=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1844/10000155
|storemode=property
|title=The Organization of Students’ Joint Activity by Means of Popular
Network Services
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1844/10000155.pdf
|volume=Vol-1844
|authors=Halyna Kuchakovska
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/icteri/Kuchakovska17
}}
==The Organization of Students’ Joint Activity by Means of Popular
Network Services==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1844/10000155.pdf
The Organization of Students’ Joint Activity by Means of
Popular Network Services
Halyna Kuchakovska1
1Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University,
18/2 Bulvarno-Kudriavska Str., 04053, Kyiv, Ukraine
h.kuchakovska@kubg.edu.ua
Abstract. The article presents the results of particularly popular network ser-
vices, introduction VKontakte and GoogleDocs, in the educational process and
the organization of students’ joint activity. This integration of the network ser-
vices with the learning technologies changes the forms of educational activity
organization, which should be focused on the modern skills formation, the skills
of the XXI century.
The paper presents the results of the survey, of "Primary education" special-
ty students, in the use of networks services in learning activities and daily life;
analyses the experience of networks services application in educational process
in University. The results of statistical analysis of the pedagogical experiment
on implementation of social network VKontakte and web-servise GoogleDocs
in the educational process are conducts.
Keywords: networks services, e-learning, network technologies, google docu-
ments, XXI century skills, IC technologies
Keyterms: TeachingProcess, InformationCommunicationTechnology, Web-
Service
1 Introduction
The main goal of modernization in the sector of education in the world is the
achievement of new quality of learning process that would correspond to new socio-
economic conditions. This requires effective organization of the educational process,
which will facilitate the search and development of abilities in each student. The re-
sult of the work of the teacher should be active, creative, cognitive organization of
joint activity of students.
Also important is the development of students' skills of the XXI century, which
would be useful in their future professional activity, where the latter requires the abil-
ity to work not only with information but also people. This can be communication
skills and collaboration skills, flexibility and adaptability, use to achieve the objec-
tives of the aggregate intelligence of the group, which is a joint activity. According to
O. Pinchuk, society puts new demands forward for the young people, such as to be
able to cooperate, to work effectively both individually and in a team, to find joint
solutions, to resolve conflicts on the basis of the coordination of positions and consid-
eration of interests, to formulate, substantiate and defend their own opinions [1].
Due to above reasons, it is necessary to develop students' skills of collaboration,
teamwork, mutual support in the team through the use of modern information tech-
nologies. This approach declared in the Strategy of Information Society Development
in Ukraine for 2013-2020 [2], the National Strategy of Education Development in
Ukraine for the period up to 2021 (from 25.06.2013 № 344/2013) [3] and the Law on
Higher Education [4].
Current state of ICT in the educational process requires the use of advanced infor-
mation and communication technology and modern means of Internet access, such as:
educational platforms, open learning systems, online courses and distance education
platform based on cloud technologies, social networks, etc. These information tech-
nologies are appropriate in the vast majority of aspects of teaching activities (from
teaching a particular discipline to implementation in educational institution manage-
ment). These digital technologies are a driving force for socio-economic development
of the country and a basis for its sustainable development in the future.
In the modern world becoming more and more popular the use of social networks
in education. The Internet itself is becoming a great resource and information site in
which resolved new pedagogical problems and implemented new forms of learning.
A. Onishchenko treats a social network as [5] "technological systems of the organ-
ization and management of electronic information exchange between subjects of so-
cial relations, designed to provide horizontal communication between subscribers
united by common interests, informational needs and communication skills". The
value of social networks depends not only on the content that is transmitted via the
network to the users. With the development of services Web 2.0 the value of official
content drops significantly, and users are more attracted to online services that reflect
additional opportunities of collective communication and collaboration. These fea-
tures in addition to learn define the concept of social learning [6].
2 Definition of Previously Unsolved Parts of General Problem
Which the Article is Dedicated to
V. Bykov in work "Innovative tools and promising areas of education informatiza-
tion" [7] examines innovative ICT-based pedagogical and educational technology,
especially focuses on Internet technologies.
Scientist identify several types of such technologies, but we focus those which are
more relevant for our study: Twitter-technology (provides instant exchange of short
text messages); Blog-technology (support small web site that contains an electronic
diary of user); Wiki technology (designed for collaborative development, storage,
structuring of text, files, and multimedia); ICT support of electronic social networks.
