Abstract
The proportion of higher education students who integrate learning with various life circumstances such as employment or raising children is increasing. This study aims to compare whether and what kinds of differences exist between the perceived use of synchronous and asynchronous computer-mediated communication tools among university students with children or in full-time employment and students without these commitments. The data were collected in a Finnish University by the means of an online questionnaire. The results indicate that students with multiple commitments were using more virtual learning environments and less instant messaging (IM) especially when communicating with their peers. The low level of IM might be an indication of not being able to or not wanting to create close ties with their peer students. The practical implication of the study is that pedagogical choices should support different kinds of learning strategies. Students with multiple commitments, and especially students with children, should be encouraged and assisted to create stronger ties with their peers, if they are willing to do so.
Highlights
The proportion of higher education students who integrate learning with various life circumstances such as employment or raising children is increasing (Broadbridge & Swanson, 2007)
Items Estimate, how much have you used laptops and networks to ... do group work with your peers while working in the same space? do group work using e-mail or virtual learning environments? work on a shared document online with your peers? work together on a shared idea? publish information and pass it on to others? How often have you used ... virtual learning environments to communicate with peers? discussion boards to communicate with teachers? virtual learning environments to communicate with teachers? discussion boards to communicate with peers? instant messaging to communicate with peers? instant messaging to communicate with family members and friends? e-mail to communicate with peers? e-mail to communicate with family members and friends? e-mail to communicate with teachers? Cronbach’s alpha
The results indicate that students with a job or family commitments, as well as older students, all reported having used significantly more virtual learning environments (VLEs) and significantly less instant messaging (IM) for communication than other students
Summary
The proportion of higher education students who integrate learning with various life circumstances such as employment or raising children is increasing (Broadbridge & Swanson, 2007). These commitments might limit the opportunities to participate in classes and extracurricular student activities as well as to interact with peers and instructors (Graham & Donaldson, 1999). A low level of academic and social integration can have negative effects on the progress of students’ studies and degree completion (Tinto & Pusser, 2006). Having young children at home has, been found to adversely affect women’s (Jacobs & Berkowitz-King, 2002) and both male and female divorced parents’ degree completion (Taniguchi & Kaufman, 2005)
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