What's This GroupMe Thing? Instructor Perceptions and Experiences
Disciplines
Online and Distance Education | Social Psychology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Many current college students have never known a world without the ability to instantly share information. GroupMe is an instant messaging app that facilitates group messaging, and its presence on college campuses has only recently been noted (Carpenter & Green, 2017). However, students routinely create GroupMe conversations for their classes and invite their classmates to join. Often these conversations are unmonitored. Discussions with a college Academic Integrity Office suggest that there are concerns regarding student activity in class GroupMe conversations, particularly with regards to the potential to cheat. However, the degree to which faculty are aware, have experienced, or have developed policies related to students’ use of GroupMe is unknown. The purpose of this research is to investigate instructors’ awareness, perceptions, and experiences with students' class GroupMe use by surveying current faculty. Although this research is largely exploratory, we do expect newer faculty and faculty who are more technology savvy to have greater awareness and experience with students’ use of the app. Understanding instructors’ experiences with students’ GroupMe activity may provide important information about the extent to which institutions should have concerns about academic integrity related to GroupMe use and how instructors might best respond to those concerns.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Jennifer Willard
Additional Faculty
Adrienne Williamson, Psychology, awill176@kennesaw.edu
What's This GroupMe Thing? Instructor Perceptions and Experiences
Many current college students have never known a world without the ability to instantly share information. GroupMe is an instant messaging app that facilitates group messaging, and its presence on college campuses has only recently been noted (Carpenter & Green, 2017). However, students routinely create GroupMe conversations for their classes and invite their classmates to join. Often these conversations are unmonitored. Discussions with a college Academic Integrity Office suggest that there are concerns regarding student activity in class GroupMe conversations, particularly with regards to the potential to cheat. However, the degree to which faculty are aware, have experienced, or have developed policies related to students’ use of GroupMe is unknown. The purpose of this research is to investigate instructors’ awareness, perceptions, and experiences with students' class GroupMe use by surveying current faculty. Although this research is largely exploratory, we do expect newer faculty and faculty who are more technology savvy to have greater awareness and experience with students’ use of the app. Understanding instructors’ experiences with students’ GroupMe activity may provide important information about the extent to which institutions should have concerns about academic integrity related to GroupMe use and how instructors might best respond to those concerns.