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University Students' Use and Perceptions of Telegram to Promote Effective

Educational Interactions: A Qualitative Study

Article in International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) · May 2021

DOI: 10.3991/ijet.v16i09.19281

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Paper—University Students’ Use and Perceptions of Telegram to Promote Effective Educational...

University Students’ Use and Perceptions of Telegram to

Promote Effective Educational Interactions:
A Qualitative Study
https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v16i09.19281

Hibah Khalid Aladsani

King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia
[email protected]

Abstract—Student interaction is a pivotal element in any educational

environment. Accordingly, employing technologies to increase these
educational interactions has attracted both instructors’ and students’ attention.
This qualitative paper investigated the means of employing Telegram, a social
network site (SNS), to increase students’ educational interactions and explore
their perceptions of using it as an interactional medium in a university course. A
thematic analysis was applied to assess data collected from the posts of 77
university students in three Telegram groups created for this course and the
students’ reflection papers required at the end of the course. This study’s
findings identified several instructional activities that can be employed on
Telegram to enhance students’ interactions, as well as presented how students
interact with their instructor and each other on Telegram. The findings also
highlighted the students’ perceptions of Telegram as a technology to enhance
their course interactions, including the advantages and disadvantages of using
Telegram in this course. Implications of this study can allow university
instructors and policymakers to reconsider their teaching methods and even
encourage using Telegram or similar SNSs to aid students’ learning.

Keywords—Social network sites (SNSs), social media, Telegram, Interaction,

Instructional activities, higher education

1 Introduction

Many studies have demonstrated the importance of interaction between students

themselves and between them and their instructors as a significant component to
acquiring knowledge and developing successful learning [1], [2]. Additional research
has discussed several types of interaction in distance education: for example, learner-
instructor interaction, learner-learner interaction, and learner-content interaction [1].
Hillman et al. [3] also identified the need for an examination of learner-interface
interaction for online learning.
These interaction types all occur at different times and frequencies during students’
academic experiences. The most frequently occurring interaction in educational
settings is the learner-instructor interaction, which is more desirable to students due to

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its instructional direction, support, and motivation to achieve the course objectives
[1]. Learner-learner interaction is also an essential part of online learning especially
due to peer emotional support giving students a sense of belonging to a connected
community [4]. The learner-content interaction occurs when the learner receives new
information and processes it in his or her mind with previous knowledge and
experience, thereby producing or developing his or her cognitive structure [1]. In
online learning, the learner must interact with a communication medium, which
Hillman et al. [3] named learner-interface interaction. They considered it the first of
any online interactions because students cannot interact with instructors or content
before encountering an interface.
The growing use of SNSs has significantly changed the way students learn and
interact. There are numerous SNSs such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
Telegram. Since its inception in 2013, Telegram has become the most downloaded
social media application and seen tremendous user growth, reaching 400 million
monthly users [5]. As with other social network sites (SNSs), Telegram is free of
charge, has unlimited space for cloud storage, supports media-sharing regardless of
file size or type, and can be accessed from multiple devices [6]. Telegram also has
special features, such as high security, video calls, chat groups and channels, polls,
and bots [5].
Encryption and security are what make Telegram a unique SNS. The app offers
multiple security settings that offer users extra privacy. These include hiding user
phone numbers from the public, providing two-step verification, controlling who is
able to see the “last seen” status, and blocking other users to prevent them from seeing
the blocker’s messages [7]. Secret chat is another great Telegram feature that protects
users from censoring with client-to-client encryption that offers message self-
destruction [8], [7]. Polls also serve as voting tools that can settle disagreements
between users or allow them to report their availability for events; these can be
anonymous or not. Polls also provide Quiz Mode, which identifies only one correct
answer [9].
The common use of SNSs has significantly changed the way students learn and
interact [8], [10], [11]. Although the importance of online interaction, there is a dearth
of research on employing Telegram as one of SNSs to enhance students’ interactions
in online educational settings. Using qualitative approach, this study investigates what
instructional activities are used in practice to promote students’ interaction and how
students feel about using Telegram for their interactions.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Online communication in learning

Educational interaction is a vital component in the successful learning process,

especially in online environments because of the absence of physical communication
between the student themselves and between them and their instructors [12]. Previous
studies have discussed the four types of interactions presented by Moore [1] and

