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Using Slack for computer-mediated communication to support higher education students’ peer interactions during Master’s thesis seminar
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Springer, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Our study contributes to the research on computer-mediated communication in higher education by experimenting a modern communication tool called Slack. In particular, we consider using Slack to support students’ peer interactions during Master’s thesis work. For this purpose, we designed a case study that was executed in a Master’s thesis seminar course. During the course, all out-of-class communication was carried out by using Slack, instead of e-mails or learning management systems. After the course, we used a questionnaire to investigate how the students perceived Slack for asking for assistance, their intention to use Slack, and Slack’s ease of use. Furthermore, the questionnaire asked feedback about challenges that the students found in slack. To examine the students’ peer support in Slack, we analysed the messages in the course’s public discussion channels. We investigated opportunities and challenges of Slack from instructional perspective by conducting an auto-ethnographic data collection. Our analysis revealed that the students perceived Slack as an easy-to-use communication tool with a low threshold of asking questions. The students also expressed high intentions to use Slack in the future. However, the students were worried of information overload in Slack, frustrated with decentralisation of communication tools in higher education, and cautious of using communication tools that are not officially supported by the university. The students’ interactions were assigned to three categories: practical, technical, and thesis-related. Analysis of these categories revealed that the students were able to explicate and solve issues in Slack, but the issues were only related to practical and technical problems, instead of actual Master’s thesis writing. The teacher perceived that Slack enhanced bi-directional communication with the students, but faced issues related to file management and user authentication. The results implicate that developing an alternative for Slack from educational premises could be more useful than a product that is not originally developed for pedagogical needs. Finally, we present recommendations that help educators to use Slack in their educational practices. peerReviewed
- Subjects :
- Higher education
Teaching method
Library and Information Sciences
Peer support
Education
opinnäytteet
slack
communication tools
0502 economics and business
Mathematics education
ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDEDUCATION
Master’s thesis
vertaisryhmät
computer-mediated communication
viestintä
vertaistuki
business.industry
05 social sciences
Educational technology
050301 education
Usability
Information overload
higher education
Learning Management
Computer-mediated communication
tietokoneavusteinen viestintä
business
Psychology
0503 education
050203 business & management
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....883c77cd61308f51dd38d056552baefc