The Impact of Cultural Familiarity on Students’ Social Media Usage in Higher Education

Using social media (SM) in Higher education (HE) becomes unavoidable in the new teaching and learning pedagogy. The current generation of students creates their groups on SM for collaboration. However, SM can be a primary source of learning distraction due to its nature, which does not support structured learning. Hence, derived from the literature, this study proposes three learning customised system features, to be implemented on SM when used in Higher Education HE. Nevertheless, some psychological factors appear to have a stronger impact on students’ adoption of SM in learning than the proposed features. A Quantitative survey was conducted at a university in Uzbekistan to collect 52 undergraduate students’ perception of proposed SM learning customised features in Moodle. These features aim to provide localised, personalised, and privacy control self-management environment for collaboration in Moodle. These features could be significant in predicting students’ engagement with SM in HE. The data analysis showed a majority of positive feedback towards the proposed learning customised SM. However, the surveyed students’ engagement with these features was observed as minimal. The course leader initiated a semi-structured interview to investigate the reason. Although the students confirmed their acceptance of the learning customised features, their preferences to alternate SM, which is Telegram overridden their usage of the proposed learning customized SM, which is Twitter. The students avoided the Moodle integrated Twitter (which provided highly accepted features) and chose to use the Telegram as an external collaboration platform driven by their familiarity and social preferences with the Telegram since it is the popular SM in Uzbekistan. This study is part of an ongoing PhD research which involves deeper frame of learners’ cognitive usage of the learning management system. However, this paper exclusively discusses the cultural familiarity impact of student’s adoption of SM in HE

Digital or Diligent? Web 2.0's challenge to formal schooling

This paper explores the tensions that arise for young people as both 'digital kids' and 'diligent students'. It does so by drawing on a study conducted in an elite private school, where the tensions between 'going digital' and 'being diligent' are exacerbated by the high value the school places on academic achievement, and on learning through digital innovation. At the school under study, high levels of intellectual and technological resourcing bring with them an equally high level of expectation to excel in traditional academic tasks and high-stakes assessment. The students, under constant pressure to perform well in standardised tests, need to make decisions about the extent to which they take up school-sanctioned digitally enhanced learning opportunities that do not explicitly address academic performance. The paper examines this conundrum by investigating student preparedness to engage with a new learning innovation – a student-led media centre – in the context of the traditional pedagogical culture that is relatively untouched by such digital innovation. The paper presents an analysis of findings from a survey of 481 students in the school. The survey results were subjected to quantitative regression tree modelling to flesh out how different student learning dispositions, social and technological factors influence the extent to which students engage with a specific digital learning opportunity in the form of the Web 2.0 Student Media Centre (SMC) designed to engage the senior school community in flexible digital-networked learning. What emerges from the study is that peer support, perceived ease of use and usefulness, learning goals and cognitive playfulness are significant predictors of the choices that students make to negotiate the fundamental tensions of being digital and/or diligent. In scrutinising the tensions around a digital or a diligent student identity in this way, the paper contributes new empirical evidence to understanding the problematic relationship between student-led learning using new digital media tools and formal schooling

