evaluating the quality of social media in an educational context kirsi silius, meri kailanto &...
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Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
Kirsi Silius, Meri Kailanto & Anne-Maritta TervakariHypermedia Laboratory
ITK’12 19.4.2012
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Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
Introduction• Social media in higher education
– With social media users can contribute content, change opinions and create communities for different needs
– Students are getting interested in the possibilities of social media (also in an educational context)
– Informal way of communication and co-operation for studying purposes and freetime
• Research questions– What makes the social media in an educational context of high
quality? What are the most critical features? – What students want when it comes to social media enhanced
learning systems?
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Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
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Background of the research• Hypermedia students, early adopters• TUT Circle, social networking site at TUT• Three phases
1. WeSQu evaluation tool and quality criteria for social media (Kailanto, 2009)
2. Pleasant charasteristics of social enhanced learning systems & Students’ motivations for using Social Enhanced learning systems, Case: TUT Circle (Silius et al. 2010, Annala et al. 2011)
3. Most and least important features in social media in an educational context
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
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1. phase: WeSQu evaluation tool and quality criteria for social media
• WeSQu evaluation tool (in finnish)
– Based on a former ARVO-tool, content updated and social media features updated through literature survey, over 400 questions in total
– evaluation process
– example image on the usage of the tool
• Quality criteria in social media, categories :
– Security and privacy– Motivating the user– Reliability of information
and users– Classification and
management of information– Accessibility
(Kailanto 2009)
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
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2. phase: What motivates students• Pleasant characteristics of social
enhanced learning systems (students, spring 2009)
– Added value should be clear– Quality depends on the community with
in the system– Focus on
– networking and social interaction– university related information
sharing – Study support– Connecting users with similar
interests (user profile)– Free and voluntary– Good usability, accessibility and
technical sustainability– Visually pleasant and trendy
• What motivates student to use social media enhanced learning systems in higher education (Case: TUT Circle)
– New features should be added bit by bit (simple system for new users)
– Suitable for promoting events for students
– Possibility to choose what information to put to the profile
– Follow friends’ events, content and profile
– Email about new features and content and content feeds in a user dashboard
– Like/dislike content –feature, listings of most popular content, users and actions
– RSS feeds– Possibility for anonymity
(Silius et al. 2010, Annala et al. 2011)
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
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3. phase: Most and least important features (1/2)
• Research frame:– Students were given a list of 89 features
gathered from previous phases – they chose ten most and least important
features (40 answerers)– Open ended questions about scope and
additional features needed
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
Most important• Easy to use• Possibility to
communicate and collaborate with other users
• Privacy and security issues
3. phase: Most and least important features (2/2)
Least important• Trendy to use• Reliability of
users/content• Additional features
– Rewarding active users publicly
– Email feeds– Geographical information
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
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3. phase: additional features succested
• Comparing state of learning compared to general learning goals
• Connecting to other users with same interests or doing same excersizes
• Creating students groups for study purposes• Interaction with other social media services• Easy to follow user’s own history (comments,
excersizes)
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
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Conclusion & Discussion• Students attitudes towards social media has changed during these
projects– Students wish to use social media more in the studying context not just
connecting with their friends– They are increasingly requiring web based tools for studying as well as
freely accessible course materials• Ease of use, added value, supporting communication, collaboration and
networking– connect students with similar interest – creating content together
• Privacy and security is important for technical students– Control over information, secure connections, allowing anonymity if
possible– Increased knowledge because of the study field and recent news
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
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Future challenges and research interests
• How to support students in their learning processes through social media
• How to evaluate the pedagogical aspects• What about students in non-technical fields, what
are their interests and attitudes towards social media enhanced learning systems?
• Are there more special educational features that should be taken into account in WeSQu evaluation tool
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
Thank you!
Contact informationKirsi Silius, [email protected] Kailanto, [email protected] Tervakari, [email protected]
Hypermedia Laboratoryhttp://www.tut.fi/hypermedia/en/
Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context
IEEE Educon 2011, Amman, Jordan 4.-6.4.2011
List of references• J. Annala, M. Mäkinen, P. Svärd, K. Silius and T. Miilumäki, “Social online
environment in promoting engagement in higher education,” SLS journal - Studies for the Learning Society. 2011.
Available online:www.versita.com/sls
• M. Kailanto, ”Yhteisöllisten verkkopalveluiden laadukkuuskriteerit (Quality Criteria in Social Media),” Master’s Thesis. Tampere University of Technology, 2009.
• K. Silius, T. Miilumäki, J. Huhtamäki, T. Tebest, J. Meriläinen and S. Pohjolainen, ”Students’ Motivations for Social Media Enhanced Studying and Learning,” in Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal (KM&EL), the Special Issue on ”Technology Enhanced Learning”, vol. 2, no. 1, Mar. 2010.
• K. Silius, M. Kailanto & A.-M.Tervakari “Evaluating the Quality of Social Media in an Educational Context.” International Journal of Emerging technologies in Learning, vol. 6, issue 3, 21-27.2011.
Available online: http://online-journals.org/i-jet/article/view/1732