Can the use patterns of social networks in university students predict the utility perceived in digital educational resources?

Abstract

The emergence of social networks in the university context has contributed to modify students’ behaviour, conditioning their academic performance and learning preferences. The objective is to analyse the influence of the patterns of use of social networks when predicting the usefulness that university students, give to different digital educational resources. The study, adopting an exploratory and quantitative approach, involves students from four universities. Data collection is approached using a self-constructed questionnaire designed ad hoc by researchers. The information is analysed by means of: (a) exploratory factor analysis, (b) univariate association analysis, and (c) ordinal logistic regression. The results indicate associations between the patterns of use of social networks and the usefulness perceived by participants in digital resources. Nevertheless, the authors conclude that the patterns of use of social networks identified do not serve to predict significantly the usefulness given by the students to the observed digital educational resources.