LinkedIn as a Tool for Higher Education Programme Evaluation

  1. Fresno Anabo, Icy 1
  2. Elexpuru Albizuri, Iciar 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Deusto
    info

    Universidad de Deusto

    Bilbao, España

    ROR https://ror.org/00ne6sr39

Journal:
RED: revista de educación a distancia

ISSN: 1578-7680

Year of publication: 2017

Issue: 53

Type: Article

DOI: 10.6018/RED/53/8 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

More publications in: RED: revista de educación a distancia

Abstract

The aim of this research was to conduct a preliminary evaluation of the outcomes of the European Masters in Lifelong Learning: Policy and Management (MALLL) on mobility, employability, and interculturality using Linkedln data in conjunction with document reviews and a small sample of staff interviews. MALLL is an internationally-oriented higher education programme within the Erasmus Mundus scheme launched in 2006. Subjects were MALLL graduates between 2008 to 2014 and data were gathered from Work Experience and Education sections of 75 individual LinkedIn profiles as well as organic responses on the group’s LinkedIn forum. The results show that the MALLL programme facilitated the graduates’ academic and professional mobility in varying degrees. The sample’s career profiles show that their roles are in line with MALLL’s intended outcomes related to employability. Meanwhile, positive outcomes were perceived by the graduates pertaining to their interculturality. LinkedIn proved to be a potent instrument in evaluating the outcomes of a higher education programme. With a careful consideration of its benefits and risks and by drawing a strategy to harness its potential, programme evaluators can find at their disposal a rich and practical way of assessment in conjunction with more traditional data collection methods

Bibliographic References

  • Cabero, J., Barroso, J., Llorente, M.C., & Yanes, C. (2016). Redes sociales y tecnologías de la información y la comunicación: Diferencias de género, edad y preferencias. RED. Revista de Educación a Distancia, 51. Retrieved March 5, 2017, from http://www.um.es/ead/red/51/cabero_et_al.pdf
  • Case, T., Gardiner, A., Rutner, P., & Dyer, J. (2011). A LinkedIn analysis of career paths of information systems alumni. SAIS 2011 Proceedings, 35. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://aisel.aisnet.org/sais2011/35
  • EMA. (2009). Erasmus Mundus graduate impact survey – 2007-2009 – Executive summary. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.ema.eu/fileadmin/content/GIS/GIS_Executive_Summary_2007-2009.pdf
  • EMA. (2010). Erasmus Mundus graduate impact survey – 2009-2010 – Executive summary. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.ema.eu/fileadmin/content/GIS/GIS_Executive_Summary_2009-2010.pdf
  • EMA. (2011). Erasmus Mundus graduate impact survey – October 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.em-a.eu/fileadmin/content/GIS/2011-1113_GIS_SUMMARY.pdf
  • European Union. (2014). The Erasmus impact study: Effects of mobility on the skills and employability of students and the internationalisation of higher education institutions.
  • Eysenbach, G., & Till, J. (2001). Ethical issues in qualitative research on internet communities. British Medical Journal, 323, 1103–1105. Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.bmj.com/content/323/7321/1103
  • Flicker, S., Haans, D., & Skinner, H. (2004). Ethical dilemmas in research on internet communities. Qualitative Health Research, 14(1), 124-134.
  • Guillory, J., & Hancock, J. T. (2012). The effect of Linkedin on deception in resumes. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. Retrieved December 10, 2016, from https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2011.0389
  • Hemmer, S., Pommer, S., Knabl, J., Calmand, J., Hallier, P., & Bouder, A. (2011). Clustering Erasmus Mundus masters’ courses and attractiveness projects – Lot 2: Employability. Retrieved August 31, 2015, from http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/clusters/documents/publication_version_employability_survey_results.pdf
  • Hoser, B., & Nitschke, T. (2010). Questions on ethics for research in the virtually connected world. Social Networks, 32, 180-186.
  • ICUnet.AG. (2012). Erasmus Mundus graduate impact survey – September 2012. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://files.icunet.ag:81/index.php?action=d&step=3
  • ICUnet.AG. (2013). Erasmus Mundus graduate impact survey – September 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.ema.eu/fileadmin/content/GIS/GIS_Survey_Report_summary_2013.pdf
  • ICUnet.AG. (2014). Erasmus Mundus graduate impact survey – September 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2015, from http://www.ema.eu/fileadmin/content/GIS/Graduate_Impact_Survey_2014.pdf
  • ICUnet.AG. (2015). Erasmus Mundus graduate impact survey – November 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2017, from http://www.ema.eu/fileadmin/content/GIS/Graduate_Impact_Survey_2015.pdf
  • ICUnet. (2017). Erasmus Mundus graduate impact survey – January 2017. Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://www.em-a.eu/fileadmin/content/GIS/Summary_GIS-2016.pdf
  • MALLL. (2011). [Brochure]. Retrieved March 20, 2015, fromhttp://lifelonglearningmasters.org/fileadmin/www.lifelonglearningmasters.org/introduction/MALLL_brochure_ENGLISH_screen_Oct_2011.pdf
  • Parker, C., Saundage, D., & Lee, C. (2011). Can Qualitative Content Analysis be adapted for use by Social Informaticians to study social media discourse? A position paper. ACIS 2011 Proceedings. Paper 90. Retrieved May 22, 2015, from http://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2011/90
  • Redmond, F. (2010). Social networking sites: Evaluating and investigating their use in academic research. Paper presented at ICERI 2010 (International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation), Madrid. Retrieved June 3, 2015, from http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=aaschlancon
  • Roberts, L., Day, R., Jenkins, J., & Geddes, N. (2012). Evaluating commonwealth scholarships in the United Kingdom: assessing impact in higher education and development. Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK.
  • Romand, N.C., Jr., Donovan, C., Chen, H., & Nunamaker, J.F., Jr. (2003). A methodology for analysing web based qualitative data. Journal of Management Information Systems, 19(4), 213-46.
  • Stern, E. (2004). Philosophies and types of evaluation research. In Descy, P., & Tessaring, M. (Eds.), Foundations of evaluation and impact research: Third report on vocational training & research in Europe: Background report (CEDEFOP reference series 58). Luxembourg: Office of Official Publications of the European Communities.
  • Tantawy, R. Y., Farouk, Z., Mohamed, S., & Yousef, A. H. (2014). Using professional social networking as an innovative method for data extraction: The ICT Alumni Index case study. Retrieved February 27, 2017, from https://arxiv.org/pdf/1410.1348.pdf
  • Wilson, R., Gosling, S., & Graham, L. (2012). A review of Facebook research in the social sciences. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(3), 203-220.
  • World Bank (IBRD). (2002). Constructing knowledge societies: New challenges for tertiary education. World Bank, Washington, District of Columbia.
Data source: Dialnet