Search

In the last decade, the teaching and learning processes have evolved and adapted in order to take into account the societal changes. The fast proliferation of online social networks creates new possibilities to get and share information as well as new opportunities for education. The powerful capabilities of the social media technologies make it possible to expand the context of the classroom, which is no longer the only place where teaching and learning takes place: pupils and students have access at home or anywhere to the teacher-supported courses and the support provided by their own colleagues. The social networking sites can bring something new to teaching and learning, not only in terms of transferring knowledge, but also in terms of increased motivation to learn with more familiar and attractive tools. The paradigm shift towards social learning brings in front new educational targets, such as increased engagement, personal and professional development. The aim of this research is to take a multidimensional approach in order to explore the new educational opportunities provided by the online social networks in the context of the social learning paradigm. The educational opportunities have been specified as a global factor that manifests along four dimensions: information opportunities, collaboration opportunities, personal development opportunities, and professional development opportunities. The multidimensional model has been tested and empirically validated on two samples of Romanian university students by using the SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) methodology. The results of this study show that the multidimensional model is a better conceptualization having a higher explanatory power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-learning platform quality is an important subject in the community of researchers and practitioners. Quality assessment approaches have different perspectives and differ in many respects, such as: objective, target groups and methods used. In recent years, the utility of advanced person-centered methods has become increasingly obvious. Person-centered approaches assume that samples come from heterogeneous populations and focus on identifying unobservable subpopulations that include individuals or similar cases. In this category are included both traditional techniques (e.g. cluster analysis) and advanced techniques (e.g. Latent Class Analysis, Latent Profile Analysis). In the present study, the e-learning platform quality is a general concept defined through three dimensions. The overall perception of students regarding the e-learning platform quality is based on the assessment of the following dimensions: e-learning system quality, information quality, and service quality. The aim of this paper is to extend previous research by adopting a person-oriented approach (e.g. LPA - latent profile analysis) and examine the heterogeneity of students' perceptions of e-learning platform quality. A sample of 385 students from five Romanian universities participated in the study. The data was analyzed with Mplus package version 7.4. The results of LPA revealed the presence of three profiles, reflecting different levels of e-learning platform quality perceptions: low, moderate, and high. The resulting profiles are distinct with respect to e-learning system quality, information quality, and service quality. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that the perceptions of e-learning platforms quality differed significantly across the three profiles. Finally, the article presented the practical implications of the results. The results contribute, on one hand, to identifying groups of students who shared similar perception patterns when dealing with e-learning platform quality. On the other hand, the results are useful in developing a strategy of improving the e-learning platforms by including the specific needs of each student categories identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social networking websites are today part of the university students' lifestyle. This situation is challenging educators to adapt their teaching style by considering various social learning activities, such as: active participation, information and content sharing, collaboration, and debate. In order to exploit the educational potential of social media technologies is important to understand the reasons why students are using it and the relative importance of these reasons. The motives of social networking websites use have been studied from different theoretical perspectives by using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. However, there are relatively few quantitative studies that explore the reasons behind the Facebook use by university students. The Uses & Gratifications Theory (U&GT) explains the use of the social media technology by the fulfillment of the various needs of an active user. The aim of this research is to explore the influence of these motives on the Facebook acceptance with the uses and gratification theory. In this respect, three categories of gratifications have been included: extending the social relations, information-collaboration, and maintaining the social relations. A conceptual model has been tested and validated on a sample of Romanian university students by using the SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) methodology. The testing results revealed a good fit of the model with the data and confirm the hypothesis that each category of gratification is enhancing the intention to continue using this social networking website. This work provides new opportunities for both researchers and practitioners to take an interdisciplinary perspective when exploring the technology acceptance of the social media in learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]