Latin American university students' perceptions of social networks and group work

Abstract

In recent years, the Internet and Web 2.0 tools have played a fairly pivotal role In university education. Social software tools have stood out In particular, with social networks attracting the most attention. In the field of education, social networks have gradually become a highly valuable didactic resource because the students who populate today's university classrooms also live out a large part of their lives on those networks. Student group work Is a cornerstone of the constructivist view of teaching, which can draw on resources of this type because, among other things, they foster socialisation, Information searching, the attainment of a common goal, etc. But, for all of this to happen, students must have positive attitudes towards group work. This article presents the results of a study on uni- versity students' level of knowledge of social networks and their perceptions of group work. It was conducted on a sample of students from Argentina, Spain, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The findings particularly show that the students held high perceptions of group work and of the opportunity to work online with fellow students from different geographical areas. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Headnote

Abstract

In recent years, the Internet and Web 2.0 tools have played a fairly pivotal role In university education. Social software tools have stood out In particular, with social networks attracting the most attention. In the field of education, social networks have gradually become a highly valuable didactic resource because the students who populate today's university classrooms also live out a large part of their lives on those networks. Student group work Is a cornerstone of the constructivist view of teaching, which can draw on resources of this type because, among other things, they foster socialisation, Information searching, the attainment of a common goal, etc. But, for all of this to happen, students must have positive attitudes towards group work. This article presents the results of a study on uni- versity students' level of knowledge of social networks and their perceptions of group work. It was conducted on a sample of students from Argentina, Spain, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The findings particularly show that the students held high perceptions of group work and of the opportunity to work online with fellow students from different geographical areas.

Keywords

Internet, social software, university students, social networks

Percepciones de los estudiantes universitarios latinoamericanos sobre las redes sociales y el trabajo engrupo

Resumen

En los últimos tiempos la formación universitaria ha estado bastante centrada en el entorno de In- ternet y de las herramientas de la web 2.0. Destacan dentro de este entramado las clasificadas como software social, siendo las redes sociales las gue más atención despiertan. En el ámbito educativo las redes sociales se han ido dibujando como un recurso de gran valor didáctico, dado gue los estu- diantes gue hoy habitan las aulas universitarias viven Inmersos en ellas. La visión constructlvlsta de la enseñanza, apoyada fundamentalmente en el trabajo en grupo de los estudiantes, puede alimentar- se a través de este tipo de recursos, debido a gue potencia, entre otros aspectos, la socialización, la búsgueda de Información, el logro de una meta común, etc.; pero para ello el alumno debe tener ac- titudes positivas para trabajar en grupo. En este trabajo, realizado con estudiantes de Argentina, Espa- ña, República Dominicana y Venezuela, exponemos los resultados obtenidos en un estudio sobre el grado de conocimiento gue tiene el alumnado respecto a las redes sociales y sus percepciones para trabajar en grupo. Entre los hallazgos encontrados destaca gue los estudiantes tienen una elevada percepción respecto al trabajo en grupo, junto con la posibilidad de trabajar online con compañeros gue no están en su misma zona geográfica

Palabras clave

internet, software social, universitarios, recles sociales

1. Theoretical approach

Nowadays, It Is practically Impossible to offer or gain a university education without It Involving In- formation and communication technologies (ICTs), as these affect all the variables that Intervene In the settings where learning takes place. These are not necessarily physical, as ICTs enable students to learn anywhere, anytime, and also to set their own pace of self-regulated learning (Alvarez, 2012). Thus, e-learnlng has become extraordinarily powerful.

However, many experiences carried out In e-learnlng mode have failed owing to the students' soclocognltlve Isolation (Anderson, Annand & Wark, 2005). In order to address that, collaborative group educational actions have been suggested as a means of helping to create environments that are more active and participatory, that overcome the Issues of Isolated or Independent work (Gros, González & Lara, 2009; Memnhos & Osorios, 2009), and that strengthen what Is now being referred to as'e-learnlng 2.0'(Cabero, 2012). From this perspective, collaborative work relies more and more on technologies, and particularly on social networks and virtual communities (Margués, 2011 ;Taya & Allenb, 2011 ; Callaghan & Bower, 2012; Da Mata, 2012).

Social network penetration Is such that the Social Media around the World report, which analysed their presence In 14 countries across all continents, points out that 72% of Internet users are members of at least one social network (ONTSI, 2011). And that presence Is also on the up In university education contexts (Fogel & Nehmad, 2009; Plscltelll et al., 2010; Domínguez & Alvarez, 2011 ; Llorens & Capdeferro, 2011; Túñez & García, 2012; Fondevlla, Carrera & Del Olmo, 2012), mainly because social networks offer enormous opportunities for adapting those contexts to the methodologies Implemented within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) (Espuny, González, Llelxà & Gisbert, 2011).

This leads us to point out - as shown In two Horizon Reports focusing on Latin America - that social networks and collaborative work have emerged as two tools with significant penetration In educational Institutions (Garcia et al., 2011 ; Durall et al., 2012).

