Exploring students’ purposes of usage and educational usage of Facebook

Abstract

In order to better understand why students use Facebook and how Facebook can be used for educational activities students’ attitudes and perceptions towards purposes of Facebook usage and Facebook educational usage were investigated in this study. Also, theoretical models of the purposes of Facebook usage and Facebook educational usage proposed in literature were examined using the sample of 226 students from University of Belgrade, Technical faculty in Bor. Previous studies have pointed out that there are three underlying dimensions of purposes of Facebook usage that can be indicated as social relations, work related activities and daily activities. Facebook educational usage also includes three underlying dimensions defined as communication, collaboration and resource/material sharing. These hypothesized three-factor models of purposes of Facebook usage and Facebook educational usage were tested on the present sample data using confirmatory factor analysis. The results confirmed hypothesized latent structures and theoretical validity of both investigated factor models. Further analysis revealed that, according to students, collaboration through academic groups (communities) represents the most important value of Facebook implementation in academic activities.