Title:	THE USE OF MOBILE MESSAGING APPS TO SHARE INFORMATION AMONG LECTURERS IN BRAZIL
Author(s):	Marcos da Silva Araújo and Ricardo Rodrigues Barbosa
ISBN:	978-989-8533-72-2
Editors:	Piet Kommers, Tomayess Issa, Pedro Isaías and Ana Hol
Year:	2017
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Information Management, Mobile Information Technology, Mobile Communities of Practice, Lecturers
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	75
Last Page:	82
Language:	English
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Paper Abstract:	Digital technology development has brought new opportunities for information sharing in organizations. This technology enables the interconnection among people, supporting knowledge creation and exchange. Higher education institutions need to set strategies to benefit from mobile digital technologies in academic setting. The purpose of this study was to verify if lecturers are sharing information with their peers by mobile messaging apps in two colleges in Brazil. We also intended to identify which applications are most used, their frequency of use, the nature of the shared content, the content relevance and lecturers' participation in college mate messaging groups. Quantitative census survey was used for this case study. Data were collected by using an online survey sent by e-mail to all the lecturers of two private colleges placed in Minas Gerais, in the Southeast region in Brazil, and a survey to the moderators of the three most important college mate messaging groups cited by the respondents. The contribution of this case study addresses the use of mobile technologies, specifically mobile messaging applications, as an alternative and complementary technology for academic and professional information sharing among lecturers. The findings reveal lecturers have shared information with their peers by mobile messaging apps in both colleges. The favourite application to share information is WhatsApp. The most cited shared content in the groups was professional opportunities, however, humour and news were the contents with higher frequency of posts. Lecturers considered pedagogical experiences as the most relevant shared content in the groups. Lecturers' information sharing was higher than the average during the research period. The respondents often shared news and greeting messages, but they also posted academic rules and procedures, and pedagogical experiences regularly in the groups. Lecturers considered information in the groups relevant for professional or academic improvement of their peers. Future studies should draw comparisons between traditional information sharing and mobile messaging in higher education institutions, and investigate moderation and engagement for using mobile messaging apps among lecturers.
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