Effectiveness of WhatsApp Learning Groups in Knowledge Construction among Prospective Teachers: Perceptions of Students in the Department of Education, University of Malakand

Abstract

This quantitative research study explored the perceptions of prospective teachers on the effectiveness of WhatsApp Learning Groups (WLG) on the construction of knowledge in the Department of Education, University of Malakand. The study population was the entire 60 students of the 4 th and 8 th semester. A self-administered 15-item questionnaire was developed on the basis of a 5-point Likert scale and a census sampling technique was employed; the entire population (N = 60) participated in the study. The SPSS version 22 was used to calculate descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviations) and Pearson correlation. The findings displayed that the students were mostly neutral to negative in their perceptions about WhatsApp Learning Groups. The average scores of the items were between 2.30 and 3.10. The students mentioned moderate personal engagement (M = 3.10), but low academic benefits, such as low understanding of course materials (M = 2.30), low promotion of critical thinking skills (M = 2.40), passive participation, frequent distractions, and low levels of facilitation by both teachers (M = 2.66) and group leaders (M = 2.73). A significant negative correlation was found between semester and GPA (r = -.286, p = .027). The research ends with the finding that, despite the convenience and social interaction of WhatsApp Learning Groups, they are currently not structured, facilitated, and as interactive as they should be to build knowledge. It is recommended that the teacher should be active in moderation, the guidelines of the group should be clear, students and faculty should be properly trained to improve the educational value of such platforms.