However, their Incorporation Into university education contexts Is dependent on two particular aspects: first, students' ICT skills In an educational environment, about which there are studies that give divergent results (Marín & Cabero, 2010; Solano, González & López, 2013); and second, students' favourable attitudes towards collaborative group work (Martinez, 2003).

2. Our study

The results of our study on university students' perceptions of social software - specifically social networks - and of collaborative group work are presented In section 4 of this article. The study was conducted on a sample of students from several Latin American countries and Spain. The objectives were:

* To Identify the students' perceptions of social software and of collaborative group work (In comparison to Individual work).

* To Identify whether the country of provenance gives rise to differences In perceptions of group work and Individual work.

* To Identify which social software tools are used most by the students.

3. Method

An adapted version of the questionnaire by Anderson and Poellhuber (2009) ("Social Software sur- vey used with unpaced undergrad") was used for data collection. The original questionnaire had 91 Items divided Into the following dimensions: Identification, Learning Preferences,Technical Skills, Social Software Experience, Social Software for Learning, Confidence In Distance Education Abilities, and Wrap up. The questionnaire was adapted by Incorporating an Identification variable (university of provenance) and removing the last two dimensions, as they did not fit with our study objectives. The final version of our questionnaire had 68 Items divided Into the following dimensions: General Aspects (university, gender, etc.), Individual or Group Work Preferences,Technical Skills, Web 2.0Tool Experience and Use of Different Social Software Tools In Distance Education.

The questionnaire was administered via the Internet In autumn 2012 and can be viewed here http://www.sav.us.es/encuestas/redsodal/lndex.htm. Given that the questionnaire had been modified, Cronbach's alpha test was performed to determine Its reliability. The value obtained was 0.860, a figure that, according to Mateo (2006), could be considered high.

There were 1,040 participants from universities In Spain (University of Seville, University of the Basque Country and University of Cordoba), Venezuela (Metropolitan University and University of Carabobo), the Dominican Republic (Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, PUCMM) and Argentina (National Technological University, UTN). Of the participants, 70% were female, 45.65% were 17-20 years old, 26.99% were 21-24 years old and 11.67% were 25-28 years old.

Furthermore, 64.9% stated that they had undertaken Internet-mediated activities, and 94.25% stated that they regularly accessed the Internet for educational purposes.

4. Results

Starting with the students'learning preferences, Table 1 shows the results obtained.

Of the participants, 89.73% Indicated that they knew how to work by themselves because they replied "SD"or"D"to the statement"! do not know how to work by myself", though they preferred working In groups, as we can see from the following replies, where the sum of the percentages for the "A" and "SA" options stands out from the others:

* Group work Is helpful to put together everyone's Ideas when making a decision (86.55%).

* I like to be able to use the Ideas of other people as well as my own (85.90%).

* We get the work done faster If we all work together (84.70%).

* Working with other students can help me learn (97.15%).

* I like to be able to use the Ideas of other people as well as my own (63.53%).

We can also see this preference in the items formulated negatively, where the sum of the"SD"and"D" replies stands out from the others:

* Working with a group leads to poor results (72.60%).

Working in a group scares me (89.16%).

In a group discussion, we never reach important conclusions (74.96%).

I like to work on my own without paying attention to other students (75

I do not like working with other students (82.47%).

To the statement"! prefer to work by myself so I can go as fast as I like", reply option "N" had the highest percentage (39.79%). On the other hand, the students perceived that group work would be a neces- sary prereguisite for future learning and work:

* If I work by myself now, I will manage better later (only 27.81% replied "A"and "SA").

* Working in a group now helps me work with other people later (91.60% replied "A"and "SA").

Asked about their preferences regarding certain aspects of group work, the three reply options that accounted for nearly 50% of the distribution were:

* Sharing resources on the Internet (18.44%).

* Working on a project (17.55%).

* Doing an assignment or courses (15.55%).

By country, the results obtained were:

A high percentage of the students rated their group work experience as "positive" (57.25%), followed by "neutral" (20.78%) and "very positive" (19.61%). It should be noted the sum of the negative ratings was less than 3%. These data were similar for all the countries (Chart 2).

A high percentage of the students stated that they were "interested" in group work (63.17%), followed by "very interested" (23.09%). It should be noted that the sum of "not at all interested" and "not very interested" replies was less than 8%. These data were also similar for all the countries (Chart 3).

Moving on to the students'technical skills with regard to handling the various technologies, Table 2 below shows the results obtained.

As we can see, their perceptions of ICTs were positive. In some cases, the sum of the "A" and "SA" options Is more than 80%.

I like using computers for research and education (90.67%).

I like to communicate with others using computer-supported communication (e.g., e-mail, text messaging) to support my learning (87.46%).

I feel at ease when working with computers (84.65%).

They also stated that they were able to carry out various activities, as we can see from the percenta- ges for the sum of the "DA" and "SA" options:

* I know how to send and receive messages and attachments through various communication tools (e-mail, instant messaging, etc.) (95.08%).

* I am good at finding precisely what I am looking for when I use Internet search engines (Goo- gle, Yahoo, etc.) (81.83%).

* I feel confident about writing documents on word processors (e.g., underlining, using bold, creating tables, etc.) (90.53%).

