Drowning Screens: Social Media Experience and the Emotional Well-Being of Filipino Adolescents

This study explored the social media experience in Facebook and Twitter and its relation to the emotional well-being conditions of twenty (20) senior high school students in Metro Manila. Online in-depth interviews were conducted that centered on the quality of their Facebook and Twitter experience, the prevalence of distress, negative emotions, and life satisfaction. Facebook and Twitter have been utilized for entertainment and maintenance of social networks online. However, Facebook has been maintained as a “les lieux de communication” or a space to communicate with friends, family members, and classmates. Yet, due to its “public” nature, the participants were inhibited from sharing their thoughts and feelings in their Facebook account. On the other hand, multiple Twitter accounts have been maintained: for public consumption and an “exclusive” account. This exclusive Twitter account has been maintained as a “les lieux de emotion” or a social space wherein they could be inhibited on what ideas, opinions, or sentiments they will share. Experiencing distress, negative emotions, and satisfaction with everyday life has been associated with utilization of Facebook and Twitter due to issues on accessibility and unwarranted information, lack of control on popping up pornographic materials, and the threat of hacking and breached in their “les lieux de communication” and “les lieux de emotion.” Moderation and vigilance should be maintained in utilizing social media accounts to mitigate the risks of negative experience and impact on one’s emotional well-being

Understanding academic engagement and context through multimodal data

The Internet has penetrated the life of adolescents and become a new space for learning, socializing and entertainment. Physical exercise and sleep remain crucial for the development of adolescents. However, the influence of these critical contextual factors on learning and life is insufficiently explored, partially due to the difficulty of measuring these factors. To bridge the gap, a semi-automated Day Reconstruction Method was proposed which leverages 24-hour multimodal data collected by smart wristband (Fitbit Versa), paired mobile phone (Red Mi 6), and time management application (RescueTime). A pilot study was conducted to verify the feasibility of this proposed method and is reported in this paper. As academic engagement among adolescents is widely concerned by stakeholders, this pilot study also explores the relationship between the aforementioned contextual factors and academic engagement. With some interesting patterns, revealed, this study contributes to furthering our understanding of how context shapes adolescents’ academic engagement using a more objective and nonintrusive method

Impacto de la red social Facebook en el proceso educativo superior de las matemáticas considerando la ciencia de datos

Esta investigación mixta tiene como objetivo analizar el uso de la red social Facebook en las asignaturas Matemáticas Computacionales y Estadística Básica Aplicada durante el ciclo escolar 2017 por medio de la ciencia de datos (técnica árbol de decisión). La muestra está compuesta por 54 estudiantes de las Licenciaturas de Administración, Informática, Mercadotecnia y Comercio. La técnica árbol de decisión permite identificar 8 modelos predictivos sobre la interacción y comunicación de los alumnos en la red social Facebook durante el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Asimismo, el enfoque cualitativo analiza el uso de esta red social considerando las variables sobre el punto de encuentro, la distribución de los contenidos, la motivación, la herramienta de apoyo en el aprendizaje y la satisfacción. Los resultados señalan que Facebook es una herramienta que facilita el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje en el campo de las matemáticas. De hecho, la regresión lineal indica que la publicación de las tareas, el envío de los mensajes entre los estudiantes, la creación de los comentarios en el muro y la consulta de videos en esta red social influyen positivamente en la interacción y comunicación de los estudiantes durante el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Por consiguiente, este estudio cualitativo y cuantitativo recomienda la incorporación de la red social Facebook en las actividades escolares con el propósito de innovar las prácticas educativas

Perceptions of students about the use of Facebook and Twitter in the educational context through data science and machine learning

Esta investigación cuantitativa tiene como objetivo analizar las percepciones de los estudiantes sobre el uso de Facebook y Twitter en el contexto educativo por medio de la ciencia de datos y el aprendizaje automático. Los participantes son 89 estudiantes de una universidad localizada en la Ciudad de México. Los resultados del aprendizaje automático con 50%, 60% y 70% de entrenamiento (regresión lineal) indican que la interfaz web de Facebook y Twitter favorecen la comunicación, difusión de los contenidos y enseñanza durante el proceso educativo. Asimismo, la ciencia de datos permite la construcción de 6 modelos predictivos sobre el uso de las redes sociales Facebook y Twitter en el contexto educativo por medio de la técnica árbol de decisión. Por último, las redes sociales como Facebook y Twitter permiten transformar el contexto educativo, innovar virtuales educativos y mejorar las condiciones de . las actividades escolares, crear nuevos espacios enseñanza-aprendizaje en el Siglo XXI.This quantitative research aims to analyze the perceptions of students about the use of Facebook and Twitter in the educational context through data science and machine learning. The participants are 89 students from a university located in Mexico City. The results of machine learning with 50%, 60% and 70% of training (linear regression) indicate that the web interface of Facebook and Twitter favor communication, dissemination of content and teaching during the educational process. Likewise, data science allows the construction of 6 predictive models on the use of Facebook and Twitter in the educational context through the decision tree technique. Finally, social networks such as Facebook and Twitter allow transforming the educational educational virtual spaces and improving teaching-. context, innovating school activities, create new learning conditions in the 21st century

What impacts matriculation decisions? A double-blind experiment via an AI-led chatbot trained with social media data

