WhatsApp as ED Tech
Context and Analysis for Global Education
LDES 702, Studies in Education Technology | Spring 2022
February 18, 2022
When I started Georgetown University’s LDT program last semester, I took the initiative to start an LDT WhatsApp thread with my classmates’ support. Over the course of the semester, it grew to include 20 people and has been one of the best ways for us to build rapport, share resources, post reminders, and provide support to one another as a learning community outside of classes. As busy graduate students with competing priorities, our WhatsApp group chat has provided us a way to communicate without the stress associated with email or texts. Thus, when I saw our midterm prompt I thought of WhatsApp and wondered about its capabilities as an educational technology. How has WhatsApp been utilized by educators, learners and schools? What are its benefits? What are its disadvantages? Does it support students in cognitive domains, in addition to providing a channel for affective and social learning? I will explore some of these questions below.
Background
WhatsApp is an internationally available, free communications service that can be utilized for instant-messaging, voice messaging and internet calls across multiple devices (phones and computers via web browser). My first experiences with WhatsApp were for long-distance communication with family members in Bangladesh and friends in other countries, which reflects the application’s massive popularity and use outside of the United States. It is currently the most popular messaging service in countries throughout Latin America, South Asia, and Africa (GWI, 2022) The ease of use and end-to-end encryption renders the platform functional for a broad market, from people in rural villages to major global metropolises.
Despite the massive appeal, WhatsApp has not existed without criticism and misuse. The service’s streamlined design, encryption and wide use has also rendered it a vehicle for scams and misinformation. The most notable incidents of widespread misinformation campaigns have taken place in India and Brazil. In Brazil WhatsApp was used to spread “alarming” amounts of misinformation and fake news in the lead up to the 2018 presidential elections (Tardáguila, Cristina et al., 2018) , while in India the app was used to spread rumors eventually inciting mob violence and murder (Bassi & News, 2018). The company implemented forwarding restrictions in 2021 to combat the spread of misinformation, but has received criticism for not taking measures earlier.
WhatsApp as an Educational Tool
Fairly new to educational contexts, an initial Google search for “WhatsApp in education” reveals that the application is used for educational purposes primarily outside of the United States. One of the only videos I found about WhatsApp as a teaching tool was made in Jamaica at the beginning of the pandemic to support educators and families with virtual learning (Negril Education Environment Trust, 2020). Search results for research papers studying WhatsApp as a learning tool show rising interest around 2019 and through the COVID-19 pandemic as much of the world adapted to virtual learning without many of the resources available to students in more affluent countries such as the United States. These studies, most of which take place in Europe and Asia, connect hypotheses and research questions to previous studies on the use of social networks and mobile technology as learning tools (Amalina et al., 2020; Urien et al., 2019).
Communication, Collaboration and Cognitive Growth
My earlier anecdote about the Georgetown LDT WhatsApp group points to a commonly acknowledged use for social networks and mobile applications: that they can support learners with communications, collaboration and building peer learning communities. These functions match how the rest of the world uses WhatsApp (for communication), differing mostly in context and subject matter alignment. Nevertheless, the importance of creating online community and opportunities for communication amongst students cannot be underestimated (Garrison et al. 1999) especially in areas of affective learning, collaboration and critical thinking. In “An Adapted Pedagogical Framework in Utilizing WhatsApp for Learning Purpose,” the authors cite studies from 2015 onwards to bolster their own research on WhatsApp as an educational tool. This study demonstrates that WhatsApp can support, rather than hinder, student confidence and communication, which can then support the development of critical thinking through key indicators such as debate, discourse and sharing of personal interpretations. Past research on mobile instant messaging (MIM) and social networks has also demonstrated that the aforementioned tools can be used to increase learner participation and, as a consequence, improve learning outcomes (Urien et al., 2019). Since using WhatsApp as an educational technology is still new to many educators and researchers, greater use and study will illuminate direct links with cognitive learning, but the current connection between WhatsApp engagement, student confidence and successful learning outcomes are positive indicators for its use as an educational technology.
Adaptive Qualities
Unlike many learning management systems and educational technologies, MIM platforms like WhatsApp are ubiquitous, free, easy to use and adaptive for many disciplines and educational contexts.
In addition to communication, the ability to engage synchronously and asynchronously, as well as the opportunity to support each other through shared resources and engaged discourse, are some key adaptive features that could lend to WhatsApp’s use as an educational technology. WhatsApp as an educational technology could make learning accessible anywhere, anytime, and with a certain degree of personalization. Although WhatsApp could be seen as a disruption to school-life balance, the features to mute notifications until a certain time, access aggregated shared links and media, and archive conversations can all be used to the benefit of learners, especially those for whom flexible access can make learning easier. A 2015 study by Gibson, et al, showed that younger generations are used to the idea of virtual teams and communication, seeking both work-life balance and instantaneous access. The “erasing of boundaries” for better or for worse is the norm now (Gilson et al., 2015) and may, ultimately, increase accessibility and lessen the structural hierarchies between learners and the institutions where resources are stored behind multiple-authentication security protocol or physical walls.