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Hillman et al. [3] explaining the benefits of these interaction types on students’
learning and providing some suggestions to increase these interactions.
Learner–instructor interaction is the interaction type most discussed in literature.
There are various ways instructors can continuously interact with their students to
bridge the physical gap in online environments. Interaction can be enhanced by
providing students with immediate feedback and using their first names when sending
instant messages [13]. Offering emotional support is a great way to increase student
interaction and decrease their feeling of isolation [14]. Moreover, the instructor’s
involvement in the discussion thread with their students encourages students to be
more active in online learning activities [13]. Vlachopoulos and Makri [13] also
emphasized the positive effect of synchronous classes in maximizing the interaction
of students. A good interaction between instructors and students leads to
improvements in the latter’s academic performance, motivation, satisfaction, and
persistence to complete a course [14]. Learner–instructor interaction can produce a
sense of academic community that may stop the feeling of isolation that usually
appears in online learning environments due to the physical separation between
students and their instructor [13].
The second type of educational interaction is learner–learner interaction, which
occurs when students communicate and participate in educational activities.
Instructors can enhance this interaction by encouraging students to participate in
threaded discussion forums and coordinate or lead the teamwork [13]. Besides these
activities, students can interact with their peers in their synchronous or asynchronous
online classes with or without their instructor in attendance [15]. Yu et al. [15] stated
that students involved in frequent peer interaction in online courses acquire a
considerable amount of information and improve their academic performance.
Instructors can promote learner–content interaction by providing students with
instructional videos to watch, research tasks to do [12], and interactive course content
to interact with [13]. When learners interact with content, they retrieve the old
information, process the new one, and combine both to create the knowledge [12].
Learner–interface interaction is vital for online learning. As students interact with
technology to learn and structure their knowledge, the technology should provide its
users ease and satisfaction. However, technical problems in an online system could
have a negative impact on students’ learning and interaction with technology if these
problems are not resolved immediately [12].

2.2 Telegram in higher education

With its many features, Telegram can be effectively used for academic purposes.
Previous literature has discussed students’ attitudes toward the use of Telegram in
their courses, its advantages and disadvantages, and its effects on students’ academic
performance. These studies indicated that students enjoy using Telegram, as it makes
their courses more interesting [6], [10], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21]. The students’
positive attitudes were mostly due to the advantages granted to them from using
Telegram in their learning. One of these advantages is Telegram’s seamless network,
which lets students access their accounts on any device, meaning they can start

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learning on their mobile phones and continue learning on their laptops, therefore
maintaining the information flow from different resources without stopping [8], [22].
Students and instructors appreciate Telegram’s media sharing support as well.
Telegram supports sharing all file formats up to 1.5 GB [8]. Instructors can employ
this feature in their teaching activities and provide their students multimedia
information, such as video clips and images, that improve the students’ learning [8].
Al-Abdli [17] indicated that students enjoy using Telegram in a course because of the
video clips and images their instructors shared. Xodabande [11] similarly emphasized
that sharing video broadcasts on Telegram with his students improved their English
pronunciation skills. He also explained that teaching pronunciation is a difficult job
for teachers; however, on Telegram, learners can play educational video clips
listening to native speakers and learn proper pronunciation on their own time and as
many times as they want, which is impossible in traditional offline classroom
methods.
Telegram groups are a great tool for building communities, as they can accept up to
200,000 members each. These groups can present publicly to anyone who utilizes
Telegram’s search box or privately to select users with specific invite links. Many
studies have demonstrated that Telegram groups assist students in improving their
academic performance and gaining higher course scores for several reasons [8], [16],
[19], [21], [23]. First, Telegram groups increase student collaboration and discussions
with instructors and peers, which provides students new information [10], [19], [23].
Group discussions also enhance students’ understanding of the course content due to
their frequent discussions with peers [10]. Moreover, some instructors assign peer
assessment tasks over Telegram, which are highly beneficial because students learn
from each other and thus expand their knowledge and information [16], [10], [22].
Further, peer assessments in Telegram groups promote students’ critical thinking
skills with the extra attention that students give to their comments, as these comments
are presented in the class’s Telegram group and subsequently judged and evaluated by
teachers and other students [10]. Quick feedback from instructors in Telegram groups
is another contributor to students’ improved academic performance [16], [10].
Despite the benefits of Telegram, previous studies have also investigated its
drawbacks. Telegram’s main downfall is technical issues, such as network failure or
lack of internet coverage [16], [19], [22]. Students expressed their annoyance with the
internet problems, such as internet disconnections or the lack of internet coverage,
which disturb their online learning [22]. Further problem is the high cost of internet
subscription [22]. Another drawback is Telegram potentially distracting students from
the essential aim of using it in their course, which is learning through other, non-
traditional means [16], [22]. Aghajani and Adloo [16] indicated that some students
forgot to do their writing task on Telegram because they were distracted by the fun
offered on the Internet. This fun could occur when a student opens Telegram to send
their assignment but is distracted by other Telegram groups they have joined [22].
Distraction may also happen when peers send irrelevant posts in the Telegram class
group that disturb the learning use on the platform [22]. Telegram’s ease of use may
also increase the workload for both students and teachers, especially if the students
expect their teacher to be available for them 24/7 [10], leading to their disappointment

