Edmodo vs Facebook www.facebook.com www.edmodo.com Jenny Pange, Evrikleia Dogoriti, Rozita Tsoni, Athanasios Sypsas, Aspa Lekka School of Education, University of Ioannina, Greece E-mail: jpagge@cc.uoi.gr Online Educa Berlin, 3-5 December 2014

Introduction (1) Social Networks: are web-based services are communication tools for creative, collaborative learning based on social interaction, discussion and shared work allow individuals to create a public profile within a structured system allow users to view and navigate their list of connections within the system  

Introduction (2) Social networks sites (SNS) can be used in education Social networks provide a learning context where students exchange learning information, cooperate in learning activities and discussions Many applications of SNS have been used informally by both learners and educators in higher education University students tend to regard them as part of their way of life

Edmodo Edmodo is an educational social network provides a secure learning platform for learners and educators offers a safe educational environment, also for mobile devices. According to American Association of School Librarians (2011), Edmodo is one of the top 25 sites that foster innovation, creativity, active participation and cooperation in the category entitled "Social Networking and Communication»

Facebook Facebook has become the most popular SNS among college students Students create their own profile, in which they share a range of personal information, educational and work history Users also can request and accept friendships with other users, join interest groups or networks,  communicate with others online and offline It is used most importantly for social reasons, not for formal teaching purposes

Data from previous studies (1) Edmodo Nevas (2010) “Inquiry through action research: Effects of the Edmodo Microblog on student engagement and performance” Examined the effects of the Edmodo microblog on student engagement and performance. observed that as communication increased between students more challenging tasks were progressively performed Holland and Muilenburg (2011) “Supporting student collaboration: Edmodo in the classroom” Studied students’ participations in literature discussions, using Edmodo discussion boards. Discussed student participation, student engagement, complexity of discussion and the effectiveness of Edmodo platform Kongchan (2013) “How a non-digital-native teacher makes use of Edmodo”. Explored the possibilities of a non-digital-native teacher to use Edmodo. Edmodo was perceived to be a user-friendly social learning network

Data from previous studies (2) Edmodo Thongmak (2013) “Social Network System in Classroom: Antecedents of Edmodo © Adoption” Explored the use of Edmodo as a classroom collaboration tool and the university students’ views about Edmodo. Edmodo could support both distance teaching and fulfil physical classroom learning Sanders (2013) “An examination of the academic networking site Edmodo on student engagement and responsible learning” Examined the effect of Edmodo on student engagement and responsible learning. particular Edmodo features encouraged both student engagement and responsible learning Dogoriti &Pange (2014) “Instructional design for a "social" classroom: Edmodo and twitter in the foreign language Classroom” Studied the impact of social media on a learning community of university students of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Βest practices were proposed using twitter and Edmodo

Data from previous studies (3) Facebook Selwin (2009) “Faceworking: exploring students’ education-related use of Facebook” Explored students’ education-related use of fb as to: learning experiences exchange of information about teaching assessment moral support Estus (2010) “Using Facebook Within a Geriatric Pharmacotherapy Course” Students used a fb closed group to discuss their academic work outside of the class Reports were positive about the experience Visagie & de Villiers (2010) “Using Social Software to Support Computer ScienceEducation” Investigated the use of fb as an academic tool across five countries, South Africa, Australia, Canada, United States and the UK. Only a small number of lecturers across the countries decided to apply Facebook as an academic tool as part of their teaching strategy

Data from previous studies (4) Facebook Kabilan et al. (2010) “Effects of Student Engagement with Social Media on Student Learning” Students used FB individually or in collaboration with their instructors as a formal learning tool Results showed that students build learning communities by working collaboratively to construct knowledge Wang, Woo, Quek, Yang and Liu (2012) “Using the Facebook group as a learning management system: An exploratory study” Facebook was used as a Learning Management System It revealed student satisfaction useful educational features such as threaded discussions were reported to be missing Dogoriti, Pange & Anderson (2014) “Web-based English Language Learning. The Use of Social Networking and Learning Management Systems in Formal and Informal Settings”. Examined students’ perceptions of online instruction using Moodle with or without the use of fb as an adjunctive learning platform Results suggested that the addition of fb to the course helped build a sense of community within a learning environment while it enhanced the learning process

Materials and Methods (1) School of Education, University of Ioannina Mixed Method (questionnaire and semi-structured interviews) Close-ended, printed questionnaires Self-selected group of 41 students Groups of five to seven students

Materials and Methods (2) Short presentation of Facebook Short presentation of Edmodo Formation of two test groups “Facebook Group” “Edmodo Group” Interviews conducted two weeks after use Semi-structured interviews regarding pros and cons of each tool

Results Demographic Characteristics 35 fully completed out of 41 (completion rate 85.4%) Mean age 18.9±2.5 88,2% Females, 11.8% Males 79.4% of the students in their first year of studies

Frequency of educational use of Facebook Everyday 17.6% Often 11.8% Sometimes 44.1% Rarely 5. 9% Never 20.6%

Facebook as motivation for educational use does motivate FAVOR Facebook 29.4% does not motivate AGAINST Facebook 26.5%

Collaboration on Facebook Less than half of the participants, believed that Facebook promotes collaboration.

Dissemination of educational material through FACEBOOK 44.1% of the participants often shared educational material with peers through Facebook 41.0% of the participants never shared educational material with peers through Facebook

Facebook connection with labor market However… 58.8% of the participants felt that Facebook would help them to connect with labor market

Interview feedback (1) Groups participated in the study provided feedback through semi-structured interviews. Questions concerning: Frequency of use Convenience of the medium Pros and cons Education /professional development promotion the interview was followed by open discussion

Interview feedback (2) Instant and free communication with classmates Broad information about events and activities Dissemination of educational material Instant and free communication with classmates Direct visibility of notices and announcements about the courses Ways of facilitating the educational use of the social media:

Closed groups Sense of security in privacy issues Controlled networking Educational applications Group members participate actively Limited popularity (mainly in education) Many information resources (but not always reliable) Open groups High level of “visibility” Promotes networking Group members act as followers High popularity Distractions

Information on Employment On the question if students use Facebook for information on employment, 70% of students reported using the page of Employment and Career Center, University of Ioannina, in Facebook. Students did not use Edmodo for information on employment, until they are assigned to, by their instructor

Edmondo vs Facebook in the pre-digital world…

Thank you