EDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL OF ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS: GENDER AND CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS

TitleEDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL OF ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS: GENDER AND CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsGorghiu, G, Iordache, DD, Pribeanu, C, Lamanauskas, V
JournalProblems of Education in the 21st Century
Volume76
Issue5
Start Page620-632
PaginationContinuous
Date PublishedOctober/2018
Type of ArticleOriginal article
ISSN1822-7864
Other NumbersE-ISSN 2538-7111
Keywordscross-country differences, educational opportunities, gender differences, invariance analysis, online social networks
Abstract

The social media technologies are blurring the boundaries between formal and informal/non-formal learning and provide new educational opportunities. Recent work shows that online social networks provide various kinds of educational support, such as social learning, informal/non-formal education, information, interaction, and collaboration. The aim of this research was to analyze the gender and cross-country differences in the perception of the educational opportunities provided by Facebook. The educational opportunities have been specified as a global factor that manifests along four dimensions: information, collaboration, personal development, and professional development. The model has been tested on two samples of university students, one from Romania and the other from Lithuania. An analysis of invariance has been carried on that shows that the educational opportunities model is invariant across groups. The results showed that female students have a higher perception of the educational opportunities provided by Facebook.

URLhttp://oaji.net/articles/2017/457-1540320007.pdf
DOI10.33225/pec/18.76.620
Refereed DesignationRefereed
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