Abstract:
This study presents and evaluates the educational potentials and benefits that Social Network Services (SNSs) offer to students in the higher education context. Current literature focusing on Facebook’s functionalities and usage by students demonstrated conflicting findings, with some resulted in unfavourable conclusions regarding utilising SNSs as alternative channels for peer learning activities. Furthermore, there has been a lack of empirical findings in the New Zealand context. A theoretical framework was proposed, based on Social Learning Theory, aiming to explore students’ perception towards Facebook Learning Groups, the learning and affective benefits that SNSs offer to students, and the moderators that may play influential roles in affecting individuals’ perception and behaviour on SNSs. The nature of Facebook Groups use was also explored, to discover the depth of learning taking place in a typical informal learning group. This research carried out 2 data collection methods: an anonymous online survey, accompanied by a sample of posts and comments extracted from an open Facebook Group. Survey participants that were invited to participate had to meet the following criteria: (1) current undergraduates of The University of Auckland, (2) have had some experience in participating and/or being part of a Facebook Group that was set up for learning. Out of 258 survey participants, 227 participants met the criteria. In addition, sample data was also collected to help support the survey findings and to also discover the depth of learning taking place in a typical informal Facebook learning Group. This thesis contributes to the academic literature by presenting a proposed theoretical framework that was utilised to help discover the benefits of Facebook Learning Groups and the influences of the identified moderators in moderating students’ perception and decision in participating in Facebook Learning Groups. The findings from the proposed framework illustrate that students do perceive these learning groups to be useful for their studies, and benefit from Facebook Learning Groups educationally and affectively. Findings also indicate that trust and presence of teaching members do play influential roles in affecting students’ perception and usage of Facebook Learning Groups. Gender differences were also evidently moderated by the presence of teaching members. Lastly, the exploration of the depth of learning that took place in the sample Facebook Group demonstrates that academic learning does take place more frequently compared to social conversations. On the whole, this study has provided a better understanding of the undergraduates’ perception and usage of SNSs for learning in the New Zealand context.