SNS as an Educational Tool: Effect on Academic Performance and Learners’ Perceptions

With Social Networking Sites (SNSs) being extensively used by students, there has been extensive research in relation to their ability to enhance students’ academic performance in various learning environments, although the advent of research on online learning is a recent development. Studies regarding the use of SNSs indicated that there was a negative relationship between students’ use of SNSs and students’ academic performance. However, it is unknown whether the implementation of an instructional training course utilizing SNSs as an educational tool might lead to improvements in students’ academic performance. Many students have admitted to not knowing how to properly use SNSs, especially in the context of education, but recent research has suggested that a proper online learning environment can lead to quality academic outcomes. The purpose of this mixed method study was to determine if the implementation of an instructional training course on the effective use of SNSs as an educational tool might lead to improvements in academic performance as well as to explore students’ perceptions about SNSs. This study examined the effect of the instructional training course on the effective use of SNSs and the academic performance of 69 students in the Management Information Systems (MIS) department at Taif University (TU) in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using a pre-survey and post-survey distributed among students in the MIS course at TU in Saudi Arabia, while their associated learning outcomes data were also reviewed to assess whether there was a significant improvement in test scores. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that the learners who were subjected to SNS programs recorded high scores in midterm 2 than in midterm 1. Also, more than half of the participants reported that SNSs had a positive effect on students’ academic performances. The participants argued that SNSs improved their creative thinking through interaction with experts in the field. The findings of this study suggest that teachers need to develop templates that will guide students on how to positively use social media in classrooms. The significance of the study is that it sheds light on how an instructional course helped students integrate SNSs into their studies within the context of an online environment

A classroom SNS to promote reflective activity in programming learning for children

Abstract ■■■ In recent years, workshops involving programming on computers have been held in elementary education to promote creative thinking. In our experience of conducting programming workshops for children for over 10 years, we cannot have enough time to let them share and reflect on their creative activity, although reflection is one of the important factors for successful experience-based learning. In order to solve this problem, we have developed a classroom SNS (social networking service) system for children to upload a post and share their project. On the SNS site, they can upload three kinds of contents: action view, code view, and comments. We conducted an experiment to examine if children have performed the sharing and reflection activity with the SNS system during a programming workshop. The result shows that the SNS system would promote motivation for children to reflect on their project

Exploring lecturers' strategies to decolonise English curriculum at a South Africa university.

Masters degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This study is an interpretive case study research of five English lecturers who reflected on the strategies they employ to decolonise the English curriculum at a South African university. However, while lecturer’s strategies are a common phenomenon the aspect of decolonisation is still very topical. Strategies as a phenomenon was conceptualised into three levels namely: written, habitual and verbal strategies. Reflective activity, one-on one semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used to generate data. The five English lecturers, who were deemed to be rich data sources, were selected through purposive and convenience sampling. The following research questions framed the study: What are lecturers’ strategies to decolonise the English curriculum at a South African University? How do lecturers use these strategies to decolonise the English curriculum at a South African University? This guided the choice of the curricular spider web (CSW) as the conceptual framework used in the study. The curriculum concepts which constitute the CSW are vital for lecturers to teach effectively and thus form the foundation of any strategies the lecturers may employ. The literature reviewed highlighted strategies that may be used to decolonise the curriculum as well as discussed the curriculum concepts exhaustively. The three levels (written, habitual and verbal strategies) were used alongside the curriculum concepts to facilitate the data analysis. Through guided analysis, the study found that lecturers use verbal strategies and habitual strategies frequently as opposed to written strategies. Findings revealed that English lecturers that they believed in student’s social interaction through sharing of experiences and beliefs to connect the content with student’s local context. Additionally, lecturers also used personal teaching approaches as they believed that decolonisation entailed an all - round approach to teaching taking cognisance of global as well as local genres. This Dissertation recommends that English lecturers use all the three levels of strategies to decolonise the curriculum. Decolonisation of the curriculum can take different forms and be effectively implemented if lecturers approach it from the angle of the CSW concepts and its propositions

Exploring lecturers’ understanding of Turnitin utilisation in assessing mathematics at a South African university.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This study explores lecturers’ understanding of Turnitin utilisation in assessing mathematics at a South African university. The qualitative study is also aimed at exploring what, how and why lecturers understand Turnitin utilisation in assessing mathematics in a particular manner. An interpretive paradigm and case study were used on four participants to gain the meaning in a real situation. To generate data needed to respond to the research questions in the study, the following instruments were used: reflective activity, document analysis, and individual semi-structured interviews. Purposive and convenience sampling were employed in order to reach the closest participants who were easily accessible, acquiring from them in-depth data. The generated data were analysed guided by TPACK theoretical framework concepts for this study. The concepts were content and activities, methods, assessment, resources, and lecturers’ role. The findings reveal that, there are two ways of utilising Turnitin in mathematics, which need to be integrated, namely, technology detection (TD), and manual detection (MD). TD and MD require lecturers’ understanding of content knowledge (CK) in mathematics. These findings indicate that assessment of content in mathematics requires the integration of TDCKM and MDCKM, for understanding to be effective and sustainable. Consequently, the study recommends that the case study be adopted in other studies to explore its effectiveness for mathematics, with the purpose of reviewing the plagiarism policy vision in terms of Turnitin utilisation. The study concluded that, although lecturers were aware of the utilisation of Turnitin, their knowledge was dominated by personal understanding, because of the commonalities of numbers, symbols, terminologies, and vocabulary, equations, tables, theorems, and graphs assessed in mathematics. It is noticed that this study was the first to use the case study in gaining information on lecturers’ understanding of Turnitin utilisation in assessing mathematics at a SA university. It is recommended that the case study be adopted to understand the in-depth situation. It is also recommended that the case study be adopted in other studies to explore its effectiveness for mathematics, with a purpose of reviewing the plagiarism policy vision in terms of Turnitin utilisation. The findings of this research should therefore be enlightening to various training institutional stakeholders in KwaZulu-Natal in promoting the use of the case study in different contexts and learning areas similar to mathematics