When Less is More: How Short-message Feeds in Social Media Platforms Affect Collaborative Learning

Oliver Krancher, Jens Dibbern, Paul Meyer

    Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapterArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Social media platforms bear the promise of enhancing interactions in collaborative learning. Yet, relatively little is known about how short-message feeds, a key feature in many social media platforms, affect collaborative learning. We report the results of a field experiment in which we manipulated the social media platform that 53 teams of four students used for a collaborative learning task over three weeks. We find that students provided with short-message feeds achieved significantly better learning outcomes than students without. While learner engagement was similar in both conditions, learner communication was more focused on the task in the condition with short-message feeds. The short-message feed led learners to curtail social communication and uncertainty statements, which mediated the effect of the short-message feeds on learning outcomes. Our study provides new insights into the effect of short-message feeds on collaborative learning and communication.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the Fortieth International Conference on Information Systems
    Number of pages17
    PublisherAssociation for Information Systems
    Publication date2019
    Pages1-17
    Publication statusPublished - 2019

    Keywords

    • social media
    • Learning
    • collaborative learning
    • microblogs
    • feed
    • computer-supported collaborative learning

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