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What can we learn from Facebook activity?: using social learning analytics to observe new media literacy skills

Published: 08 April 2013 Publication History

Abstract

Social media platforms such as Facebook are now a ubiquitous part of everyday life for many people. New media scholars posit that the participatory culture encouraged by social media gives rise to new forms of literacy skills that are vital to learning. However, there have been few attempts to use analytics to understand the new media literacy skills that may be embedded in an individual's participation in social media. In this paper, I collect raw activity data that was shared by an exploratory sample of Facebook users. I then utilize factor analysis and regression models to show how (a) Facebook members' online activity coalesce into distinct categories of social media behavior and (b) how these participatory behaviors correlate with and predict measures of new media literacy skills. The study demonstrates the use of analytics to understand the literacies embedded in people's social media activity. The implications speak to the potential of social learning analytics to identify and predict new media literacy skills from data streams in social media platforms.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    LAK '13: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge
    April 2013
    300 pages
    ISBN:9781450317856
    DOI:10.1145/2460296
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 08 April 2013

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    Author Tags

    1. learning analytics
    2. literacy
    3. new media literacy
    4. social learning analytics
    5. social media

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    • College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park

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    LAK '13 Paper Acceptance Rate 16 of 58 submissions, 28%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 236 of 782 submissions, 30%

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    Cited By

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    • (2023)REKLAM GÜVENİRLİĞİ VE REKLAMA YÖNELİK TUTUM BAĞLAMINDA SOSYAL MEDYA OKURYAZARLIK BECERİLERİNİN İNCELENMESİInvestigation of Social Media Literacy Skills In The Context of Advertising Credibility And Attitude Towards AdvertisingIntermedia International E-journal10.56133/intermedia.135458110:19(332-349)Online publication date: 29-Dec-2023
    • (2023)TikTok as Learning Analytics Data: Framing Climate Change and Data PracticesLAK23: 13th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference10.1145/3576050.3576055(33-43)Online publication date: 13-Mar-2023
    • (2023)Exploring the relationships between social presence and teaching presence in online video‐based learningJournal of Computer Assisted Learning10.1111/jcal.1284339:6(1769-1785)Online publication date: 30-May-2023
    • (2022)Connecting the dots – A literature review on learning analytics indicators from a learning design perspectiveJournal of Computer Assisted Learning10.1111/jcal.1271640:6(2432-2470)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2022
    • (2021)Technology, Media Literacy, and the Human Subject10.11647/OBP.0253Online publication date: May-2021
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    • (2020)Children Using Social Media to Connect With Others and With Consumer BrandsGlobal Branding10.4018/978-1-5225-9282-2.ch043(906-921)Online publication date: 2020
    • (2020)An Algorithm and a Tool for the Automatic Grading of MOOC Learners from Their Contributions in the Discussion ForumApplied Sciences10.3390/app1101009511:1(95)Online publication date: 24-Dec-2020
    • (2018)Social Networking SitesCross-Cultural Perspectives on Technology-Enhanced Language Learning10.4018/978-1-5225-5463-9.ch007(118-129)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2018
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