An exploratory investigation of the use and effects of academic instant messaging groups among university students

Abstract

The use of instant messaging groups for various academic purposes is a rising, but largely understudied, trend in higher education institutions. In the present study we investigate the use purposes and outcomes of three types of academic instant messaging groups or AIMGs. Formal AIMGs are created and managed by teaching staff, class AIMGs are created by students and joined by all members of a particular class, and study AIMGs are smaller groups created by students that know each other personally or collaborate in group assignments. To advance understanding of the role of these groups in students’ wellbeing and academic development, we pose research questions concerning their associations with academic performance, academic stress, and students’ course experiences. We adopt an exploratory frame and survey methodology to collect data from a large sample of undergraduate students ( n = 1752). Our findings indicate that, at the institution where data were collected, high rates of AIMG participation is the norm, with class AIMGs emerging as particularly popular. We find statistically significant interaction between formal and study AIMGs and academic performance, as well as between study AIMGs and academic stress. Participation in these groups also predicts students’ social experience of a learning community, as well as their perception of the teaching they receive. Throughout, however, the observed effects are small and their practical significance is questioned. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10639-021-10631-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Website Interface Monitoring Client Activities Using Mikrotik on Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS

“…The internet network is very useful for meeting the needs of the learning process in the university environment by providing internet services so that visitors and university students can use it. However, the large number of internet users who access data at universities can cause weaknesses in a system, which is very vulnerable to theft, damage, and leakage of confidential documents [3]. The obstacle that many admins face is not knowing the activities of clients who are connected to the internet, and the internet is slow because the amount of bandwidth used by clients varies greatly.…”

Cell phone use distracts young adults from academic work with limited benefit to self-regulatory behavior

“…The issues included, but were not limited to, loneliness, anxiety, and depression (Boumosleh & Jaalouk, 2017 ; Kumcagiz & Gunduz, 2016 ; Sönmez et al, 2020 ), sleep deprivation (Demirci, Akgönül, & Akpinar, 2015 ; Joshi, 2022 ; Joshi et al, 2021 ; Sohn et al, 2021 ), psychological disorders (Pera, 2020 ; Yuan et al, 2021 ), attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (Kwon et al, 2020 ), substance addictions (Massey et al, 2021 ), social relationships (Annoni et al, 2021 ; Chen & Peng, 2008 ); and lower academic achievements (Sapci et al, 2021 ; Uzun et al, 2019 ). Lower academic achievement was related to young adult cell phone use (CPU) both inside and outside the classrooms (Le Roux & Parry, 2021 ; Rosen et al, 2013 ). The use of cell phones during a class/lecture, lab, and/or study session may be detrimental to academic performance, therefore, needs to be investigated.…”