Element edukacji w tworzeniu społeczeństwa opartego na przedsiębiorczości

Entrepreneurship as a style and way of thinking and working has century’s long history in the human society. Thanks to creative and open-minded people in the past and today, the human societies ensured rapid growth and improved the living standards. Innovative ideas triggered higher level of economic development in the world through new technologies, which has led to improving the quality of life. Unfortunately, not all countries in the world enjoy the same social progress, due to many problems in the areas of economic and political domain, access to natural and human resources, demographic issues, low level of education, etc. The history of economics has shown that in the countries with open market economy, the entrepreneurial spirit is developed on the higher level. The entrepreneurial culture provides many opportunities for implementation of more innovative business ideas, new technical solutions, advanced technologies, new working methods and continued life-long education aimed to improve the life of the society. Creative people and their ideas are crucial for the development and cultivation of the entrepreneurial spirit and culture in every country, which is closely connected to the education level gained through the formal and informal education systems, which depend of the country’s economic development. A good education system plays an important role in creating good economic policies in each country, has influence on the economic development, business performance and the progress of the whole human society. Innovation is a unique path to prosperity and well-being. Therefore, the economic scientists recognize entrepreneurship as a dynamic factor of production, in addition to labor, capital and land. The European Union (EU) recognizes and promotes many strategies and polices that focus on teaching entrepreneurship from early ages, starting within primary and secondary education, and continuing at the university levels. Developing new education curriculum in formal and informal education systems is a priority in the government’s policies of the developed countries. The curriculum might include compulsory courses in entrepreneurship, continuous learning, and tailored courses with specific task to teach people how to be creative and innovative, regardless of their cultural differences and traditions. Universities should play an important role in educating young people how to do business to work and succeed in the global market economy. The universities in many developed countries such as the USA, Japan, and Germany, have opened business centers, supported technological incubators and parks, and established specialized agencies that provide help and support to entrepreneurs. All these activities contribute to the development of the entrepreneurial society, where creative people can easily find their place for business and life. Thus, education is one of the key factors of economic development. The knowledge-based economy is a modern economy that makes the goal of many countries of today’s world. The less developed states should strive towards the modern trends in the education processes as well as business and entrepreneurial behavior, which is the critical factor in the development of economic and social welfare. They should make more efforts to support the business environment through progressive and modern education systems that would facilitate the development of entrepreneurial spirit and culture. Additionally, they should follow the new trends in the global economy that lead to social cohesion and better economic prosperity.Przedsiębiorczość jako styl oraz sposób myślenia i pracy jest obecna w naszym społeczeństwie od stu lat. Dzięki kreatywnym ludziom o otwartych umysłach, żyjącym w przeszłości i obecnie nastąpił szybki rozwój i poprawa warunków ludzkiego życia. Innowacyjne pomysły wprowadziły świat na wyższy poziom rozwoju gospodarczego za pomocą nowych technologii, które przynoszą poprawę jakości życia. Niestety, nie wszystkie kraje na świecie cieszą się takim samym poziomem postępu społecznego z powodu licznych problemów występujących w obszarach gospodarczych i politycznych, obejmujących między innymi dostęp do zasobów naturalnych i ludzkich, problemy demograficzne, niski poziom wykształcenia itp. Historia ekonomii pokazuje, że w krajach o otwartej gospodarce rynkowej duch przedsiębiorczości jest rozwijany na wyższym poziomie. Kultura przedsiębiorczości daje wiele możliwości wdrażania bardziej innowacyjnych pomysłów biznesowych, nowych rozwiązań technicznych, zaawansowanych technologii, nowych metod pracy oraz edukacji przez całe życie, których celem jest poprawa życia społeczeństwa. Kreatywni ludzie i ich pomysły to elementy kluczowe dla rozwoju i kultywowania ducha oraz kultury przedsiębiorczości w każdym kraju, co ma ścisły związek z poziomem wykształcenia zdobytego za pośrednictwem formalnych i nieformalnych systemów edukacji, które są uzależnione od rozwoju gospodarczego kraju. Dobry system edukacji odgrywa ważną rolę w tworzeniu dobrej polityki gospodarczej w poszczególnych krajach, ma wpływ na rozwój gospodarczy i wydajność przedsiębiorstw, a także na postęp całego społeczeństwa. Innowacja to unikalna droga do dobrobytu. Dlatego też badacze zajmujący się ekonomią uznają przedsiębiorczość za kolejny dynamiczny czynnik produkcji, oprócz pracy, kapitału i ziemi. Unia Europejska (UE) uznaje i wspiera wiele strategii i polityk, które skupiają się na nauczaniu przedsiębiorczości od wczesnego wieku, począwszy od szkół podstawowych i średnich, a kontynuując na poziomie szkolnictwa wyższego. Opracowywanie nowych programów kształcenia w formalnych i nieformalnych systemach edukacji to priorytet polityki rządowej w krajach rozwiniętych. Takie programy mogą obejmować przedmioty obowiązkowe z zakresu przedsiębiorczości, formy kształcenia ustawicznego, specjalnie przygotowane kursy uczące ludzi kreatywności i innowacyjności, niezależnie od dzielących ich różnic kulturowych i tradycji. Uniwersytety powinny odgrywać istotną rolę w kształceniu młodych ludzi w zakresie prowadzenia firm oraz przygotowywać ich do funkcjonowania i odnoszenia sukcesów w globalnej gospodarce rynkowej. Uczelnie w wielu krajach rozwiniętych, takich jak USA, Japonia i Niemcy, otwierają centra biznesowe, wspierają inkubatory i parki technologiczne i zakładają specjalistyczne agencje zapewniające pomoc i wsparcie dla przedsiębiorców. Wszystkie te działania przyczyniają się do rozwoju społeczeństwa przedsiębiorczego, w którym kreatywni ludzie mogą bez trudu znaleźć swoje miejsce do życia i prowadzenia biznesu. Edukacja jest jednym z kluczowych czynników rozwoju gospodarczego. Gospodarka oparta na wiedzy to nowoczesna gospodarka, która jest celem wielu państw dzisiejszego świata. Kraje słabiej rozwinięte powinny dążyć do wdrażania współczesnych trendów w procesach edukacyjnych oraz zachowaniach biznesowych, ponieważ jest to kluczowy czynnik rozwoju gospodarczego i społecznego dobrostanu. Powinny również wspierać środowisko biznesowe poprzez stopniowe wdrażanie nowoczesnego systemu edukacji, który będzie zgodny z duchem i kulturą przedsiębiorczości. Jednocześnie, powinny postępować zgodnie z nowymi trendami w gospodarce światowej, które prowadzą do spójności społecznej i lepszej koniunktury gospodarczej

