Using Social Media to Create a Global Community of

Sustainability-Engaged StudentsMatthew E. VerbylaEnvironmental Engineering, University of South Florida

Colleen C. NaughtonCivil Engineering, University of South Florida

Allan FeldmanScience Education, University of South Florida

Vanessa Vernaza-HernandezScience Education, University of South Florida

2014 ASEE International ForumIndianapolis, Indiana

June 14, 2014

Marilyn E. BrandtMarine Science, University of the Virgin Islands

Maya A. TrotzEnvironmental Engineering, University of South Florida

E. Christian WellsAnthropology, University of South Florida

James R. MihelcicEnvironmental Engineering, University of South Florida

International experiences and the global engineering/science skill set

“A Global Community of Scholars”

1. Core competencies in science & engineering

2. Higher cognitive levels in attitudes & identity outcomes

– Language & cultural skills

– Teamwork & group dynamic skills

– Knowledge of business and education cultures of other countries and international variations in practice

– Exposure to global concepts of sustainability

Sources: Bielefeldt et al. (2010); Hokanson et al. (2007); NRC (1999); Trotz et al. (2009)

But…Not everyone

can travel abroad!

4

Social Media: It’s not just for teens anymore… There is a broad audience for young professionals

• YouTube reaches more U.S. adults between 18-34 years than any cable network.

• More than half of U.S. adults between 45-54 years use a social networking site.

• The fastest-growing demographic on Twitter is 55-64 year-olds.

5

NSF PIRE Grant: Context-Sensitive Implementation of Synergistic Water-Energy

Systems

Global network of professionals dedicated to understanding context-specific engineered systems that recover water, nutrients, & energy resources from “waste”.

Common research objectives

• NSF PIRE Grant

• USAID-NSF PEER Science Grant

• EPA Nutrient Management Center

• One-credit course run entirely with a blog, Twitter, & YouTube

• 25 students in Florida, U.S. Virgin Islands, Czech Republic

• Course Objectives:– Develop the global engineering/science skill set (slide 2)

– Learn about strategies that integrate social, engineered, and environmental systems for sustainable resource management

– Learn to use social media to discuss scientific research

Spring 2014 Graduate Course: Context Sensitive Implementation of Synergistic Water-Energy-Nutrient Systems

Spring 2014 Graduate Course: Context Sensitive Implementation of Synergistic Water-Energy-Nutrient Systems

Students prepare video, select reading materials, and discussion questions

Participants watch video, read articles, prepare answers to questions

Next student group prepares video, etc.

Video, reading materials reviewed, posted to blog

Day 1

Hour-long Twitter discussion takes place

Day 6

Research Question and Objectives of Study

• Research Question: Can Twitter, YouTube, and a blog be used to create a “global community of scholars” that are engaged in learning about the meaning of sustainability across multiple disciplines?

• Specific Objectives:1. Document how Reclaim’s YouTube channel is being used.

2. Measure the class participation in weekly Twitter discussions.

3. Describe the nature of participant diversity in the conversation strings that emerged during class discussions

4. Analyze the content of individual tweets during class discussions

Methods(approved by University of South Florida IRB)

• YouTube Analytics

• TAGS software v5.1 with Microsoft Excel– Sample of tweets analyzed for content

– Sample of conversation strings categorized by ‘type of talk’ using a dialogical framework (Wegerif & Mercer, 1997)

– Inter-coder agreement strategy (Creswell 2013)

• Pre- and post-course surveys

Convers. string codes

Disputation-al Talk

Cumulative Talk

Exploratory talk

Question & Answer

Twitter Discussion Content Analysis

Individual tweet codes

Question(Bloom’s

taxonomy)

Claim (no

premise)

Argument (claim with

premise)

Informative statement

Unintellig-ible

Agreeing / Disagreeing

Sources: Bloom (1994); Feldman (2006); Wegerif & Mercer (1997)

RESULTS

YouTube video viewers

Average View Duration

• Sharing with non-participant friends, etc.

• Multiple views per viewer

• Repeated viewing of portions of video

• Familiarity with content

• Novelty of material

• Length of video(Pearson’s c = -0.32)

Possible explanations

YouTube Videos:Average percentage viewed (30 day avg.)

Florida U.S. Virgin Islands

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Pace of Twitter Discussions

• Avg. tweets per discussion: 340• Avg. tweets per minute: 5.7• Avg. seconds per tweet: 10.6

Participation in Twitter Discussions

Participation in Conversation Groups(dialogue exchanges initiated by a single comment or question)

Anthropologists were conversationalists

Content Analysis of Individual Tweets(n = 318 tweets)

Participants agreed with each other more frequently

than they disagreed*

The majority of participants’ tweets were structured as claims with no premise**

* p < 0.01** p < 0.001

‘Types of Talk’ in Twitter Conversation Strings

(n = 54 conversation strings)

EXAMPLE: Exploratory talk in conversation string (5 turns):

P1: What are the challenges related to current water management strategies?