"Electronic social network" author characterizes as multiplayer interactive Web
site, where content is filled by members of the network. The Web site is an automated
social environment that provides electronic communication, not limited in time and
space for a specific group of users united by any general ideas.
A significant contribution into research of social services’ use in the educational
process was made by such scientists: Balyk N. [8], Patarakin Ie. [9], Starodubtsev V.
[10], Meniakina M. [11], Yatsyshyn A. [12] and others.
The possibility of social networks and cloud-based technologies application in ed-
ucational process researched by foreign scholars Levkyn H., Krechetnikova I.,
Parabina A., Pustovoi T., Feshchenko A. [13], R. Berger, A. Nijholt, V. Kumar, M.
Armbrust, K. Subramanian etc.
Summing up the possibility of using social media in education, Zaidieh A.J.Y.
concluded «adding interactive side with a human, and make the participation of the
human element in the educational process something important. That led to an in-
crease to attract people toward e-learning and some of researcher in the field of social
sciences carrying out studies to examine this phenomenon and to clarify the reason
behind the attraction educated about social network sites…» [14]
The main goal of collaborative learning is the awakening of the inner forces and
abilities of students, the use of all available opportunities of children to fully develop
their personality. This approach shapes a child's positive self-concept that contributes
to the further development and self-actualization, a positive view of their identity
[15]. The skills of cooperation is a strategic task of modernization of the modern edu-
cational process, it takes time and requires special skills from all participants of the
educational process, especially in the integration of information and communication
technologies in the educational process [16].
In recent years, social networks have become increasingly popular, it has become
an integral part of every member of society and continue to develop intensively and
rapidly increase user mass. Currently, there are more than 1.6 billion network services
users; it is more than 64% of users with access to the Internet service. Among the
famous most popular are Facebook and WhatsApp [17]. Fig.1 shows the numerical
values of the number of accounts.
Viber
249
Skype
300
Twitter
320
Instagram
400
WhatsApp
900
Facebook.com
1550
Fig. 1. The number of social media accounts (in millions)
Social networks are equally popular in Ukraine. According to the research of
Gemius company, online audience of Internet users is 20.1 million [18]. 18.4 million
of people use laptop or computer, 5.1 million use mobile phone or smart phone, 1.8
million use tablet. The most popular sites are google.com (64%), VKontakte.com
(59%), youtube.com (57%) and mail.ru (54%), according to monthly research con-
ducted by Factum Group Company [19]. Ukrainians have reduced the interest in so-
cial networks, comparing to the % of attendance in October and December of 2015,
VKontakte.com decreased by 6%, odnoklassniki.com decreased by 5%, facebook.com
decreased by 2% (see Fig. 2). But at January of 2016, the number of Ukrainian users
in the social network Facebook increased by 30% over the past year, in absolute terms
the growth amounted to 1.2 million. In January, 2015 in Ukraine was 3.85 million
users of Facebook, in January 2016 this figure amounted to 5 million [20].
Fig. 2. A comparison of attendance of social networks by Ukrainian users
The use of social networks can provide interactivity, can affect positively on re-
sults of students’ cognitive activity in educational process, and also can be effective
means of improving the motivation and quality of education, the organization of stu-
dents’ team work, joint project activities, and the individualization of virtual educa-
tional space of student. Also social networks can be used as the vehicle for the dis-
semination of educational material.
Feshchenko A. [13] in his work has put forward a number of advantages relative to
the use of social networking tools in educational activities, here are some of them:
1. The popularity of social networks among young people aged 16 to 21.
2. Using social networks, students acquire the XXI century skills.
3. Constant interaction in the network between students and teachers, which ensures
continuity of the educational process.
4. Interactive mode of teaching.
5. Joint creation and improvement of learning content.
6. On-line support of educational process by students who were absent in class.
Researchers from the Education Fund of Great Britain put forward recommenda-
tions on the use of Facebook in the learning process. They argue that social networks
are driving educational tool to support the learning process, presentation of teaching
material, organizing extracurricular activities and setting up the communication pro-
cess between students [22].
According to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Iowa, it has
been proven that the use of American social network Facebook by students, increase
their academic achievement [21].
Nancy E. Willard, in his article seeks to address the problem of students in middle
and high school using social networks. It highlights three main problems when using
social networks, namely, «Legitimate concerns do exist about youth involvement on
these sites, however. Those concerns are grounded in three basic factors: 1) The sites
are attracting many teens, some of whom are not making good choices. 2) Many par-
ents are not paying attention to what their children are posting on the sites. 3) Sexual
predators - and likely other dangerous strangers - attracted to places where teens are
not making good choices and adults are not paying attention» [23].