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if the instructor does not reply to their queries immediately. Cheating, addiction to
Telegram, and sharing misleading materials are the other disadvantages of this
platform [22]. Alizadeh [22] reported that spending a great deal of time on Telegram
to do assignments causes students to be addicted. He also explained that some of his
students admitted they did not write their assignments themselves, instead they simply
used copy and paste from other websites.

2.3 The educational interactions on telegram

Previous studies have indicated that Telegram’s features support various types of
online interaction. For example, it supports all file formats and discussions, and it
allows groups to maximize learner-instructor and learner-learner interactions, which
consequently enhances students’ academic outcomes in their online learning courses
[8]. Similarly, Aghajani and Adloo [16], who employed Telegram as a medium for
language learning, found that it increases students’ interactions with peers in a
cooperative environment due to online peer assessments assigned through this SNS,
as these assessments have a great role in boosting learner-learner interaction. Habibi
et al. [10] indicated that learner-instructor interaction is the most common interaction
in online learning that is employed Telegram for several reasons. First, Telegram
excellently answers students’ need for quick feedback. Furthermore, Telegram as an
SNS offers students additional opportunities to interact with their instructors beyond
the limited time and place of traditional classrooms [10]. These findings are in line
with those of [1], who further claimed that learner-instructor interactions are the most
desirable interaction type for instructors, as well as learners.
From this reviewed literature, it seems that most of these studies have focused on
the results of experiments that determine Telegram’s effectiveness in promoting
students’ academic outcomes or examine students’ attitudes toward Telegram.
Though this research ultimately promotes the importance of online interaction, there
is a dearth of research on employing Telegram to enhance students’ interactions in
online educational settings. Additionally, little qualitative research has been done to
investigate what instructional activities are used in practice to enhance interaction in
general and how students feel about using Telegram for their interactions. The present
study addresses these research gaps and reveals how instructors can utilize Telegram
as a medium to enhance students’ online educational interactions in answering these
research questions:
RQ1. Which instructional activities on Telegram are used to enhance educational
interactions?
RQ2. How do students perceive Telegram as a platform to support their
educational interactions?

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3 Methodology

3.1 Research design

In this study, the researcher examined the ways of employing Telegram to increase
students’ educational interactions and explored the students’ perceptions of using
Telegram for their interactions. In this research, the instructor was also the researcher.
A qualitative design was applied to gather particularly detailed reports from the
students on online educational environments to understand and interpret their
experiences [24]. The researcher used two methods: a content analysis of both the
Telegram posts and the students’ reflection papers that collected their perceptions of
using Telegram in the course.

3.2 Participants and context

Each of the 77 female students who enrolled in the education technology

department’s mandatory 14-week computer and society course at King Faisal
University (KFU), Saudi Arabia participated in this study. Moreover, While the
students were all taking the same course, they were all from three separate classes. All
the participants’ names were removed from this study for their privacy.

