LOS FENOMENOS SOCIALES TECNOLOGICOS

Resumen

Los medios sociales son un fenómeno tecnológico global a consecuencia del rápido desarrollo de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación. Los medios sociales han abierto las puertas a nuevas formas de participación y han influido en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje en muchas universidades del mundo. Este estudio presenta los resultados de un análisis comparativo sobre el uso de los medios sociales como herramientas para el aprendizaje en el marco de instituciones de educación superior a través de un metaanálisis de investigaciones entre México y Corea del Sur, 2004-2013. Según los resultados, los medios sociales tienen un enorme potencial para facilitar actividades de aprendizaje en los estudiantes y como recursos personales más allá del salón de clase. Sin embargo, es importante señalar que sus ventajas no son exclusivamente atribuibles a la gestión en el manejo de nuevas tecnologías, sino en implicaciones pedagógicas que promueven su incorporación. Blended learning, así como el aprendizaje autodirigido, han conducido el uso significativo de los medios sociales mediante el cambio de actitudes y valores propios de los estudiantes en su proceso de aprendizaje y en la construcción de conocimientos. Al final de este trabajo se comparten algunas implicaciones y sugerencas para futuros estudios.

Palabras clave: Aprendizaje social, Educación superior, Medios sociales

Introduction

In recent years, social media has been part of a new culture that facilitates communication and interaction between people through the Internet (Mustonen, 2009; Davis et al. 2012; Kim, 2012; Seamean & Tinti-Kane, 2013). This has been possible due to the development of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) which offer a variety of services; they are freely available and in some cases are free. The appearance on the market of new devices —such as smartphones, tablet PCs, etc.— and the development of web applications, accompanies the emergence of new interactive experiences adaptable to users’ requirements.

Mexico is one of the fastest growing Latin American countries on Internet use. In 2012, World Internet Project (WIP) informed that 46% of Mexicans, about 52.3 million, have access to the Internet. Likewise, a study by The Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU) revealed that the use of social networks is estimated, in 2013, about 85% of Internet users, nearly 34.7 million users. The heyday of social networks lies in the presidential election of 2012; similarly, other social media as thematic blogs and videoblogs have been the main tools in the digital age 2.0 in Mexico. The use of social media is no exception in South Korea. South Korea has attracted attention for its advances in the field of ICTs around the world. Firstly, because they have the fastest Internet and its penetration reached 81.6% of the population. Also, South Korea has better mobile connectivity and they were the creators of the first social network called “Cyworld” in 1999. By 2005 some educational and strategic policies were implemented to expand and enhance the use of ICTs in education and research. Nevertheless, in 2010, South Korea was able to position itself as one of the leading countries in the use of social media, ubiquitous learning and mobile learning through mobile devices.

The vision of the use of ICT in Higher Education in the twenty-first century is associated with the development of lifelong learning, more equity of access, quality improvement of teaching methods, diversification for cooperative-collaborative, autonomous learning, and troubleshooting of the physical environment (UNESCO, 1998). From this perspective, this study seeks to analyze and compare the use of social media in Mexico and South Korea, and thus to understand the features and mechanisms as an educational tool and its effects on learning. A comprehensive qualitative and quantitative synthesis of research on the use of social media in higher education during 2004 to 2013 through a systematic analysis is presented.

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Social media

Social media are web-based technologies such as social networks, wikis, blogs, microblogs and multimedia sharing tools that allow users to connect to the Internet to create and share content with other users (Schwartz, 2012). Social media has emerged with the potential of “social software” to increase dialogue, collaboration, networking and help establish social relationships based on common goals and interests (Mayfield, 2007; Ryberg, 2008; Safko & Brake, 2009; Mustonen, 2009; Joosten, 2012). In educational terms, some authors emphasize the use of social media for better control and efficiency of resources to complement the work inside and outside the classroom in order to improve student learning, facilitate teacher-student and student-students interaction, development of skills and competencies and their level of satisfaction into new learning experiences (Ajjan & Hartshorne, 2008).

Social media gains a special value after the emergence of Web 2.0 The evolution of the Internet helps us understand the emergence of this participatory platform that conceptualizes the importance of producing (or co-producing), distribution and democratization of information. The characteristics of social media are: participation, openness, conversation, community and connectedness (FKII Josayeongu Team, 2006: 53).

Participation. Social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between media and audience.

Openness. Most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting, comments and the sharing of information. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of content-password-protected content is frowned upon.

Conversation. Whereas traditional media is about “broadcast” (content transmitted or distributed to an audience) social media is better seen as a two-way conversation.

Community. Social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities share common interests.

Connectivity. Most kinds of social media thrive on their connectivity, making use of links to other sites, resources and people.

Giaccardi (2012) highlights social media in a “participatory culture”, that is, it features on encounters with heritage and on the socially produced meanings and values that individuals and communities ascribe to it. The author classifies it around three major themes: social practice, public information, and a sense of place. Social media users have new opportunities to gain experiences when participating in collections and representations, as well as the communication process as curators of content (social practice). The widespread presence of social technologies provides a platform for information exchanging in the public domain and the development of peer activities and promoting and legitimizing participation (public information). And, computing becomes more pervasive. Its digital networks extend our surroundings and support new ways to engage among people into a specific territorial setting (sense of place).

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Social media at university

The adoption of social media in the university setting represents a valuable resource for learning, enabling students to find new channels of communication, a valuable source of information and participation (Ajjan & Hartshorne, 2008; Munoz & Towner, 2009; Junco, 2011). In recent years, blogs and wikis are the most used social media by students for individual tasks, especially to create content and add comments (Seamean & Tinti-Kane, 2013). Blogs or weblogs are valuable tools in education within a constructivist model. Blogs support E-learning, establish channels for informal communication between teacher and student, promote social interactions and provide to students a personal media to get learning experiences (Lara, 2005). Furthermore, wikis are tools especially for collaborative learning because they allow students to construct, share, and explore information and knowledge from a peer communication (Haythornthwaite, 2006).

It is evident the interest and the possibilities offered by these tools for learning. However, these will depend on the manner teachers promote strategies. Some researches consider the importance of developing a set of skills and technological competencies (Kennedy et al., 2008); and overcome a ‘digital dissonance’ emphasizing technologies that bring positive effects on learning and need to be adaptable to socio-cultural context of students (Clark et al., 2009); and ultimately, it is needed to design support activities through scaffolding of learning experiences with the use of technology (McLoughlin & Lee, 2010).

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Research methodology

A comparative analysis was conducted through a meta-analysis in order to measure the size and trends of use of social media as a learning tool in higher education. The sample size was determined based on the collection of articles published in Mexico and South Korea between 2004 and 2013. Meta-analysis method was introduced by Glass in 1976 for systematic reviews of literature in an attempt to synthesize the results in context, interpret them and reach a conclusion.

The following Table 2 shows the analytical framework of this study and was designed around the literature of related studies (Jeung, 2010; Bennett et al., 2012; Davis et al., 2012; Tess, 2013; Nykvist & Lee, 2013).

Data was collected from 6 databases through the insertion of specific keywords. The bases are: REDALYC (an

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