What Drives Students' Loyalty-Formation in Social Media Learning Within a Personal Learning Environment Approach? The Moderating Role of Need for Cognition

Our study analyzes an educational experience based on the integrated use of social media within a higher education course under a personal learning environment approach and investigates the factors that determine students' loyalty to social media learning. We examined the moderating role of need for cognition (NFC) in students' formation of attitudes, satisfaction, and loyalty toward this learning experience. The results indicate that NFC has an influence on these variables, significantly moderating how loyalty toward social media learning is formed. For high-NFC students, satisfaction with the learning experience is the most important variable to explain loyalty; whereas for low-NFC students, attitudes have a stronger effect. Different strategies are suggested, according to the learners' NFC levels, for increasing the use of social media in personal learning environments. Practical implications for improving the integration of such informal resources into formal education are discussed.Junta de Andalucía – Programa Andaluz de I + D P12 SEJ 259

THE role of the technology acceptance model in information systems research: a case study

Explaining the factors that lead to use and acceptance of information technology (IT), both at individual and organizational levels, has been the focus of information systems (IS) researchers since 1970s. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is known as such an explanatory model and has increasingly gained recognition due to its focus on theories of human behaviour. Although this model has faced with some criticism in terms of not being able to fully explain the social-technical acceptance of technology, it is still known as one of the best IS methodologies that contributes greatly to explaining it. This paper discusses, describes and explains TAM as one of the well-known information system research methodologies and attempts to demonstrate how this model can be applied in practice in IS research projects. TAM is widely used in different areas of IS studies such as e-commerce, e-business, multimedia and mobile commerce. This paper shows how TAM can be applied in an IS research project by referring to a case study conducted in the area of mobile banking in the UK. This paper aims to contribute to IS research by providing an informed criticism of TAM as well as a clear proposal on how to use it

Technology-Enhanced Teaching: A Technology Acceptance Model to Study Teachers’ Intentions to Use Digital Games in the Classroom

This research to practice paper uses a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explore the factors that affect teachers’ intentions to use digital educational games in the classroom. Research shows that using computers and other digital technologies like digital games is one way to influence young people’s career aspirations and improve their digital literacy. This is particularly important as the world of work is changing and emerging jobs becoming more intensive in their use of digital technologies. In the developing world and in particular Nigeria, there have been calls to improve the digital literacy skills of young people to help them make informed career choices, and fully participate effectively and equally in the digital world. However, many of the computing and digital technology education initiatives have not produced the positive results intended. The lack of awareness, readiness and buy-in of the relevant stakeholders are some of the factors that has been identified as a barrier here. For example, for computing and digital technology-based projects in schools, the success largely depends on the support and attitude of teachers. As one of the major stakeholders in the classroom, teachers need to be consulted in decisions that affect the way they deliver their lessons; especially when novel ideas and approaches that challenge tradition are introduced. It is therefore important to consider their acceptance or otherwise of digital games in the classroom. A Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was modified to include constructs previously identified by teachers that potentially influence their intention to use digital games in the classroom. The extended TAM was developed into a questionnaire and tested with 220 teachers in Nigeria. Analyses of the results show that syllabus connectedness, perceived usefulness and self-efficacy are significant predictors of the intention of teachers to adoptdigital game-based learning in the classroom. Furthermore, the teachers' demographics including experience of teaching, age and gender all mediated the intention of the teachers to use digital game-based learning. The results and findings present recommendations for school leaders and developers of digital educational games. The practical insights from this are also important here and helpful for guiding the deployment of such games particularly in areas where such technological interventions have not been used before