In work «Social Networking and Education: Using Facebook as an Edusocial
Space» Pollara, P. & Zhu, J. reviewed the experience of using Facebook for teaching
science as a discipline in high school. There is a positive impact of social networks as
the students and the teachers [24].
The scientific-methodical literature contains an insufficient case study about prin-
ciples of social networks use in students' teamwork for the organization of the educa-
tional process. Also, need to develop a general model of organization of the educa-
tional model with the use of social networks.
The aim of our article is the presentation of results using popular network services
in the educational process of students in conditions of education informatization.
Tasks for solution include:
─ identify opportunities for the use of popular network services in teaching students;
─ formulate pedagogical conditions of students’ joint activity organization in virtual
educational environment applying network services;
─ present the results of the experiment on social networks introduction in educational
process.
3 The Organization of Students’ Joint Activity by Means of
Popular Network Services and Google Documents.
As already stated above, the effective network services for the organization of stu-
dents’ joint activity can be Web 2.0 services like Google Documents and social net-
works that allow students to work together, edit learning materials for the job, and
allow teacher to see and analyze the contribution of each participant in creation of
joint product.
To begin, we conducted a sociological survey "The use of social networks in eve-
ryday and educational activity"
(https://docs.google.com/a/kubg.edu.ua/forms/d/1hPmihIVjs5qE1UgcmfLEjU9ZjN3z
KN3uFNzaaAC8w9g/closedform) among 250 first-year students (17-18 years) of
specialty "Primary education". The survey was intended to investigate that students
have constant access to the Internet, and where and how they use it.
The results indicate that most students have constant access to the Internet (92%),
88% use it at home, and only 4% do not have access to the network. 52% of respond-
ents use smartphones, 41% use laptops. 32% of respondents are on social networks
more than 3 hours per day, and 29% more than 6 hours per day, i.e. they spend more
time in networks than half of daylight hours. While 37% believe that using social
networks does not effect on their success and 33% believe that it even helps in their
studies and it is an effective mean for getting quick advice (39%).
The majority of students use social network "VKontakte.com", namely 43%, 19%
use "Instagram", the other part use "Skype" and "Twitter" (see Fig. 3).
VKontakte 43%
Instagram 19%
Skype 10%
Twitter 7%
Facebook 9%
Fig. 3. Chart of social networks use by first year students of the specialty "Primary education"
Also the results of the survey showed that more than 54% of students use social
networks for communication, music listening and movie watching, 15% for self-
fulfillment, participation in social projects and job search. Thus, students are trying to
use social networks to demonstrate personal position on the discussed issues, their
own achievements, development or creativity.
18% have tried to use social networks for learning. Students support the view that
social networks are better to use for online access to teaching materials, communica-
tion with the teacher and collective homework, conducting lessons in remote mode
and independent filling with learning content. For this purpose, in their view, more
suitable networks are "VKontakte", "Facebook", blog-platform "LiveJournal" and the
program "Skype". This suggests that social networks are an effective platform for the
development of e-learning. In the content of social networks is the large number of
instructional videos that any network users can subscribe to. In addition there is ac-
cess to lectures and training material at any time of the day that allows you to study at
your own pace.
Analyzing the survey data, we decided to introduce a social network "VKontakte"
in the educational process at Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University in the group of stu-
dents of the specialty "Primary education". Since educational activity of students was
conducted through virtual learning environment Moodle, which are designed course
on the subject for the experimental group, we have created a separate group of "Spe-
cialized practical of informatics», http://vk.com/club102688255, used as an extra to
the classroom forms of interaction studies students and teachers. This combination
proved effective in terms of student work and the formation of their self-skills, inter-
action and cooperation. This public was created specially, where were added lectures
and laboratory works, was created a conversation on the theme-defined tasks, where
students together with the teacher communicated and explained the individual aspects
of the problem, put forward the idea of modernization of training process, etc.
According to Bykov V., the role of teacher was changed; he went from being a re-
peater of knowledge to co-creator of modern learning technologies [25].
During the training sessions on the subject "Practical training session on computer
science", trying to combine the familiar teaching methods and popular network ser-
vices, for students was pre-provided access to electronic learning materials with se-
lected themes (video, photographs, documents and other materials) (http://e-
learning.kubg.edu.ua/course/view.php?id=2491). Students worked through the data,
and then directly at the lesson was the discussion of problem questions, clarify un-
clear (ambiguous) material. Convenient was that commenting on the record, you can
also add photos (eg photos from the screen if there is a problem when performing
laboratory work), video (eg recording step of laboratory work or perform control
work), recording or document (file performed the laboratory work) contained on the
computer.
