Research Article

Digital Ethnography on Students’ Authentic Engagement in Social Media Platforms during the Global Online Experiment

Cathy Mae Dabi Toquero 1 *
More Detail
1 College of Education, Mindanao State University, General Santos City, PHILIPPINES* Corresponding Author
Journal of Digital Educational Technology, 1(1), 2021, ep2104, https://doi.org/10.21601/jdet/11310
OPEN ACCESS   1892 Views   3445 Downloads
Download Full Text (PDF)

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the culture of the student online community of pre-service teachers relative to their engagement in social media at a state university in the Philippines. It analyzes students’ engagement to facilitate authentic learning within the bounds of social media platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The author used a digital ethnographic design to investigate the use of social media as an emerging technology to supplement pre-service teachers’ authentic learning during COVID-19. The deductive thematic analysis, which was anchored in the lens of constructivism and social media engagement theory, revealed that the use of emerging technologies such as Facebook expands students’ cognitive, behavioral, and emotional engagement in the online community. Although students have difficulty identifying unofficial reports, they expressed a positive response to using social media to supplement pedagogical platforms amid the crisis. The study recommends conducting an empirical investigation into the responsiveness of Facebook as an emergency platform to supplement pedagogy during the global online experiment.

CITATION (APA)

Toquero, C. M. D. (2021). Digital Ethnography on Students’ Authentic Engagement in Social Media Platforms during the Global Online Experiment. Journal of Digital Educational Technology, 1(1), ep2104. https://doi.org/10.21601/jdet/11310

REFERENCES

  1. Allcott, H., Gentzkow, M., & Yu, C. (2019). Trends in the diffusion of misinformation on social media. Research and Politics, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168019848554
  2. Arasaratnam-Smith, L. & Northcote, M. (2017). Community in online higher education: Challenges and opportunities. The Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 15(2), 188-198.
  3. Basilaia, G., & Kvavadze, D. (2020). Transition to online education in schools during a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Georgia. Pedagogical Research, 5(4), em0060. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/7937
  4. Bond, M., Buntins, K., Bedenlier, S., Zawacki-Richter, O., & Kerres, M. (2020). Mapping research in student engagement and educational technology in higher education: A systematic evidence map. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17(2), 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0176-8
  5. Bowen, G. (2009). Document analysis as a qualitative research method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ0902027
  6. Bozkurt, A., & Sharma, R. C. (2020). Emergency remote teaching in a time of global crisis due to CoronaVirus pandemic. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), i-vi. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3778083
  7. Bozkurt, A., Jung, I., Xiao, J., Vladimirschi, V., Schuwer, R., Egorov, G., Lambert, S. R., Al-Freih, M., Pete, J., Olcott, Jr. D., Rodes, V., Aranciaga, I., Bali, M., Alvarez, Jr., A. V., Roberts, J., Pazurek, A., Raffaghelli, J. E., Panagiotou, N., Coëtlogon, P. d., & Paskevicius, M. (2020). A global outlook to the interruption of education due to COVID-19 pandemic: Navigating in a time of uncertainty and crisis. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 1-126. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3878572
  8. Chugh, R., & Ruhi, U. (2019). Social Media for Tertiary Education. In A. Tatnall (Ed.), Encyclopedia of education and information technologies. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60013-0_202-1
  9. Commission on Higher Education (CHED, 2020). Guidelines for the prevention, control, and mitigation of the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Higher Education Institutions. https://ched.gov.ph/blog/2020/03/12/guidelines-for-the-prevention-control-and-mitigation-of-the-spread-of-the-2019-novel-coronavirus-acute-respiratory-disease-in-higher-education-institutions/
  10. Dagar, V., & Yadav, A. (2016). Constructivism: A paradigm for teaching and learning. Arts Social Scienes Journal, 7(4), 1000200. https://doi.org/10.4172/2151-6200.1000200
  11. Di Gangi, P., & Wasko, M. (2016). Social media engagement theory: Exploring the influence of user engagement on social media usage. Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, 28(2), 53-73. https://doi.org/10.2018/JOEUC.2016040104
  12. Duncan, H. E., & Young, S. (2009). Online pedagogy and practice: Challenges and strategies. The Researcher, 22(1), 17-32. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282662578
  13. Dutta, A. (2020). Impact of Digital Social Media on Indian Higher Education: Alternative Approaches of Online Learning during COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 10(5), 604-611. https://doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.10.05.2020.p10169
  14. Figueira, A., & Oliveira, L. (2017). The current state of fake news: challenges and opportunities. Procedia Computer Science, 121(2017), 817-825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.11.106
  15. Kadam, A., & Atre, S. (2020). Negative impact of social media panic during the COVID-19 outbreak in India. Journal of Travel Medicine, 27(3), taaa057. https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taaa057
  16. Lad, A., Bhuyan, A., Chopra, C., Padhi, D., & Gupta, S. (2020). Usage of social media by the millennials before and after Covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 8(6), 4343-5359.
  17. Lemon, N., & O’Brien, S. (2019). Social media use in initial teacher education: Lessons on knowing where your students are. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 44(12), 38-56. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2019v44n12.3
  18. Lynch, M. (2020). E-Learning during a global pandemic. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 189-195. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3881785
  19. Mnkandla, E., & Minnaar, A. (2017). The use of social media in e-learning: A metasynthesis. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(5), 227-248. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i5.3014
  20. Murthy, D. (2008). Digital ethnography: An examination of the use of new technologies for social research. Sociology, 42, 837-855. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038508094565
  21. NapoleonCat (2020). Facebook users in Philippines. https://napoleoncat.com/stats/facebook-users-in-philippines/2020/01
  22. Palvia, S., Aeron, P., Gupta, P., Mahapatra, D., Parida, R., Rosner, R., & Sindhi, S. (2018). Online education: Worldwide status, challenges, trends, and implications. Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 21(4), 233-241. https://doi.org/10.1080/1097198X.2018.1542262
  23. Schindler, L. A., Burkholder, G. J., Morad, O. A., & Marsh, C. (2017). Computer-based technology and student engagement: A critical review of the literature. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 14(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-017-0063-0
  24. Toquero, C. M. D. (2020). Emergency remote teaching amid COVID-19: The turning point. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 185-188. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3881748