ERIC Number: EJ1086782
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1743-9884
EISSN: N/A
Using "Facebook" as a Co-Learning Community in Higher Education
Cuesta, Marta; Eklund, Monica; Rydin, Ingegerd; Witt, Ann-Katrin
Learning, Media and Technology, v41 n1 p55-72 2016
Students' cultural capital plays a major role in their success in higher education. In Sweden today, many students come from diverse cultural, social and educational backgrounds. Knowledge of requirements in academic systems differs widely. Some students feel insecure about how to interpret academic codes, thus weakening these students' opportunities for academic success. The major goal of this project was to lay the groundwork for a more equal educational system. Using social media, in this case conversations (e.g., chats) in a closed forum on Facebook monitored by a tutor, we aimed to improve student integration into academic culture. We differentiated two central themes related to student conversations on "Facebook": (1) "Access to academic habitus--cracking codes" and (2) "Emancipation by co-learning--extended academic codes." It was found that students participating in study groups created on "Facebook" learnt to better crack and extend the codes extant in university studies.
Descriptors: Social Media, Technology Uses in Education, Communities of Practice, Higher Education, College Students, Cultural Capital, Equal Education, Computer Mediated Communication, Student Participation, School Culture, Foreign Countries, Mixed Methods Research, Ethnography
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A