Guiding in Tertiary Education: A Case Study on Social Networking and E-Learning Platforms

Abstract

In this paper we present an innovative treatment which involved students’ participation in online blogs in a university course of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Mediation of teacher-learner through the university e-learning platform (PoliformaT) was used to guide students through social networking etiquette as well as to provide online tuition to reinforce language contents and resources. By means of an integrated analysis which included qualitative and quantitative research, we see the influence of a Computer-Mediated Communication genre on motivation and learning. Questionnaires administered to the students and interviews provided insightful data to the research about the students’ perception of the treatment. Our results suggest that the approach promoted learner engagement and achievement resulting in high quality learning. Additionally, the research shows the effectiveness of the use of the university virtual tool to enhance teacher-student communication and guidance. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.