This thesis explores students’ matriculation decision factors via an AI-led chatbot trained with social media data. The novelty of this thesis resides in the following methodological approaches: Firstly, it employs data mining and text analytics techniques to explore the use of topic modelling and a systematic literature reviewing technique called algorithmic document sequencing to identify decision factors from social media to be integrated to the internal model of the AI through a methodological pluralist approach. Secondly, it introduces a chatbot design and strategy for an AI-led chat survey generating both unstructured qualitative and structured quantitative primary data. Finally, upon interviewing 1193 participants around the world, a double-blind true experiment was run seamlessly without human intervention by the AI testing hypotheses and determining the factors that impact students' university choices. The thesis showcases how AI can efficiently interview participants and collect their input, offering robust evidence through an RCT (Gold standard) to establish causal relationships between interventions and their outcomes. One significant contribution of the thesis lies in aiding higher education institutions in understanding the global factors influencing students' university choices and the role of electronic word-of-mouth on social media platforms. More importantly, the research enhances knowledge in identifying themes from social media and literature, facilitating the training of AI-augmented chatbots with these themes, and designing such chatbots to run large scale social RCTs. These developments may enable researchers from a wide range of fields to collect qualitative and quantitative data from large samples, run double-blind true experiments with the AI and produce statistically reproducible, reliable, and generalisable results

O uso das redes sociais digitais no processo de ensino-aprendizagem em Geografia: Um estudo com estudantes do Ensino Superior do ISCED-Huíla

O crescente uso que os estudantes fazem das redes sociais digitais em dispositivos móveis no mundo abre uma vasta possibilidade para a sua utilização em contexto escolar. O Facebook, devido às suas características, tem sido usado como plataforma de apoio ao processo de ensino-aprendizagem; contudo, o seu impacto no rendimento académico não é consensual. Assim, o presente trabalho tem como principal objetivo analisar o impacto da utilização desta rede social no envolvimento e no rendimento académico dos estudantes do Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação da Huíla (ISCED-Huíla), Angola. Pretende-se, também, contribuir para a validação de alguns instrumentos na área para a população angolana (Inventário de Envolvimento Académico dos Estudantes de Ensino Superior-USEI, Costa & Marôco, 2017; Questionário Sobre Uso do Facebook, Mazman & Usluel, 2010). Para o efeito, foi realizado um estudo preliminar com a participação de 108 estudantes e 5 professores da licenciatura em Ensino da Geografia do ISCED-Huíla. O estudo principal, de natureza quasi-experimental, envolveu 55 estudantes do 1º ano da licenciatura em Ensino da Geografia do ISCED-Huíla, repartidos em um grupo experimental (n=32) e um grupo de controlo (n=23). O grupo experimental (GE) teve acesso a um Grupo de Facebook criado para apoio na Unidade Curricular (UC) de Geografia Física Geral I, com acompanhamento do respetivo docente. Os resultados do estudo preliminar revelaram, no geral, boas propriedades psicométricas nos instrumentos utilizados. Estudantes e professores mostraram-se recetivos à utilização do Facebook no processo de ensino-aprendizagem, mas apresentaram algumas preocupações relacionadas com maior distração, fraca qualidade da internet e limitações na avaliação. Os resultados do estudo principal revelaram que tanto o rendimento na UC como o envolvimento académico do GE foram superiores aos do grupo de controlo. Adicionalmente, dentro do GE, os estudantes com níveis superiores de envolvimento no Grupo do Facebook apresentaram melhor rendimento académico na UC. Conclui-se que o uso das ferramentas do Facebook para apoio ao processo de ensino-aprendizagem teve um efeito positivo no rendimento e envolvimento académico dos estudantes, sendo um recurso importante no contexto angolano, nomeadamente pela maior acessibilidade que proporciona comparativamente com outras tecnologias.The growing use that students make of digital social networks on mobile devices around the world opens up a vast possibility for its use in the school context. Facebook, due to its characteristics, has been used as a support platform for the teaching-learning process. However its impact on academic performance is not consensual. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of the use of this social network on the involvement and academic performance of Angolan students at the Instituto Superior Ciências de Educação da Huíla (ISCED-Huíla), Angola. It is also intended to contribute to the validation of some instruments in this area for the Angolan population (Inventário de Envolvimento Académico dos Estudantes de Ensino Superior-USEI [Inventory of Academic Involvement of Higher Education Students-USEI], Costa & Marôco, 2017; Questionnaire on the Use of Facebook, Mazman & Usluel, 2010; adaptation by Sánchez et al., 2014). For this purpose, a preliminary study was carried out with the participation of 108 students and 5 professors of the Geography Teaching degree program at ISCED-Huíla. The main study, of a quasi-experimental nature, involved 55 students from the 1st year of the Geography Teaching degree program at ISCED-Huíla, divided into an experimental group (n=32) and a control group (n=23). The experimental group (EG) had access to a Facebook Group created to support the Curricular Unit (CU) General Physical Geography I, with monitoring by the respective professor. The results of the preliminary study revealed, in general, good psychometric properties in the instruments used. Students and teachers were receptive to the use of Facebook in the teaching-learning process, but they had some concerns related to greater distraction, poor quality internet connection and limitations in evaluations. The results of the main study reveal that both the performance in the CU and the academic involvement of the EG were superior to those of the control group. Additionally, within the GE, students with higher levels of involvement in the Facebook Group had better academic performance in the CU. It is concluded that the use of Facebook tools to support the teaching-learning process had a positive effect on students' academic performance and involvement, and is thus an important resource in the Angolan context, namely due to the greater accessibility it provides compared to other technologies