Also as part of this work, GoogleApps services were used in parallel. Students co-
operated together to perform the tasks, conducted research, guided by the model,
which was proposed by D. Bodnenko [26] (with the implementation of individual
educational-research tasks, students attracted to joint discussion their classmates and
teachers who added comments and criticism; with the help of calendar were planned
joint group activities; creating questionnaires, conducted social surveys and studied to
analyze the results), and all of that has developed a sense of team and support (collab-
oration).
The main role of the teacher in the process - overall coordination, consultation and
assessment results. This form of learning requires him considerable organizational
activity, requires appropriate efforts to build the structure of the course, formulate
specific lessons clearly and to diagnose problems that arise during the joint work of
students.
I would like to draw your attention to the results of the statistical analysis of the
experiment implementation of the educational topic “Technology of the creation of
materials for future specialist’s organizational activities by means of spreadsheets” in
the teaching process. Through heuristic conversation (such technologies as Smart
Board, Google Docs were used for a quiz) held during the lecture more efficient
means of presentation of the educational material was defined. For the control group
(60 people) material was presented for the individual learning of the topic in the
Moodle system; for the experimental group (72 people) the support of the educational
process via social network “VKontakte” was made in addition to materials in the
Moodle system. According to the results of the final test of the control and experi-
mental groups’ participants on the described topic, obtained data showed the follow-
ing result after verification of the statistical hypotheses using Student’s t-test:
5,11 t емп t кр (0,01; 63) 2,66 at the significance level 0,01 . It means that the null
hypothesis of no difference between the average result of tests solving in both groups
at the 0.01 significance level deviates. Thus, we can talk about the different level of
solving tests on the topic “Technology of the creation of materials for future special-
ist’s organizational activities by means of spreadsheets” by students from the control
and experimental groups. In particular, the difference lay in the fact that the level of
mastery of the educational material by the students having used the social network
“VKontakte” and web-servise GogleDocs had higher results (Fig. 4).
experimental group control group
("VKontakte" + GoogleDrive) (Moodle)
47%
35%
31%
22%
20%
12%
10%
8%
the high level of the average level the adequate the low level of
mastery of mastery level of mastery mastery
Fig. 4. Level of mastery of the educational material by students studying the specialty “Elemen-
tary education” at Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University
Providing learning activities of students, we have come to the conclusion that so-
cial networks can be used for the following tasks:
─ to organize collective work of students in class and outside of the classroom,
which promoting collaboration and the acquisition of experience of working in a
team;
─ to widen the students’ training at home, because social networks allow you to use
the learning content, which is not limited to temporal, geographical and age limits;
─ to ensure the development of the personalized learning environment of student, the
creation of its curriculum and educational content of disciplines. If students togeth-
er with the teacher create learning content of the discipline, it will be adapted indi-
vidually for each student;
─ to promote the independent learning of students (implementation of research-
based teaching principles);
─ to promote individual learning of students, because each student is required to
work at their own pace;
─ to carry out informal communication between teacher and student;
─ to realize the principles of lifelong learning; Students will be able to visit the disci-
pline page at any time of the day, upload requisite material, send made job, study
online without any cost, and receive continued support from the teacher [27].
4 Conclusions
The implementation of network services in the learning process, in addition to the
skills of cooperation, encourages independent cognitive activities of students, reduces
the production cycle of obtaining a specific intellectual or creative result, develops
critical thinking and provides a high level of student-student and student-teacher in-
teractions. The educational activity is not limited to the classroom environment, but
goes beyond it and provides the continuity of the educational process.
According to the results of the experiment on use of network services in the learn-
ing process was proved the effectiveness of networking tools implementation, which
provided by social networks for the organization of the educational process. This
confirms the authors' hypothesis that use of popular network services as an additional
pedagogical tool will contribute to the culture communication formation of students in
a virtual environment; the development of communicative competence and can be
effective means of enhancing the cognitive and educational research activity of stu-
dents and development of the XXI century skills.
Statistical analysis of the experiment results (using t-criterion of Student), which
was implemented in teaching educational subjects, showed that the level of the mate-
rial mastering by students, who have used a social network "Vkontakte" and web-
servise GoogleDocs had the highest result.
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