Thriving Social Network for

Communication on eLearning:
Exploring Gender Differences in Attitudes
Poonsri Vate-U-Lan, Ed.D.
Lecturer in eLearning Methodology
Assumption University of Thailand
Panicos Masouras, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Cyprus University of Technology

International Conference on Data Science, E-learning and Information Systems 2018 (Data'18)
1-2 October, Ayre Gran Hotel Colón, Madrid, Spain
Agenda
The research on how to improve quality of eLearning especially the approach of a better eLearning design in
terms of effective communication in the era of social media is in great demand.

Research Q Methodology Findings Discussion Recommendation

3 sub-questions Online survey 896 valid responses Conclusion
Introduction and
statement of the problem

• A formal Learning Management System

is an isolated system
• Students are normally access to social
network site
• What is students’ opinion towards
eLearning on social network site?
Research Questions
Principal research objective: to investigate the attitude towards social network sites of students, particular
those experienced in eLearning.

eLearning
Attitude Gender Experience

1st Q 2nd Q 3rd Q

1) What are the attitudes 2) Is there a statistically
towards social network significant difference in the
site of online students mean attitude scores of
who had eLearning students who had experience on
experience? eLearning for female and male
participants?
3) Is there any statistically significant
difference among three groups of
students who had different experience
on using eLearning for having formal,
informal and both types of eLearning?
Methodology
The online survey posted on the researcher’s Facebook/ There was a screening question to select only students
who have eLearning experience. 5 items of attitude in the form of 6-point Likert Scale

Online self-administered survey

I. Demographic information
II. Social network behaviour, and
III. Attitude towards eLearning Questions on attitude
within social networking
platforms.
The reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha co-efficiency) of
these five questions were 0.898 which can be
interpreted as an excellent internal consistency.
 List of demographic Per cent N
Findings: ELearning experience

Demographic Have eLearning experience 67.7 607

No eLearning experience 32.3 289
Total 100 896
Type of eLearning
experience
Formal eLearning 21.7 132
Informal eLearning 22.2 135
Both types of eLearning 56.0 340
Total 100 607
Gender
Female 50.7 299
Male 49.3 308
Total 100 607
Status
Working 50.9 309
Studying 39.7 241
Seeking for job 6.6 40
Unemployed 2.8 17
Total 100 607
Place of Living
Cyprus 74.6 453
Thailand 17.5 106
Other 7.9 48
Total 100 607
Findings:
Pyramid of the most frequency use social network
 Motivation for Using Social Network
80

70

60
64.1
61.8 59.8 Findings
50.4 49.6
50 29.5
29.7 29.4
40 24 24.5 31.6
30 25.7
14.2
20 12
34.6 32.1 30.4
26.4 25
10 17.4 13.7
0

Female Male Percentage

 1st Question
2nd Question
X̅ 4.23

Q G N x̄ SD t Df Sig. Mean diff.

Q5 4.31 Q1 Fe 299 4.29 1.3 2.241 605 .025* .249
M 308 4.05 1.5
Q2 Fe 299 4.31 1.1 1.365 599.8 .173 .132
Q4 4.27
M 308 4.18 1.3
Q3 Fe 299 4.27 1.2 2.249 605 .025* .235
Q3 4.15 M 308 4.04 1.4
Q4 Fe 299 4.38 1.2 2.096 587.3 .037* .222
M 308 4.16 1.4
Q2 4.24
Q5 Fe 299 4.47 1.2 2.906 592.4 .004* .306
M 308 4.16 1.4
Q1 4.17 ≈ Fe 299 4.34 1.0 2.600 590.1 .010* .229
M 308 4.12 1.2
4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4

Q5: I believe that social networks support eLearning potential

Findings

Q4: I am able to access academic contents on social networking sites

Q3: Social networking sites encourage me to learn, discuss, share knowledge among peers and lecturers spontaneously
Q2: Communication of eLearning class on social networking is friendly
Q1: I like to participate in eLearning on social networking sites since it is more convenient to access
 Findings Comparison of students’ attitude towards eLearning on Social
Networking, grouped by eLearning experience
3rd Question

• There was a statistically significant

difference at the p < .05 level in
attitude for three different
experience groups.
• The mean score for students who
had only informal eLearning
experience (M = 3.96, SD = 1.07)
was significantly lower from Pair comparison of students’ attitude towards eLearning on Social
students who had both types of Networking, grouped eLearning experience
eLearning experiences eLearning Mean (SD) Formal Informal Both
experience types
Formal (n=132) 4.17 (1.06) - - -

Informal (n=135) 3.96 (1.08) - .001*

Both types 4.35 (1.09) -

(n=340)
 Discussion
The findings of this study support the assertion that social network sites can be used effectively as a
communication tool in eLearning. Social networking can be an option to support better eLearning experiences as
its accessibility and affordability by students are prominent factors that need to be taken into consideration.

3rd Question Students who were

1st Question
The findings presented the
same trends as the previous
research conducted in
Jordan, American, Turkey,
Israel, Oman and Hong
Kong.
• Friendly design and
• The ease of use of social
network site
• A better 2-way
communication
experienced in both types
of eLearning, had higher
2nd Question
attitude score
Since female participants
had a significantly higher
level than males’ attitude This can be a strong confirmation of all
in each item. positive attitude towards communication for
• the previous study eLearning on social network sites since it
found that female did can be implied that online students’
not prefer the online attitude have compared their experience
game based learning from formal and informal eLearning.
however why female
students have a more
positive attitude
towards eLearning on
social network sites.
 Recommendations and conclusion
• The need to gathering data from online students who experience
with LMSs that plug-in xAPI or Tin Can since a function of social
network site will be embedded seamlessly and positive
technological disruption will be exploited in an educational
environment.

Not only gender differences in attitudes, but also other variables such as ages or
other related psychology issues such as sheconomy and technology adaptation
model should be studied.

• The expectation to improve, revise and modify the traditional LMSs needs to be implemented
before being disrupted by social network leveraging external to education institutions.
 Dr. Poonsri Vate-U-Lan

Vate-U-Lan, P., & Masouras, P. (2018). Thriving Social Network for Communication on eLearning: Exploring Gender
Differences in Attitudes. In International Conference on Data Science, E-learning and Information
Systems 2018 (Data’18). Ayre Gran Hotel Colón, Madrid, Spain: ACM Digital Library and UDIMA
Universidad a distancia de Madrid. https://doi.org/10.1145/3279996.3280010

Thank you for your attention