3.3 Research procedure

In the first week of the second semester in the academic year (the month that the
course started was in January and ended in April 2020), the researcher created three
separate Telegram groups based on the day of the students’ attended lectures, which
were the Tuesday group, Wednesday group, and Thursday group. An invitation link to
each group’s Telegram chat was sent via email to the students who study the course
on that day. The instructor did not provide any training lesson to teach how to use
Telegram, as this was considered presumed knowledge. The participants were already
familiar with Telegram as a popular SNS.
The researcher employed Telegram as an educational and communication tool.
While in class, the students were required to post their answers in their Telegram
group to the given tasks. Using Telegram was set as a mandatory course requirement
by the instructor, who established certain marks that would contribute to the final
course grade for those who engaged in the Telegram activities. Alongside using
Telegram as a pedagogical method inside the classroom, the students’ posts were
displayed with an overhead projector. Telegram was also used as a communication
tool outside the classroom. However, according to the university’s sudden closure as a
precaution against the spread of Covid-19, the instructor taught the students through
Telegram for full distance learning, though only for the first lecture after the closure.
The next lectures were taught via Blackboard, which is the university’s learning
management system (LMS), per the university’s instructions.

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3.4 Data collection and analysis

At the end of the course, the participants were required to submit reflection papers
on their perceptions and experiences of using Telegram in this course, particularly
explaining how Telegram affected their educational interactions. In total, all 77
students’ reflections were analysed. All the Telegram posts from the three groups
were analysed as another data source after being collected by the researcher through
systematic copying and pasting; Telegram as an SNS could be a great resource for
qualitative data that provides the researcher important information that cannot
otherwise be found through traditional methods [25]. Both data resources supported
and completed each other. The students’ reflection papers allowed the researcher to
examine their opinions and feelings regarding their experience using Telegram in this
course. The Telegram posts, meanwhile, supported the students’ reflection data but
also allowed the researcher to closely observe how she as the instructor and students
used Telegram for educational interactions.
The research data was coded thematically and manually analysed within the
framework of the research questions and considering the different types of
interactions [26]. For the purpose of this research, the analysis focused on identifying
the key themes that emerged from the Telegram posts and the students’ reflections
papers about using Telegram to interact with their classmates and teacher.

4 Findings and Discussion

The data analysis identified three main themes related to the employment of
Telegram to increase students’ interactions. They are (1) instructional activities
conveyed over Telegram to enhance students’ interactions, (2) learner-learner
interactions, and (3) students’ perceptions of Telegram as a means to enhance their
course interactions.

4.1 Instructional activities conveyed over telegram to enhance students’

interactions

Interaction is crucial element in any educational environment, as knowledge is

constructed in learners’ minds through their interactions with others, including
instructors and peers [27]. Therefore, it is important for instructors to give special
attention to activities that promote students’ interactions.
In the current study, several instructional activities were employed in the three
Telegram groups to promote course interactions. The first of these was to use
Telegram to provide announcements and reminders of the course’s academic
requirements. On Telegram, the first post, which was sent to all three groups, was the
course syllabus, which is considered a course announcement. The instructor also
posted announcements regarding the update of lecture times and halls. Further, the
instructor frequently posted assignment instructions, reminders, and pending
deadlines, as Telegram is a great tool for maintaining the flow of course

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announcements and reminders [16], [28]. In the students’ reflections, they reported
that they turned on Telegram’s notifications to be aware of any update in their course.
Turning on mobile phone notifications can assist university students who usually have
numerous academic tasks and may face difficulties keeping track of their university
assignments. Therefore, Telegram’s notifications, which conveyed course reminders
and updated timetables, could be an excellent way to inform students which tasks are
due to do. Notifications can also assist students in organizing their study life, so they
remain current with course updates and are reminded of important study work.
Despite the benefit of Telegram notifications as a reminder feature, Habibi et al. [10]
warned that this feature may produce more workload for the students.
Alongside announcements, the instructor employed Telegram to motivate the
students to be active learners and engage in lecture discussions. In each of the three
lectures, the instructor divided the students into four or five groups, then posted
questions via Telegram, with the Telegram chat group displayed on an overhead
projector. The students were required to discuss their responses in each group, then
submit their answers through Telegram on their mobile phones “see Figure 2”. In their
reflections, the students explained how using the overhead projector to display the
Telegram discussions provided them the opportunity to see all the students’ replies
and compare their answers with others, as well as examine the variety of thoughts and
views. This concurs with the SNS use identified by Becker and Bishop [29], who
stated that reading others’ writing, as presented with an overhead projector, helps
students improve their own writing and learning through comparing their work with
that in their peers’ posts. Moreover, the students explained in their reflections how
Telegram was useful for shy students who may feel uncomfortable engaging in
traditional discussions in the lecture, as they become more active on Telegram
discussions. Other studies have marked Telegram’s use in education as making the
learning environment more enjoyable and less stressful, which supports students’
confidence to be active learners engaging in class activities [16], [18]. Further, the
students mentioned that Telegram provided them a space for free speech to present
their points of view and allowed them to engage in the class discussions each lecture,
which could potentially be difficult or even impossible in the traditional classroom.
Indeed, Telegram offers students a sense of confidence to express their ideas and
opinions, whereas in face-to-face classes, not all students are able to present their
thoughts due to, for instance, embarrassment from speaking publicly [20].
Additionally, the students were required to make teaching aids inside the class as
an assignment. As a reward for the students’ good work, the instructor took photos of
these aids and posted them on the Telegram groups to thank these students, motivate
them to do their best, and keep these photos as memories on Telegram. The students
replied to these posts on Telegram, expressing their excitement and enjoyment in
doing the assignment, as well as seeing the shared photos of their work in their given
Telegram group. Sharing students’ achievements can create a positive educational
environment that motivates students to engage in effective interactions among
themselves, as well as with their instructors [30].

