Can learning be virtually boosted? An investigation of online social networking impacts

Abstract

Online social networking has deeply penetrated university campuses, influencing multiple aspects of student life. We investigate the impacts of individual online social networking engagement (e.g., on Facebook) from a pedagogical standpoint. Based on social learning theory, we argue that two socialization processes, social acceptance and acculturation, bridge individual online social networking engagement with three domains of social learning outcomes. Results from a survey accompanied by focus group discussions demonstrate the substantial impacts of university student online social networking engagement on social learning processes and outcomes. Online social networking not only directly influences university students’ learning outcomes, but also helps the students attain social acceptance from others and adapt to university culture, both of which play prominent roles in improving their learning outcomes.

Introduction

With the inception of Web 2.0 technology, a new mode of social networking, i.e., online social networking, has emerged and become popular. People are increasingly inclined to cultivate their virtual social relationships and virtual life on existing prevalent social networking websites such as Facebook, Xanga and MySpace. These websites provide favorable platforms for individuals to express themselves. More importantly, by using social networking technologies, individuals can establish new relationships with acquaintances, as well as maintain close relationships with friends, colleagues, and family members. The active engagement in these websites to establish virtual relationships provides individuals with access to a diversified set of information from multiple sources (Wasko & Faraj, 2005).

From an educational perspective, online social networking is also a learning practice for university students, since the learning environment of the university itself is a social system of individuals’ interacting within a shared academic context (Hwang, Kessler, & Francesco, 2004). We observe that online social networking has been deeply embedded in the lifestyle of young people, especially since university students occupy a large proportion of the total population of online social networking websites (Madge et al., 2009, Subrahmanyam et al., 2008). Students’ social networking, especially when the networking increasingly shifts to online, is more likely to be self-initiated learning, in which individuals create a system of information and support by building and nurturing personal links. Recent research conducted in a Northern Taiwan research university shows that, in a web-based learning, undergraduates with certain self-regulation capacity intend to interact with their peers to get feedback and thus improve their performance (Wang & Wu, 2008). Further, students can develop commitment to their university and begin to better articulate their role as well as engage in peer-supported communities on aspects of academic life (Selwyn, 2009).

However, the pedagogical impacts on university students of the social networking in general and the emerging online social networking behavior in particular have obtained scant attention in the literature. Most prior studies have investigated the values of personal social networks in the business world, e.g., facilitating individuals to achieve higher mobility, better job performance and other career-related success (Podolny and Baron, 1997, Seibert et al., 2001). Although several studies have investigated the social network relationships in computer-supported collaborative learning (Cho et al., 2007, Kreijns et al., 2007, Ryymin et al., 2008), the network investigated was constrained to a small and controlled group, in which the networking behavior is largely different from that in contemporary online social network websites. In practice, students intend to generate creative activities and learning in the online social networking context. It has been found that “net generation” learners have different styles of information processing and learning expectations, which behooves educational institutions to reconsider pedagogical approaches (Williams & Chinn, 2009). We therefore raise two fundamental questions from a pedagogical standpoint: What are the impacts of online social networking on university students’ learning? and What are the implications?

According to social learning theory (Bandura, 1977), individuals often self initiate and regulate their learning to achieve desirable learning outcomes. Through interacting with peers and the situated environment, individuals’ cognition, affection and behavior are influenced. Intuitively, the social aspect of learning should be one foci of our investigation on university students’ online social networking behavior and its consequences. Recent research illustrates that young people’s online social networking behavior can bring them physical and psychological well-being (Ellison et al., 2007, Steinfield et al., 2008). Although the findings are encouraging, the mere demonstration of potential correlations among variables in such research while ignoring the underlying mechanism how online social networking influences university students’ learning process and the consequent outcomes lends us a promising opportunity to revisit the pedagogical impacts of online social networking on university students’ learning. Also, it is notable that most universities increasingly emphasize student-centered learning practices, and their educational goals are not only to equip students with expertise or skills, but also to provide an environment for students for their psychological well-being conducive to lifelong learning. Thus, our attempt in researching the social impacts of university students’ online social networking on learning entails important pedagogical implications for both individual learning and educational administration.

Due to its world-wide ubiquity, Facebook (www.facebook.com) is the selection of our research platform, a special online social networking context for investigation. Facebook has increasing influences on university students’ lives with usage rates of over 90% per year at most campuses (Lampe et al., 2006, Stutzman, 2006). This is also confirmed by students we interviewed at our university who noted that: “Being on Facebook becomes a daily activity and we log on Facebook multiple times per day”.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. We first develop a research model based on the literature and propose hypotheses. We then detail our research method followed by results and discussion. We conclude the paper with implications, limitations and future directions of this research.