Research Article
Marwan Abualrob, Safa Nazzal
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 11, Issue 1, pp. 55-76
ABSTRACT
The aim of the study is to assess the extent to which WhatsApp Instant Messaging is used to teach chemistry and biology to the tenth-grade students. A mixed approach was used, whereby the authors drew on the content analysis model to analyze quantitative data. The sample consisted of 28 Palestinian tenth-grade students and their teachers, who used WhatsApp Instant Messaging for four months (the Spring semester of 2019). The collected data was divided into four categories: the nature of the message (instructional, organizational, or social); the form of the message (texts, pictures/graphs, voice recordings, videos, or link-sharing); the direction of communication flow (from a teacher to a student, from a student to a teacher, from a student to a student, or from a teacher to a teacher); and knowledge exchange. Our findings suggest that WhatsApp is used more for non-instructional purposes– particularly socialization– yet the portion of instruction-related messages was somehow enough to predict more effective future use of the application for teaching/learning purposes.
Keywords: WhatsApp, instant messaging, tenth grade, teaching/learning chemistry and biology
Research Article
Diganta Baishya, Saurabh Maheshwari
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 11, Issue 1, pp. 31-46
ABSTRACT
The present study explores the uses of WhatsApp groups in the education context. It examines utilities and burdens associated with educational WhatsApp groups. The study also explores how the presence of teachers in the groups can influence the group functioning. In the first study chats of four WhatsApp groups of one year, where two groups were included teacher and two groups were without teachers, were analyzed. In the second study, interviews were conducted with two participants from each group, a total of eight participants. The results of the studies show that the major functions these groups serve are mostly education-related. However, apart from academic uses, students do use this platform for wishing/congratulations, for extra curriculum activities as well as for entertainment purposes. In addition, the results show that the presence of the teacher influences the group conversation significantly. Though students reported that sometimes these WhatsApp groups become burden and take a lot of time, but they also believe that is unavoidable, since these WhatsApp groups not only provide them important information related to class, exam, holidays, etc., but members are also able to connect with others and involve in non-academic activities.
Keywords: WhatsApp, WhatsApp group, Social media, WhatsApp and education
Research Article
Chokri Barhoumi
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 6, Issue 3, pp. 221-238
ABSTRACT
This research paper explores the effectiveness of using mobile technologies to support a blended learning course titled Scientific Research Methods in Information Science. Specifically, it discusses the effects of WhatsApp mobile learning activities guided by activity theory on students' knowledge Management (KM). During the 2014 academic year, the researcher adopted an experimental approach-based comparison between an experimental group (34 students) and a control group (34 students). The learning process of the experimental group was based on continuity between 2 hours of in-class learning and 1 hour of learning activities that were mediated by WhatsApp instant messaging each week. The control group’s experience was 100% in-class with no app mediation. The researcher used the t-test to compare the means of the control and experimental groups in the test and the students’ attitudes at 0.05 alpha levels. This research paper is useful for exploring the effectiveness of mobile technologies in supporting blended learning courses.
Keywords: WhatsApp, Mobile teaching, Mobile learning, Mobile tools, Activity theory