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Chapter 1

The Problem

Introduction

The integration of new technologies in existing learning contexts has

brought significant changes in overall learning processes and their outcomes.

Because students complain about lacking opportunities for authentic

communication due to non-personalized course content even when alternative

delivery methods are employed, providing informal learning contexts by

integrating emerging social networks into existing learning practices becomes

significantly important to attain more robust learning and teaching opportunities

(Bartlett-Bragg, 2006).

Moreover, rapid development of information and communication

technologies has brought changes in various pedagogical and technological

applications and processes. Currently, social networks are being adopted rapidly

by millions of users most of whom are students with a great number of purposes

in mind (Lenhart & Madden, 2007; Selwyn, 2007a). One of the most common

social networking sites that are available and commonly used for instruction is

Facebook.

Facebook is a social networking site that people use to connect and share

with their family and online friends. The increasing interest in using Facebook
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has heightened the need for socializing and finding friends to make the people

sustain their leisure time. (Boyd and Ellyson, 2007).

Facebook provides a personalized profile to the user while allowing for

communication, information sharing, creating a friends list, photo albums,

forming or applying to social interest groups, and different kinds of online games.

In short, as members of Facebook, people can share their photos, send

messages, chat, tag themselves or others on photos, write on friends' walls, join

groups, create new groups, share ideas in group discussions, add kinds of

applications, and play games in Facebook. Facebook has been accessed by

millions of users in a short time while becoming a part of users' daily lives.

Similarly, it has attracted researchers' interest in different subjects such as

users' patterns of offline and online activities, online identities, technological

capacities of social connections and cultural patterns (Ellison, Steinfield, &

Lampe, 2007; Selwyn, 2007a).

Additionally, Facebook is being considered as an educational tool because

of its beneficial qualities such as enabling peer feedback, goodness of fit with

social context, and interaction tools (Mason, 2006). Because most Facebook

users are between 18 and 25 years old, they mostly are university students

(Bumgarner, 2007). Hence, it can easily be deduced that it can be a useful

educational tool especially by providing active participation and collaboration.

Nowadays, students today demand more autonomy, connectivity, interaction

and socio-experiential learning opportunities in their learning contexts

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(McLoughlin & Lee, 2007). Students’ attitude is one of the characteristics of the

learner to know the physical view of their personality.

One of the most important functions of any educational use of ICT is to

actively engage learners. Students can work with interactive exercises in a

variety of forms— exploring, manipulating and interrogating resources. However,

to achieve meaningful and appropriate educational outcomes, software

development must follow from the design of activities that help learners achieve

desired educational goals (Kirkwood, 1998, Jones et al., 1998, Lawless & Freake,

2001)

On the other hand, student motivation naturally has to do with students'

desire to participate in the learning process. But it also concerns the reasons or

goals that underlie their involvement or noninvolvement in academic activities.

Although students may be equally motivated to perform a task, the sources of

their motivation may differ. Motivation to learn is a competence acquired

"through general experience but stimulated most directly through modeling,

communication of expectations, and direct instruction or socialization by

significant others (Brophy, 1987)

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between Facebook

and the attitude of students in their studies. Specifically, this study would be

conducted at Southpoint College of Arts and Technology.

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Statement of the Problem

This study aims to investigate the relationship between Facebook and the

students’ attitude in their studies. Specifically, the research sought to answer

the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the students according to :

a. Age

b. Gender

c. Course and Year Level

2. What is the level of exposure of the students in terms of Facebook use?

3. What is the attitude of the students towards their studies?

4. Is there a significant difference in the attitudes when students group

according to; age, gender or course year level?

5. Does the level of Facebook exposure significantly affect the student’s

attitudes towards their studies?

6. Based on the results, what simple regulations can be made to help address

the problem?

Significance of the study

The result of the study is beneficial to the following:

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To the school administration. Through the result of this study, it will

provide a relevant information in order to formulate regulations specifically on

the prevalent problems of the students particularly on their studies.

To the college students. This study, would help the students to understand

about the importance of motivation. This will help the student organization to

formulate rules and regulations pertaining to the use of Facebook to the college

students specifically in their studies.

To the Parents. The study will guide parents specifically to their siblings.

It will guide them in creating motivation to continue their studies. Parents also

would be guided about the existence of social media and its usage to the studies

of their children.

Definition of Terms

The following terms to be used in the study which are defined either

theoretically or operationally for the readers to clearly understand how the terms

are used in the study.

Facebook. Facebook allows you to upload photos and maintain photo

albums that can be shared with your friends. It supports interactive online chat

and the ability to comment on your friend's profile pages, sometimes called

"walls," in order to keep in touch and share information (Nation, 2018).

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Student attitudes. Student attitudes on learning determine their ability

and willingness to learn. If negative attitudes are not altered, student is unlikely

to continue his education beyond what is required. Changing students' negative

attitudes towards learning is a process that involves determining the factors

driving the attitude and using this information to bring about change. (Shonett,

2018)

Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is the current state of online technology as it compares

to the early days of the Web, characterized by greater user interactivity and

collaboration, more pervasive network connectivity and enhanced

communication channels (O’reilly, 2005).

Regulation. Regulation is an abstract concept of management of complex

systems according to a set of rules and trends (Mendoza, 2014)

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study is delimitated to the Facebook and the students attitude

towards the studies of Southpoint College of Arts and Technology ( SCAT) for the

current year 2018-2019. The study will focused on investigating the

relationship of the Facebook social media to the students attitude in their

studies. The respondents of the study are the 100 selected students in
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Southpoint College of Arts and Technology. They will be selected randomly based

from statistical sampling.