Future Directions and Best Uses
When considering the use of WhatsApp in the areas of cognitive and teaching presence, communication guidelines, structure, integration and a shared understanding of goals is important to make sure the on-going discourse does not detract from a learning experience by becoming overwhelming or off-topic. In order to counter the disruptive qualities of phones and mobile applications leading to cognitive overload or confusion, a degree of integrated structure and engaged pedagogy is required to make the most of WhatsApp as an educational technology. One study used the Community of Inquiry Framework, which seems to offer a melded approach to design a online learning environment:
“An educational community of inquiry is a group of individuals who collaboratively engage in purposeful critical discourse and reflection to construct personal meaning and confirm mutual understanding. The Community of Inquiry theoretical framework represents a process of creating a deep and meaningful (collaborative-constructivist) learning experience through the development of three interdependent elements – social, cognitive, and teaching presence” (CoI Framework | CoI, n.d.)
The integration of the Community of Inquiry framework alongside learning tools, such as a learning management system (LMS) and WhatsApp, could provide ample support to both educators and learners. The “project management” of the LMS combined with the engaged discourse of WhatsApp could also support student motivation and achievement by providing structure through LMS features, such as assignment submission portals, assignment deadlines, accessible syllabi, access to longer readings, and learning analytics (Conde et al., 2021). Students could log-in to the LMS for management purposes a few times a week, but engage with WhatsApp conversations every day.
In the “How to Use WhatsApp as a Teaching Tool” video from Jamaica, shared agreements are described as “WhatsApp etiquette.” These etiquette guidelines created for primary and secondary education, include a shared schedule, an agreement to discuss only salient topics, and specific “office hours” for individual calls and communication. In the absence of access to an LMS, these types of guidelines or shared agreements may support educators and learners in building some structure for their online learning environment.
WhatsApp may also help us contend with continuously evolving technology and its subsequent impact on teaching and learning. Using WhatsApp as an educational tool, while observing its successes and challenges, can also help us learn about how educators and institutions can adapt to better understand and engage learners, whether we are simulating real-time, fluid conversations in a virtual environment or making learning more adaptive and accessible.
To take the function of WhatsApp as an educational technology one step further, we can also utilize such platforms to bridge the gap between education (life as a student) and professional life. The transition from student to professional can be eased through access to and engagement with a learning community through WhatsApp. Furthermore, it could be one of the only educational technologies a student could take with them from student to professional life and continue to utilize it as “a means of knowledge reinforcement and reduction of feelings of professional isolation (Pimmer et al., 2019).
Conclusion
Though we could enumerate the many disadvantages or harmful effects of mobile applications and phones, there is no going back to an era where instant messaging and mobile technology are not a party of daily part of life. With growing awareness about the proverbial “con” of the attention economy and social networks, I am confident that a better understanding of how to adapt and make strategic use of these technologies will help us resist the negative impacts and address existing disparities in education. Regardless of what technologies we use, accessibility, adaptation, affective learning, and community will always be vital to a positive learning experience, and WhatsApp may just be one of the most accessible tools we can utilize to bridge gaps and be better educators for an increasingly global learning community.
References
Amalina, Z. N., Link to external site, this link will open in a new window, Suraya, M., & Norris, S. A. (2020). An adapted pedagogical framework in utilizing WhatsApp for learning purpose. Education and Information Technologies, 25(4), 2811–2822. http://dx.doi.org.proxy.library.georgetown.edu/10.1007/s10639-019-10096-0
Bassi, S., & News ·, J. S. · C. (2018, July 8). WhatsApp cracks down on fake content after child-kidnap rumours spark killings across India | CBC News. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/india-child-kidnap-abduction-video-rumours-killings-1.4737041
CoI Framework | CoI. (n.d.). Retrieved February 18, 2022, from https://coi.athabascau.ca/coi-model/
Conde, M. Á., Rodríguez-Sedano, F. J., Rodríguez-Lera, F. J., Gutiérrez-Fernández, A., & Guerrero-Higueras, Á. M. (2021). Assessing the individual acquisition of teamwork competence by exploring students’ instant messaging tools use: The WhatsApp case study. Universal Access in the Information Society, 20(3), 441–450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-020-00772-1
Gilson, L. L., Maynard, M. T., Jones Young, N. C., Vartiainen, M., & Hakonen, M. (2015). Virtual Teams Research: 10 Years, 10 Themes, and 10 Opportunities. Journal of Management, 41(5), 1313–1337. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206314559946
GWI. (2022). The Biggest Social Media Trends For 2022—GWI. https://www.gwi.com/reports/social
Negril Education Environment Trust. (2020, June 13). How to use WhatsApp as a Teaching Tool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUNky9Lix-4
Pimmer, C., Brühlmann, F., Odetola, T. D., Oluwasola, D. O., Dipeolu, O., & Ajuwon, A. J. (2019). Facilitating professional mobile learning communities with instant messaging. Computers & Education, 128, 102–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.09.005
Tardáguila, Cristina, Benevenuto, Fabricio, & Ortellado, Pablo. (2018, October 17). Opinion | Fake News Is Poisoning Brazilian Politics. WhatsApp Can Stop It. - The New York Times. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/opinion/brazil-election-fake-news-whatsapp.html
Urien, B., Erro-Garcés, A., Link to external site, this link will open in a new window, & Osca, A. (2019). WhatsApp usefulness as a communication tool in an educational context. Education and Information Technologies, 24(4), 2585–2602. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10639-019-09876-5
