning

Social Media Self-Regulated Learning Research

Personal Learning

Social Media Self-Regulated Learning Research

Why Personal Learning Environments (PLEs)?

PLE

Institutional Learning Platforms

• LMS• Adaptive

Systems

Social Media/Web 2.0 Tools

• Openness• Wisdom of the crowd• User-generated content• Networking• Personal experiences

Chatti (2007): http://mohamedaminechatti.blogspot.com/2007/03/lms-vs-ple.html

LMS

PLE

Tools

Group-based

Learning

Goals

PLEs support self-directed and group-based learning, designed around each user’s goals, with great capacity for flexibility and customization. The term has been evolving for some time, but has crystallized around the personal collections of tools and resources a person assembles to support their own learning — both formal and informal. 

• NMC Horizon Report Wiki (2015)• http://horizon.wiki.nmc.org/

Personal+Learning+Environments

Personal Learning Environments

Self-directedLearningFormal

Informal

Learning

SRL & PLE ConnectionsPLEs require the development of SRL Skills (Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2012)

Socially Mediated & Networked

Learning

Information Management

Personal Goals

Individual Knowledge

Construction

Strategically Connecting Formal and Informal Learning

Self-Regulated Learning

Personal Learning

Environments Social Media

Purpose of the Current Study

Follow up on a quantitative study (N=87)• Likert & Open Ended Questionnaire• Likert style questions surveyed users about demographics,

technology experience, social media use.• Open ended questions explored in-depth aspects of use of

social media while developing a PLE and examine for evidence of SRL

• Question 9:• Brief description of a use

case scenario• Use of social media to

support the learning experience and achieve learning outcomes

• Included:• Nature & Scope of Project• Project Goals• Type of Social Media used

Purpose of the Current Study

Case Study

Case Study

Semi-structured InterviewsIntensity Sampling

of information rich cases

(n=11)

Methods

E-mail Solicitation Response (n=5)

Sample PLEs

“Currently completing Sloan-C certification in Administrative

Practices. Have used a combination of nearly all tools

listed”

“Participated in the Change11 MOOC Course length has been

almost a year now. Technologies that I used included blogging,

Facebook Group, Bb Collaborate, and RSS”

“I attended a conference that used multiple technologies to

enhance the learning and participation experience”

Goals

Task Strategies

Motivations

Self-Evaluation

Interview Protocol

Self-Monitoring

Next 5 questions focused on PLE Development

A hybrid method of thematic analysis incorporating both a data-driven inductive approach and a deductive a priori template of codes (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006).

Fereday, J., & Muir-Cochrane, E. (2006). Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: Ahybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5.

Analysis

Results Deductive Analysis

SRL Processes

Goal Setting

PD

Connection

Task Strategies

Context/Task dependent

Social vs. Individual tasks

Motivation

Intrinsic vs. extrinsic

SelfMonitoring

Intentional vs. unintentional

Self Evaluation

Tools vs. people

Results Inductive Analysis

Inductive Themes

Barriers/Challenges

Privacy concerns

Safety concerns

Digital Identity and Presence

Lurking vs. active

participation

Learning curve (Growth)

Context

Formal vs. informal

Social vs. professional

Public vs. Private

Goal-setting

Task Strategies

Motivation

Self-Evaluation

Conclusions

Self-Monitoring

Supported No Explicit Support

Help-seeking

Time Management

Conclusions• PLE requires the application of SRL skills:

• Goal setting and task strategies to organize resources into meaningful learning activities

• Self-monitoring and self-evaluation to evaluate the effectiveness of the PLE

• Social media’s ability to intrinsically motivate people to learn through community engagement and inter-group communication• Personalization becomes intrinsic to the learner

• Important themes related to how social media impacts SRL in PLE Development

• Continuing research needed to support formal PLE development & ensure purposeful and intentional use of social media for learning