THE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES TO THE LEARNING COMPETENCY OF LEVEL I NURSING STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE VISAYAS

SECOND SEMESTER A.Y 2010-2011

A Research Study Presented to The Faculty of the College of Nursing University of the Visayas Cebu City

In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Subject Nursing Research for the Degree BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING

Section B, Group No. 4 Pilapil, Rashnie M. Ramirez, Jake P. Retubado, Inigo Jr. F. Tabar, Eunice Faye E. Tangpus, Jayvee V. Torreon, Claire S. Valle, James Karl G. Vilbar, Janine B. Wagwag, Amiel A.

CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE INTRODUCTION Rationale of the Study Wikipedia states that a social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of relations (Social network, 2007). With the rapid growth of students who use or have access to the internet, social networking websites are a must for the internet community to stay in touch with each other for a purpose of making their learning environment vibrantly indulged in digital innovations. Social networking websites help students keep in touch with their classmates, be acquainted with their latest activities, updated with the trends in learning in any other institution, express their varied views, and many more aspects of the students lives. The use of social networking sites has been widespread that they have not only caught the attention of academic researchers worldwide but also student researchers, in particular. Social networking sites are now being investigated by numerous researchers and an increasing number of academic commentators are becoming more and more interested in studying Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking services, because of their probable impact on learning. Most of these sites help strangers connect with others based on shared personal interests, political and economic views, or simply recreational activities. Some sites

2 accommodate distinct viewers, while others attract people based on similarities, such as common languages or shared racial, sexual, religious or nationality-based identities. Nonetheless, social networking sites have only one common goal. It is to encourage new ways to communicate and share information. The researchers chose the topic about the impacts of social networking sites to be studied because it is shown evidently that most of the students in the University of the Visayas College of Nursing use social networking sites as part of their activities done in the internet. Many students always log into their account on Facebook, Friendster, etc. as a part of their everyday routine. Could you imagine the number of all the students logging into these social networking sites, everyday? That would be millions of students logging in social networking sites. The students are the most vulnerable against exploitative acts and other internet flaws. The shroud of anonymity that these sites provide would no less than crippled our futures hope of producing the best generation that they can offer. These negative impacts of social networking websites on the learning competency of the students sounds alarming, hence it is more imperative for us to make a research to present recommendations out of the findings of the study. To what extent could these sites affect students learning competency?

The researchers goal is to address the aforementioned question and have an in-depth study with regards to the extent of these impacts to cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of learning. OMY

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

5 Theoretical Background

A social network is a map of all the relevant ties, relationships and connections between individuals in any part of the world. Social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, Friendster and many others affect a person in various ways. It enhances changes when it comes to the persons interpersonal and social relationships, some may see it as an outlet for expressing oneself, others use it to keep in touch, keep connected and be informed. The power of social network stems from its difference from traditional sociological studies, which assumes that it is the attributes of individual actors whether they are friendly or unfriendly, smart or dumb, etc. that matter. The most affected people in the emergence of these social networking sites are the growing children and adolescents. In fact, these trend affect their lifestyle, it affects their social interaction, and most importantly, their studies. What are the impacts of these social networking sites to the learning competency of a child in terms of his cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain?

Learning competency could be best understood when it is subdivided into three fields. These are cognitive, psychomotor and affective. Cognitive pertains to a persons mental skills or knowledge. Psychomotor includes manual or physical skills and affective includes growth or attitude. These fields are the three domains that comprise Blooms Taxonomy Model. External factors greatly affect the persons learning competency. The social learning theory of Bandura emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Bandura (1977) states: "Learning

would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action." The theory stipulates that through empirical study using ones senses, in observing how people acts and reacts to environmental stimuli, a child develops a sense of information about how to act if hell be tangled in the same situation.

This research study wants to figure out what are the impacts, may it be positive or the other way around, of social networking sites to the learning competency of Level I nursing students in terms of cognitive, psychomotor and affective domain.

6 THE PROBLEM This study aims to assess the impact of social networking websites on the learning competency of Level 1 nursing students of the University of the Visayas for the second semester of A.Y.2010-2011 Statement of the Problem Specifically, this study will seek to answer the following queries: 1. To what extent is the impact of social networking websites on the learning competency of level I nursing students along the following dimensions of learning: 1.1 Cognitive; 1.2 Affective; and 1.3 Psychomotor? 2. Do social networking websites affect the respondents interaction with other people? 3. What recommendations can be proposed to improve learning competency of Level 1 nursing students through the use of social networking websites?

7 Significance of the Study This study will be initiated in order to find out the impact of social networking sites on the learning competencies of students- how it affects their relations, what are its uses for each individuals and how have they been influenced in their academic performance by these sites. Students. The awareness of the students will be intensified about possible aftermath of using these social networking sites; may it be for better learning competence or the otherwise. Parents. In the same manner, parents will be adhered to monitor the learners usage on social networking websites and assess their students behavior upon exposure to this site. Parental discretion is a must and they must know what those sites that their children have gone into. Teachers. Teachers will be given information on how to design conducive learning environment having students that are inclined on using computers in the teaching-learning process. Consequently, establishing good rapport among stakeholders in the curriculum will eventually end into productive endeavors diminishing the menace of social networking websites . School administrators. Furthermore, the school administrators will be enlightened that the adverse impacts of social networking websites need to be addressed at once by formulating school policies regulating students access to internet caf and fostering information campaign aimed at educating students on the ill-effects of social networking websites on their academic and social boundaries.

8 Librarians and library personnel. Moreover, librarians and other library personnel will be aware of students possible activities while visiting the internet inside the library and be able to have them closely monitored. Government officials. Government officials will take into account these effects, weigh them reasonably and be able to implement whatever means necessary so as not to put learning competency vulnerable. Developers of social networking sites. The result of this study will make the developers of different social networking sites be more aware of the influences of these sites that they are maintaining and making. Because of this, they will be trying their best to develop a social networking site that will only have good effects to the user especially the learners. Future researchers. This study can help the further studies of future researchers regarding the impacts of social networking sites on the learning competency of students. This can serve as a reference for further improvements to be done in their study.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

To avoid ambiguity, certain terms used in the study are defined.

Affective. Affective refers to the experience of feeling or emotion. Affective is a key part of the process of our respondents interaction with our study.

Cognitive. Pertaining to cognition, the process of knowing and, more precisely, the process of being aware, knowing, thinking, learning and judging of the respondents.

9 Impact. Impact is defined as the effect or impression of the social networking sites to the populations domains of learning.

Internet. It is a worldwide electronic source of information and communication.

Population. Population connotes to the student respondents coming from level 1students in the University of the Visayas College of Nursing for second semester A.Y 2010-2011.

Social Networking Websites or Social Networking Sites. Social network sites are used in our

study as a convenient mean for the respondents to communicate and share their personal and professional experiences with others.

Student Classification. Student classification pertains to the classification of our respondents the first year students of A.Y 2010-2011.

Psychomotor. Is the ability to physically manipulate a tool or instrument such as computer.