This study presents and evaluates the educational potentials that Social Network Services (SNS) offer to students in the higher education context. The first aim of this study is to explore students' perceptions of Facebook Learning Groups (ie, Facebook Groups that were created for learning purposes), and the learning and affective benefits that…

In the 21st century, the use of information technology in the classroom is advancing rapidly, especially in higher education. The Internet, through social networking, has made it possible for students to learn and teachers to teach outside the classroom walls. Facebook in particular has made it possible for students to interact and communicate…

Facebook is a popular social networking site. It, like many other new technologies, has potential for teaching and learning because of its unique built-in functions that offer pedagogical, social and technological affordances. In this study, the Facebook group was used as a learning management system (LMS) in two courses for putting up…

There is a need to understand antecedents to US teens' use of information and communication technology (ICT). Research on the "digital divide" for access to ICT reports conflicting findings based on gender and demographic factors of parent income and education. This study expanded the "tool-will-skill" framework to examine how…

This exploratory research investigates how students and professionals use social network sites (SNSs) in the setting of developing and emerging countries. Data collection included focus groups consisting of medical students and faculty as well as the analysis of a Facebook site centred on medical and clinical topics. The findings show how users,…

To date, little empirical research on professional use of social network sites has been conducted, particularly with reference to groups of teachers on Facebook. The paper presents the results of two surveys addressed to the founders of five Italian Facebook groups and their members (n = 1107), with the aim of investigating mechanisms underlying…

Student life has changed a lot since 2005 when the idea to create a Social Network Service (SNS) for students in the School of Systems Engineering at the University of Reading was conceived and went live in 2006. Over the next few years, this service (known as RedGloo) was offered to students at the university with the aim of supporting their…

Traditionally, at least according to popular wisdom, learning took place in venues that were custom-designed for the purpose. The purpose, given the evidence of the artefacts with which we are confronted, seems to have been the educational equivalent of the production line that so succinctly characterised the industrialisation of society. One…