Course arrangement

In this study, the design of the experiment was based on the research experiment design of Deng & Travares (2013). The research study of Deng & Travares (2013) attempted to investigate the factors influencing student engagement in online discussions via the use of MOODLE and Facebook. MOODLE was conceived as an official e-learning platform (LMS) where its major function was the download of materials and assignment submission only. With its Web 1.0 design, low student engagement resulted. However, with Facebook, students were motivated by their existing Facebook usage habits, social presence and sense of ownership and Web 2.0 technology. They were keen to participate in online discussions (Deng & Travares, 2013). Therefore, six classes of marketing course students (Total: 150) studying the Higher Diploma (HD) 2-year programme in SCS, CUHK, were instructed to access LMS, i.e. MOODLE, and Facebook private groups using their smartphones with internet access for the entire semester (15 weeks). According to Deng & Travares (2013), students were required to download the course materials and submit assignments via MOODLE. We adopted the best practice of preparing online course materials in a single format, pdf, which is supported by mobile internet browsers across different platforms. The pdf documents were embedded with internet links which provided students with further online references (Kampov-Polevoi, 2010).

Figure 5.1 shows the course materials in pdf format viewed by mobile internet browser. Mobile internet browser has built-in pdf reader function so that users can zoom in, zoom out, change orientation and click the link to visit reference website.

Figure 5.1: The course materials in pdf format viewed by mobile internet browser

MOODLE is equipped with responsive web design which is a web page technology supporting screen of different sizes (Jobe, 2013; Young & Hung, 2014). Figure 5.2 & 5.3 show the response web design of MOODLE to support wide screen and small screen devices respectively.

Figure 5.2: The response web design of MOODLE supports wide screen devices

Mobile learning takes place over a Facebook private study group when students are participating in in-class activities. Facebook was chosen because it (1) was widely adopted by university students in Hong Kong, (2) was capable of engaging students in online discussions, (3) had good usability due to Web 2.0 technologies (Deng & Travares, 2013), (4) promoted a good classroom atmosphere, (5) improved the student-teacher relationship and (6) compensated for MOODLE (LMS) weaknesses (Wang et al., 2012). Thus, in this study, students were required to join the private study group on Facebook created by teachers at the beginning of the semester. For security, privacy and confidentiality reasons, the Facebook group was set to private so that only course students were allowed to join the study group. Figure 5.4 shows Facebook private group examples. Figure 5.5 shows the Facebook group privacy settings. Furthermore, students were required to access online course materials using their smartphone, participate in interactive and collaborative class activities through the Facebook private study group, including posting messages/photos/videos, quick quizzes (Facebook poll feature), group discussions (case study), group video presentations (case study), and group discussions (posting photos) using their smartphones for class learning activities. Since the lessons of the marketing course were arranged in a normal classroom, there was a teacher, computer, tables and chairs. Students were not provided with any school notebooks, tablets, or mobile devices. Therefore, they were allowed to use their own smartphones in class to join the Facebook study group, and to participate in the various study group class activities designed based on the learning outcomes and continuous assessments as stated in the course description form. Students were not allowed to use their smartphones for other purposes during the lesson except for the Facebook private study group class activities. With Web 2.0 technologies, the Facebook private study group could provide an online space to support student communication, interaction and collaboration. Additionally, students’ solid usage experience of their smartphones and Facebook equipped them with the necessary IT knowledge and skills to participate in Facebook group in-class activities (O'Reilly, 2005; Ebner et al., 2007 July). Notwithstanding Facebook is a social networking site where information is easily publicized, the ‘secret’ settings of the group provides a certain degree of privacy protection. At the same time, teachers were required to answer student questions posted on Facebook promptly, and to update students with any news or supplementary resources using Facebook frequently.

Figure 5.5: Facebook group privacy settings

Figure 5.6 shows the details of Facebook private study group class activities to support student learning and encourage communication, interaction and collaboration. Facebook is designed with Web 2.0 technologies that support communication, interaction and collaboration (O'Reilly, 2005; Ebner et al., 2007 July). Facebook uses a responsive web design which supports users using computers or mobile devices of different screen sizes, platforms and orientation (Dabner, 2012). Therefore, Facebook adjusts its web page to fit the user’s screen internet browser, such as Google chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc. Figure 5.6 shows the Facebook screen capture using a smartphone. What’s more, Facebook has Facebook mobile application and Facebook messenger application to further support users in communication, interaction and collaboration.

In order to improve the student learning experience, in addition to traditional face-to- face classroom and online e-learning platform (MOODLE) instructions,

complementary in-class activities are carried out through the Facebook private study group so that students can use smartphones to participate in those activities. There are various individual-based and group-based activities which require textual or multimedia information as feedback or sharing. Moreover, the activities involve both teacher and student participation. Although these are complementary activities in the classroom environment, they enrich the classroom learning atmosphere. Table 5.1 shows the benefits of Facebook private study group in-class activities. The benefits are supported by past literature.

1. Improve individual writing (Shih, 2011; Yunus & Salehi, 2012)

2. Improve interpersonal communication & interaction (Charlton et al., 2009; Myers, 2014)

3. Improve group collaboration (Lam, 2012; Top, 2012)

4. Create sense of community (Top, 2012; Duncan & Barczyk, 2013) 5. Improve IT literacy (Gray et al., 2010; Witek & Grettano, 2012)

6. Encourage knowledge contribution and creation (Mørch, 2013; Tseng & Kuo, 2014)

7. Improve learning motivation and classroom climate (Mazer et al., 2007).

Table 5.1: The benefits of Facebook private study group in-class activities Facebook private study group in-class

activities

Benefits

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Post message/photo/feedback by students and teacher

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Post message/question/feedback/photo by teacher

✓ ✓ ✓

Quick quiz (Poll feature) ✓ ✓ ✓

Group discussion (case study) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Group video presentation (case study) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