Examining Communication Differences in Students’ Use of Social Media and a Private Digital Notepad in Mathematics
Abstract: Mathematical understanding is strengthened when students are provided an opportunity to share their thinking with others (Gunningham, 2003). Online venues for sharing mathematical thinking include (but are not limited to) private online note taking and public posting through use of a socially mediated environment. We posed three research questions designed to examine the types of posts students made, the correctness of these posts, and the math-related content included in these posts. Using chi-square analyses we found significant differences between what was posted and what was expected as well as significant differences in "correctness of content posted" across the two online writing environments. Student posts reveal that much of the content in a socially mediated environment is not math related; an examination of these non-math related posts is also included.
Presider: Marbin Pazos-Revilla, Tennessee Technological University