P2: They are energy intensive and wasteful since they focus more on meeting regulations than sustainability

P3: Metrics of sustainability can be differentially conceived in particular contexts though

P2: Agreed though according to … video, water management is very linear and throws away nutrients and energy

P3: Current centralized water management, yes

Pre- and Post-Course SurveysWhat social networks do you use?

p < 0.002

p < 0.0001

p < 0.01

Pre-Course SurveyRank the reasons you use social networks (in order of importance):

1. Learning/Professional Development2. News/information3. Recreation and entertainment4. Research5. Connecting with friends6. Teaching

Post-Course SurveyRank the reasons you use social networks (in order of importance):

1. Learning/Professional Development2. News/information3. ▲ Research (p = 0.145)4. ▲ Teaching (p = 0.082)5. Connecting with friends6. ▼ Recreation and entertainment (p = 0.321)

* p-values calculated using Kendall’s rank correlation coefficient

42%* of students appeared to have changed their definitions of sustainability

17%* of those students (10%* of total) appeared to have broadened their definitions.

* alpha = 0.05

Pre- and Post-Course SurveysDefine sustainability in your own words…

Conclusions• Students and faculty learned together

• Student-driven conversations had a diverse group of participants

• Students’ definitions of sustainability changed and/or broadened

• Social media use patterns changed (more career-focused?)

• Twitter and YouTube allowed for global participation(but what about internet inequity? who pays for these costs?)

Perhaps still not enough evidence to confirm that the types of exchanges between course participants actually do signify the

development of a “global community of scholars” (but still more data to analyze)

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Future Work• Code more tweets and conversation strings

• Analyze qualitative data from surveys

• Monitor post-course social network use patterns

• When course is offered again, make changes:– Platform for discussions (character limit, public/private sphere)

– Video length <5 min.

• This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant 1243510, as well as a Graduate Research Fellowship awarded to the lead author. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF.

Acknowledgements

Thank you!

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References• Slides 2, 10 and 11:

1. National Research Council. Engineering Education Tasks for the New Century: Japanese andU.S. Perspectives. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. 1999.

2. Bielefeldt, A.R., Paterson, K., Swan, C. 2010. Measuring the Value Added from Service Learning in Project-Based Engineering Education. International Journal of Engineering Education, 26(3), 535-546.

3. Hokanson, D.R., Phillips, L.D., Mihelcic, J.R. 2007. Educating Engineers in the Sustainable Futures Model with a Global Perspective: Education, Research and Diversity Initiatives. International Journal of Engineering Education, 23(2), 254-265.

4. Trotz, M.A., Muga, H.E., Philips, L.D., Yeh, D., Stuart, A., Mihelcic, J.R. 2009. Non-Traditional University Research Partners that Facilitate Service Learning and Graduate Research for Sustainable Development. Proceedings of the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, S. Starrett, ed., American Society of Civil Engineers, Kansas City, MO, 2038–2048.

5. Wegerif, R. and Mercer, N. (1997) A Dialogical Framework for Investigating Talk. In Wegerif, R. and Scrimshaw, P. (Eds) Computers and Talk in the Primary Classroom, pp 49-65. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. ISBN: 1853593915

6. Bloom, B.S. (1994). Reflections on the development and use of the taxonomy. In Rehage, K.J., Anderson, L.W., Sosniak, L.A. "Bloom's taxonomy: A forty-year retrospective". Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education.

7. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

8. Feldman, A. (1999) The role of conversation in collaborative action research, Educational Action Research, 7:1, 125-147

• Social Media Use slide:– http://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/443384/Internet_speeds_and_prices_in_.html

• Images on slides 4 and 5:– http://www.kaleidoscopeadventures.com/zcant-decide-where-to-go/– http://www.ministeriodesarrollosocial.gob.cl/noticias-lista-historico.php?page=205&texto2=&id_region=– https://www.yahoo.com/tech/when-should-you-buy-your-child-a-smartphone-80304155120.html

“GRAVEYARD” SLIDES

NOT CHANGED CHANGED BROADENED

Pre- and Post-Course SurveysDefine sustainability in your own words…

Content Analysis of Discussion Questions from Twitter Chats

(n = 65 questions)

Bloom’s Taxonomy