The relationship between social media and academic performance: the case of high school students in a Nigerian private school.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This research explores in detail the relationship between social media and academic performance of students, using a case study approach with a sample of 12 Nigerian students. This study was driven by the perception that students immersed themselves in social media activities to the detriment of their academic function. The qualitative data generated from emic accounts of participants revealed three factors that may address the inconsistencies found in previous studies. The first is tied to the longstanding historical and socio-cultural practices of schools that informs curricula definition of academic activities. The traditional definition of academic activity is narrow, and disregards digital natives’ definition of what is considered to be academic activity, thus hindering their performance. Academic performance is a relative concept; if the curriculum defines academic activity in an inclusive way, then there is a positive relationship, but if it excludes learning areas that participants find on social media and consider relevant, there is no relationship. Therefore, the relationship between social media and academic performance depends basically on the philosophy of each school and how they choose to define, interpret and implement academic activities from which academic performance is derived. Secondly, the data revealed that participants regarded a combination of both social media context and academic context as yielding more academic benefit than a single one. However, it is only when the academic instruction supports students’ needs that the academic gap between both contexts is bridged. Thirdly, participants reported that social media enabled them to learn more, know more, think deeper, do more and achieve more, making them more able to adapt their knowledge and be efficient in solving academic problems. A major concept that surfaced in the data is personal effort. Participants all attributed their academic success to hard work, meeting teachers, researching books and social media and that neither social media nor traditional settings on their own contributed to their good grades. This suggests that academic performance depends mainly on an individual student’s mind-set, intrapersonal values, skills and interests. In the game of soccer, the field does not produce goals. Rather, it is the ability of players to collaborate, coordinate, perceive and utilise available spaces to their advantage. The same goes for the relationship between students’ social media usage and their academic performance. This means that the value that students place on their academic activities has a significant influence on how they use social media

Producing effective messages in the multicommunicating environment managing multitasking in organizational meetings

At some time during a week a corporate worker is likely to attend an organizational meeting. The availability of multiple wireless technologies makes it possible for meeting attendees to be engaged in multitasking, i.e., performing multiple tasks simultaneously. During meetings the attendees often take the opportunity to continue working on their projects, read and write e-mail messages or surf the Web. This study evaluated the impacts of such multitasking behaviors on individual performances in the multicommunicating environment. The study used the experimental design. Respondents for this study were 154 undergraduate students in a large southeastern university. The participants accomplished two communication tasks simultaneously during the experiment: listening and writing. They were instructed to listen to a lecture presentation and at the same time write responses to an open-ended online survey questions, i.e., the participants of the study were multitasking.The researcher compared several factors (social presence, multitasking abilities, polychronicity, task prioritization, and receiver apprehension) for three different treatments (multi task vs. single task, live presenter vs. virtual presenter, one channel vs. two channels). In addition, a scale to measure multitasking abilities was developed and validated during the experiment. It was found that multitasking or completing two tasks simultaneously significantly decreases performances on both tasks. The performance on the listening task was decreased by 9.5%; the writing task performance was decreased by 11.2%. The researcher found no evidence that the degree of social presence could affect task prioritization and performance in the multicommunicating environment. However, multi-task performance was improved in the two-channel condition. Presenting the information in visual and oral forms significantly enhanced the information recall on the listening task.This finding suggests that the negative impact of multitasking can be reduced under certain conditions. The results of the study also indicate that individuals differ in their abilities to multitask. It was found that the level of receiver apprehension affects not only processing outcomes as message information is being received and perceived, but also processing outcomes as message information is being produced. It seems relatively clear that being less apprehensive about listening is an index of better performance in the multicommunicating environment

Investigating the Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving (CIT) as a rehabilitation outcome measure

