Boundaries, privacy, and social media use in higher education:

what do students think, want and do?

Vanessa P. Dennen (@vdennen) Kerry J. Burner

Presentation at IR14.0• October 2013 • Denver CO

Main Issues

Social media use in higher education

•  Context

•  Boundaries

•  Control

•  Curiosity

Research Questions

•  What types of communications and networking technologies do students use for school versus personal purposes?

•  What are students’ beliefs about social media use, privacy, and boundaries in a higher education context?

Method

•  Online survey with closed and open ended questions

•  Participants recruited via study pool at large research university

•  147 participants – 123 female, 24 male

•  Analysis: •  Frequency distributions

•  Coding content of open items

Findings: Access & Use

•  90% own a smartphone

•  31% own a tablet

•  They use these devices for: •  Email – 86%

•  Internet searches – 89%

•  Social networking – 89%

•  Academic activities - 80%

Findings: Tool Use

Tool   Personal  Use   School  Use  Text  Message   100%   64%  Facebook   94%   41%  Email   98%   98%  Skype   71%   5%  Pinterest   63%   2%  TwiGer   59%   32%  G+   42%   28%  Blogs   33%   36%  

Findings: Contacting Faculty

First  Choice  Percent   Overall  

Rank  Email   50.34%   1  Face  to  face   42.86%   2  Text  message   4.76%   4  Phone   1.36%   3  TwiGer   0.68%   6  Facebook   0.34%   5  

Findings: Students & PRofs

•  Look up information •  Search engines – 67%

•  Facebook – 30%

•  Follow professors •  Blog – 18%

•  Twitter – 16%

•  Become a contact •  Facebook – 37%

•  Twitter – 11%

•  Look for •  Course information – 94%

•  Academic credentials – 76%

•  Scholarly work – 24%

•  Personal information – 14%

•  63% did not believe profs would search for their information •  “THAT IS CREEPY”

FINDINGS: Social media & courses

•  OK with required course social media use: 10%

•  Encourage instructors to use social media: 29%

•  Comfortable sharing personal info with class via social media: 20%

•  Want to connect with classmates: 43%

•  Want to connect with instructor: 10%

FINDINGS: Online Coursework

•  Concerned about quality of work posted online: 52%

•  Remove online coursework at end of course: 54%

•  Instructor should be only audience for assigns: 67%

•  Have learned from examples posted by other students online: 62%

Discussion

•  Students have some online boundary concerns and issues

•  Want to use tools in some contexts, but not others

•  Want to observe, but not always be observed

•  Refutes suggestion that social media use in education will motivate and excite students

Extensions

•  Current study considering Facebook use and expectations •  Friends, access, and boundaries

•  Impact on non-users

Thank you

Questions?

Contact: vdennen@fsu.edu kburner@fsu.edu

@vdennen vanessadennen.com