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Bridging the Technology Divide in the COVID-19 Era: Using Virtual Outreach to Expose Middle and High School Students to Imaging Technology
Published on: September 28, 2022
Dear student, what should I write on my wall? A case study on academic uses of Facebook and Instagram during the
Claudiu Coman1, Luiza Mesesan-Schmitz1, Laurentiu Gabriel Tiru2
1Department of Social Sciences and Communication, Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Transilvania University of Brasov, Brasov, Romania.
Abstract:
Prior to the COVID 19 pandemic, discussions about online learning referred to the use of e-learning platforms and social networks as auxiliary tools in the educational process. Due to the pandemic, universities were forced to adopt an exclusive online teaching process and most universities today use platforms dedicated to online learning such as Moodle platforms. In this context, we were interested in analyzing the attitude of students regarding the way social networks could be integrated into the educational process, and if the positive attitude of students towards social networks and their use for academic purposes, proven in previous studies, remains positive under the conditions generated by the pandemic. In this regard, the present study aimed at identifying the attitude of Romanian students towards the use of Facebook and Instagram as educational tools and the circumstances in which students believe these platforms could be used by them and their teachers. An online survey was conducted on 872 students from public higher education institutions in Romania. Based on the exploratory factor analysis and the parametric test, the empirical results show that students have a slightly positive attitude towards using Facebook in the educational process, but they have a more reticent, less positive attitude towards using Instagram. Thus, the most appropriate contexts in which these platforms could be used are represented by extracurricular activities. A higher preference for the use of Facebook rather than Instagram, was identified among master and PhD students. No major differences were revealed in student subgroups sorted by gender or study domain.
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