1) Lecturers at four higher education institutions in Western Cape participated in a short course on emerging technologies where WhatsApp was used to facilitate online discussions. 2) Analysis of the WhatsApp conversations found that initially lecturers asked mostly about the technology, but later engaged more deeply with the learning tasks and supported each other. 3) While lecturers found WhatsApp useful for the course, most were not using it in their own teaching later due to students' lack of interest, comfort with technology, or time needed to respond.

1. Lecturers experiences on the use
of ‘WhatsApp’ for staff
development
Rita Ndagire Kizito
02 September 2014
“A personal reflection”

2. The Story line
• The hurdles
• Context
• The inquiry (questions)
• Data
• Findings
• What next?
https://vulcanpost.com/329021/whatsappening-to-us/
Image Credit: India Times

3. The hurdles
• The usefulness of most of the digital apps that
we are trying to use in education is sometimes
difficult to isolate because these ‘technologies’
were built for other purposes – not teaching and
learning.
• The rate of technology evolution is too fast for
the rate at which education provision can adapt
to these changes.

4. The hurdles
Social purposes Academic purposes
Information-sharing
Communication
Collaboration
Information-sharing
Communication
Collaboration
Deep engagement
Development (Learning)

5. What is in “WhatsApp”?
• worth 19 billion
• mobility
• instantaneity
has changed the face of
communication

6. Conradie, P. W., Lombard, A., & Moller, M. (2013).
Learners’ perceptions of mobile devices for learning in
higher education–towards a mobile learning pedagogical
framework. World Academy of Science, Engineering and
Technology, 73, 514-519.
Alsaleem, B. I. A. (2013). The effect of “Whatsapp”
electronic dialogue journaling on improving writing
Vocabulary Word Choice and Voice of EFL Undergraduate
Saudi Students. Arab World English Journal, 4(3), 213-
225.
* Yeboah, J., & Ewur, G. D. (2014). The impact of
WhatsApp messenger usage on students performance in
Tertiary Institutions in Ghana. Journal of Education and
practice, 5(6), 157-164.
Lauricella, S., & Kay, R. (2013). Exploring the use of text
and instant messaging in higher education classrooms.
Research in Learning technology, 21.

7. “MIM has potential to create alternative dialogic
spaces for student collaborative engagements in
informal contexts, which can gainfully transform
teaching and learning” (p. 540)
“WhatsApp also transformed pedagogy by
fostering social constructivist environments for
lecturer–student and peer-based co-construction of
knowledge” (p. 560)
Rambe & Bere (2013)

8. The inquiry – from a learning activity design perspective
What is the best way to incorporate WhatsApp in a
higher/vocational learning environment ?
 What are the benefits of using WhatsApp for staff
development?
 What challenges do lecturers encounter when
using WhatsApp in their personal learning spaces?

9. The Context :CHEC short course on Emerging
Technologies to Improve Teaching and Learning for higher
educators at the four Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
in the Western Cape (2014 cohort)
02 April
09 April
10 April
16 April
17 April
23 April
24 April
30 April
01 May
07 May
08 May
14 May
face-to -face
face-to -face
face-to -face
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6

10. The Context :CHEC short course on Emerging
Technologies to Improve Teaching and Learning for higher
educators at the four Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)
in the Western Cape (2014 cohort)
Case study
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Task 4
Task 5

11. WhatsApp conversations
02 April
09 April
10 April
16 April
17 April
23 April
24 April
30 April
01 May
07 May
08 May
14 May
face-to -face
face-to -face
face-to -face
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
08 April
09 April
14 April
15 April
16 April
17 April
18 April
21 April
22 April
23 April
06 May
07 May
08 May
09 May
10 May
12 May
14 May
16 May
17 May
19 May
22 May
(21 days)

12. Data Collection
‘WhatsApp’ was used to facilitate the online sessions of
the 2014 emerging technologies course. The Teaching
and learning challenges for the 5 academics
participating in this study were collected using a content
analysis of the Google drive posts and ‘WhatsApp’
conversations.

13. Data Collection & Analysis

14. Who is doing the ‘talking’ ( Total 331 posts)
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
F1
F2
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
WhatsApp Post counts (%)
facilitators
lecturers

15. What was said
Facilitators F1 & F2 provided information, clarifications
and advice:
F2: “Please make sure you have something for your
first reflection at 11h00”
F1: “If you encounter problems with hangout tomorrow
from your university try using your laptops and 3g cards
or cell phones”

16. What was said
Lecturers asked for guidance about the technology
initially: A4: “My doc has been saved on Google docs/
Will all members be able to see it?”; A3: “ How do I get
to hangout?”
Later on the inquired about the tasks: A5: “ I have
created a folder & moved my reflection in it. Can you all
see it?”

17. What was said
Once they became comfortable with the technology,
lecturers started engaging deeply with the learning
tasks. A1 beginning to identify the learning challenge:
A1: “ I feel the dental terms and understanding them
can only be overcome by the students themselves.
More reading or journals and articles pertaining to
dentistry can improve their knowledge greatly and this
is what they do not do….”

18. What was said
They even began supporting each other:
A2: “ Will rework my challenges to achieve intended
outcomes esp. to provide resources which will facilitate
learning”
A5: “ I was considering that as well… I was thinking
Google drive would be a great platform for our 3rd and
4th years where they cover case studies”

19. Wang, Chen & Anderson’s ( 2014) framework
for interaction and cognitive engagement *

20. Challenges
There were challenges with connectivity;
A5:” Is anyone on the X Campus struggling with their
internet connection?”
And sometime loss of the thread of the conversations:
A2: “I am lost”
One participant did not feel very comfortable discussing
issues in the WhatsApp space.

21. Overall participants were pleased with WhatsApp
A5: “ I am happy with WhatsApp. It won’t leave us in
the lurch”
A3: “ Yes, WU has been a revelation”
A2: “ WhatsApp is a cheap and easy method to
communicate and post links to. E.g. YouTube clippings
etc.”
One participant did not feel very comfortable discussing
Issues in the WhatsApp space

22. However this does not translate into use later (2015)
3. Are you using WhatsApp in your teaching? If yes
how and if no , why?
A4:“No. Students are not very interested in engaging
with technology. I am also not very ofay with how to use
WA in education besides for messaging. I would like to
learn how to use it more effectively. Any articles that
could be recommended for ideas?”

23. However this does not translate into use later (2015)
3. Are you using WhatsApp in your teaching? If yes
how and if no , why?
A1: “No. No time to respond to all the chats”
A2: “No I have not implemented the use of WhatsApp .I
did not find the need to do so with my class this year
but will however give it a try next year”

24.  What are the benefits of using WhatsApp
for staff development?
 What challenges do lecturers encounter
when using WhatsApp in their personal
learning spaces?

25. What is the best way to
incorporate WhatsApp in a
higher/vocational learning
environment ?

26. Additional References
Rambe, P., & Bere, A. (2013). Using mobile instant
messaging to leverage learner participation and
transform pedagogy at a South African University of
Technology. British Journal of Educational
Technology, 44(4), 544-561.
Wang, Z., Chen, L., & Anderson, T. (2014). A framework for
interaction and cognitive engagement in connectivist
learning contexts. The International Review of
Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 15(2).

27. Thank-you