* I am good at using presentation software (e.g., PowerPoint) (72.90%).

The students recognised that they "spend a lot of time on the Internet" because the sum of the"A"and "SA"optlons Is 57.51%. We did not find high percentages for the "SD" (3.04%) and"D" (15.21%) replies. The results obtained were similar for all the countries.

Regarding the students'soclal software experience,Table 3 below shows the results obtained.

The data obtained allow three groups to be formed according to the skills level the students claim to have. One group Includes technologies for which they claimed to have "advanced" skills: social net- working (46.93%) and photo publishing (42.97%); and another Includes technologies for which their level was "none, non-user": Wikis (32.84%), social bookmarking (71.74%), podcasting (67.29%) and Immersive 3D software (77.40%). Lastly, the third group Includes technologies where the "beginner" and"lntermedlate"optlons had similar percentages: blogs (32.21%) and web conferencing (30.79%).

These data allow us to assert that the students'skllls were non-existent or poor In relation to many of the technologies, although they did claim to have "Intermediate" and "advanced" skills In relation to photo publishing and video sharing. The "advanced" and "expert" levels of their social networking experience stand out (77.15%).

Regarding the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Llnkedln and HI5), 66.34% of the students stated that Facebook was the one they used the most, whereas 31.60% preferred Twitter. Only 2% of them Indicated the other two options: Llnkedln and HI5.

By country, Chart 4 below shows the results obtained. Facebook stands out from the rest of the social networks In every country but Spain.

The aim of the final part of the guestlonnalre was to ascertain how Interested the students were In having and using specific social software tools on their courses (Table 4).

As we can see, the most popular option was "interested'! However, three of the items had high percentages forthe"notveryinterested"replyoption.These items were"Howinterested are you in having social bookmar- king tools used on your course?"(19.52%),"How interested are you in having podcasting tools used on your course?" (22.34%), and "How interested are you in having e-portfolio tools used on your course?"(18.67%).

One of our objectives was to identify whether there were any significant differences between the students from the different countries in the four large dimensions of the guestionnaire. To that end, we formulated two classic hypotheses: the null hypothesis (HO), referring to the non-existence of significant differences, and the alternative hypothesis (HI), which went In the opposite direction.

We used the Kruskal-Wallis statistic (Gibbons & Chakraborti, 2003) for independent samples, and per- formed the analysis with SPSS. Table 5 below shows the results obtained.

These results allowed us to reject HO for the'Technlcal Skills","Social Software Experlence"and "Social Software for Learning" dimensions, with an alpha value of 0.01, and accept It for the "Learning Pre- ferences" dimension, where we did find significant differences between the different universities. In order to establish where the differences between the countries resided, we applied the Dunn test (Dunn, 1964) (Table 6).

As we can see, the biggest differences In the three dimensions were between students In Argentina and Spain, and the Dominican Republic and Venezuela..

5. Discussion of results and conclusions

The study presented here has enabled us to put forward several Ideas for the Incorporation of diffe- rent strategies and ICTs Into present-day e-learnlng. Regarding the first objective (to ascertain the students'perceptions of social software and of collaborative group work (In comparison to Individual work)), It should be noted that the students, Irrespective of the Latin American country, had positive attitudes towards group work and considered that It did not have a negative Impact on learning outcomes. That leads us to assert that, Initially, there are significant predispositions and attitudes towards group work. Conseguently, teachers should not be afraid to Incorporate It Into e-learnlng processes. At the same time, It could be considered a strategy for overcoming one of the variables of failure In learning of this type: the students'soclocognltlve Isolation.

Regarding the second objective (to Identify whether the country of provenance gives rise to differences In perceptions of group work and Individual work), we can conclude that, Irrespective of their country of provenance, the students participating In the study perceived that group work was one of the ways of working In the knowledge society, which would facilitate the Implementation of collaborative work actions between students from different countries.This coincides with the findings of other studies at lower educational levels (Túñez & García, 2012), and with going beyond the roles traditionally allocated In the teaching-learning process (Tlnmaz, 2012). Our study also showed that the students had extensive experience of using the Internet for educational work. Thus, educational experiences to which this technology could be applied were welcomed by the students. In the Latin American context, this aspect will enable us to work on the students'so-called 'virtual mobility'for learning.

And lastly, regarding the third objective (to Identify which social software tools are used most by the students), we should be point out that, If social media are knocking on the doors of educational Institutions, and If our students' knowledge of them and perceptions of group work are as good as they claim, then the expectations of what can be achieved by Incorporating such media Into education should be high. These results differ from those obtained from other studies (Marín & Cabero, 2010), which Indicated that students had limited knowledge of Internet tools and of their educational value.

The compiled data support the efforts made by many universities to Incorporate social networks Into educational actions (Baltacl-Goktalay & Ozdllek, 2010; Piscltelll et al., 2010).

Finally, It should be noted that the questionnaire used (Anderson & Poellhuber, 2009) Is a very useful and valid tool for ascertaining how Interested a certain part of the population Is In group work, and also for Identifying how students use social software.

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