Online content creation: looking at students’ social media practices through a Connected Learning lens

† This study was partially reported on at the 8th International Conference on e-Learning in Cape Town; this is an extensively elaborated and extended paper.

Abstract

As the boundaries between technology and social media have decreased, the potential for creative production or participatory practices have increased. However, the affordances of online content creation (OCC) are still taken up by a minority of internet users despite the opportunities offered for engagement and creativity. While previous studies have addressed creative production by university students for specific purposes, there is a research gap concerning OCC in the everyday lives of African university students. This paper describes the stories of three students who are online creators of content, the social media they utilised; their trajectories; their linkages with career interests; the types of online presences they created, maintained or discontinued into their university lives. As the case studies spanned digital practices that were informal and extracurricular yet peer-supported as well as interest-driven and academically oriented, the pedagogical framework of Connected Learning proved an appropriate heuristic. The study shows that being a digital creator gives students a competitive edge in our globally competitive society.

Keywords:

• social media
• online content creation
• university students
• Connected Learning
• digital literacy practices

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the researchers who supervised each research site: Adone Kitching (University of Cape Town), Karen Ngwenya (University of Fort Hare), Hennie Erasmus (University of Free State) and Nompilo Tshuma (Rhodes University). We also appreciate the assistance of Caroline Magunje, Phumla Willie and Kelsey Wiens in helping with translation, transcription, coding and/or review of evidence. Thanks especially to the student participants, whose enthusiastic contribution provided the opportunity to better understand access and use of ICTs in their academic and personal lives.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

† This study was partially reported on at the 8th International Conference on e-Learning in Cape Town; this is an extensively elaborated and extended paper.

1. All users do indirectly pay for each service, often by providing their personal information and becoming a product for the service to market to advertisers on its platform (Schneier, 2010). There are also direct financial costs related to the bandwidth needed, and platform used, for the service.

2. Hyperlinks to these sites are provided in References under ‘Online services referred to in this paper’.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank the International Development Research Centre for funding this project.