Reliable and valid outcome measures are needed in community rehabilitation settings following acquired neurological injury. The Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving (CIT) (Su, Tay and Diener, 2013) was investigated for this purpose. The CIT is a 54 item self-report measure that provides 18 subscales and seven main scales of thriving: Relationships, Engagement, Mastery, Autonomy, Meaning, Optimism and Subjective Well-being. Participants (n=76) were administered the CIT on admission to a community rehabilitation service. The mean age of participants was 54.8 (SD = 17.7), with 43% being male. The main diagnostic groups were cerebrovascular disease (28%), traumatic brain injury (17%) and Parkinson's disease (12%). Internal consistency was moderate to high (α =.6 to .9) for all subscales with the exception of Support (Relationships) and Skills (Mastery); and high (α=.79-.93) for all indexes with the exception of Subjective Wellbeing. Correlational analyses supported the scale groupings. However, the subscales of Support (Relationships) and Skills (Mastery) did not correlate significantly with any subscales. Additionally the Subjective Well-being scale should not be calculated, but instead its three subscales (Negative Feelings, Life Satisfaction, Positive Feelings) used individually. In terms of demographic variables, there were no significant gender differences on CIT scales. Age had low correlations with two Relationships subscales only (Trust r=.23, p=.04; Loneliness r=-.25, p=.03). Diagnostic group minimally influenced CIT scores. Significant between-group differences were only found for Accomplishment (Mastery), with post-hoc analyses indicating higher levels for the cerebrovascular group. The CIT shows considerable promise in rehabilitation outcomes as a reliable and valid multi-component measure of wellbeing

Does persistent involvement in media and technology lead to lower academic performance? Evaluating media and technology use in relation to multitasking, self-regulation and academic performance

Kilis, Selcan/0000-0001-5751-2363WOS: 000453338700020Intensive use of media and technology has explicitly affected and changed our study habits. This cross-sectional survey study aimed to discover what kind of relationship exists between media and technology use and academic performance. The study also explored how multitasking and self-regulation influence this effect after controlling for their gender, age, and year of study. With this aim, data were collected from 631 university students on a voluntary basis and analyzed through both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings of Pearson correlation indicated that students academic performances has a weak significant negative association both with multitasking preferences and media and technology usage, but not with control of self-regulation. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses revealed that demographic variables including gender, age, and year of study were significant predictors of students' academic performances. Additionally, after controlling these particular demographics, only media and technology usage significantly and negatively contributed to the prediction of students' academic performance, whereas multitasking and control of self-regulation did not. Implications were discussed based on the results

The 7Ms pedagogy model: Instructional design for learners with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This study presents a new framework for designing pedagogy in an informed and controlled way. It considers the importance of progression of pedagogy during a learning episode, so that an instructor can modify the pedagogical approach as well as the content in a lesson. The significance and novelty of this research lie in the proposals to provide support for ADHD learners and assist them to overcome their academic weaknesses/challenges through appropriate pedagogically sound interventions. Therefore, in order to contribute to the development of a suitable pedagogical approach for children who diagnosed with ADHD, issues of having ADHD are discussed within the scope of the research. In this respect, an aetiological model of ADHD has been developed to identify different levels of impairments as well as to clarify areas in which educational pedagogies must address the limitations of ADHD learners. Early stage results described here consider evidence to determine the viability of two literature-based models, named the ‘6Ms pedagogy model’ and the ‘aetiological model of ADHD’. In identifying the need to explore an accurate pedagogical model for ADHD children, two models have been evaluated. The analysis is based on a combination of secondary analysis, qualitative, and quantitative data analysis, which covered data, collected from expert advice, including that from professionals, coaches, and teachers and from those involved in the education of learners with ADHD and parents. Evidence from findings on ADHD is married to a new model of pedagogy named the ‘7Ms pedagogy model’. The ADHD pedagogical model is then evaluated by SEN teachers serves to facilitate well-informed and targeted design decisions about pedagogy, which could provide children with support and help them overcome academic limitations. Keywords: Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder; 6Ms Pedagogy Model; 7Ms Pedagogy Model; learning theories; aetiological model; typically developing learners (TDLs); and special educational needs (SEN)

A qualitative study of teachers as path-goal leaders with an emphasis on clearing the path of distraction

This qualitative phenomenological study investigated teachers as leaders in their classrooms. The study focused on the various ways high school teachers facilitate deep work in their students to lead them to learning goals, by examining how teachers define goals, clarify paths, remove obstacles, and provide support to learning. The study acknowledges the current problem of students needing help to overcome learning obstacles such as distraction. The setting of the study was a single high school in the Midwest. Findings from interviews of teachers, principals, and students include a consensus on the importance of controlling the context of the learning environment by clarifying task relevancy and monitoring focus intensity. Findings also showed the importance of the dynamic interplay between teacher and students; continual feedback is necessary to meet student needs. Preferred feedback is verbal, and data showed strong agreement in student engagement in a positive student/teacher relationship as the most effective way to learn and avoid distractions. The implications for practice apply to both teachers and instructive decision-makers in terms of planning and expectations of class organization, management, and content delivery. Future research is needed in how the brain science of cognitive load theory can inform classroom practices.Includes bibliographical references