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Fig. 1. Using an overhead projector to display the Telegram discussions.

Sharing enriching media, such as video clips and images, was another educational
activity on Telegram. In their reflections, the students told that they appreciated these
shared media, as they increased their understanding of the lessons’ content and thus
improved their learning. Their appreciation is similar to that found in [17]. Faramarzi
[8] and Xodabande [11], too, emphasized how instructors can support media sharing
on Telegram to enhance students’ engagement and academic performance.
Telegram’s poll feature was also employed to set the most convenient day of the
exam for all three groups who studied this course. There were initially arguments
between the students regarding this issue, so the instructor asked each one to write the
most convenient day for her on the Telegram group. According to these replies, the
instructor posted a poll that contained the most frequently proposed days by the
students from the three groups. The day that got the highest percentage in the poll was
appointed as the exam day.
Inquiries were frequently sent through Telegram to the instructor regarding
assignments, exams, grades, and technical issues. In their reflections, the students
mentioned that the instructor provided more rapid responses to their questions on
Telegram compared to other communication methods, such as email. However, rapid
responses from the instructor may lead the students to think that their instructor is
available to answer them 24/7, which could increase the instructor’s workload [10].
The students also employed Telegram to send their assignments to the instructor;
they mentioned some benefits of this format as well in their reflections, such as
receiving instant instructor feedback and discussing that feedback with her at the same

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time. Getting fast feedback from teachers is important for students to improve their
academic performance [10].
Further, many students wrote that Telegram gave them a sense of friendship and
belonging to their instructor that cannot be felt in a traditional classroom. This feeling
of friendship could be due to the frequent communication on Telegram that removes
the emotional boundaries between students and teachers [10]. Prestridge [31] also
stated that communication and interactions on SNSs help students construct a sense of
online academic community and strengthen their relationship with their instructor.

4.2 Learner-learner interaction

Peer interaction is essential and valuable for online academic environments. It

assists students in structuring their knowledge and encourages the development of
their expertise and skills [1]. This study’s data reported different kinds of learner-
learner interactions, such as social, academic, and emotional interactions.
In the second lecture with Tuesday group, the instructor noticed that there were
three students who were engaged in the discussion in their Telegram group, but not
attending class inside the classroom. So, the instructor wondered who they were and if
they were students from the same group or stranger users who joined the group
accidentally. They replied that they were lost and could not find the classroom.
However, their classmates inside the class directed them on Telegram to the
classroom’s location near the stairs. It was a kind of social support between students.
The students were happy to use Telegram to provide instant help to their peers.
Moreover, this event clearly showed that Telegram is compatible with any device [8].
As a mobile-based app, Telegram can be used immediately, giving it an advantage
over computer-based systems. The students offered additional educational assistance
to those who were absent and had asked on Telegram about their missed lessons, with
the attending students posting summaries of what they were taught in the lecture. The
students also assisted each other with technical issues. For example, a student posted
on Telegram that she could not hear the instructor’s voice on the virtual Blackboard
lecture, and one of her classmate told her to try another web browser to join the
lecture. Frequent involvement in learner–learner interaction positively affects the
academic performance of students [15].
The students also emotionally supported each other. For instance, they encouraged
those who were struggling to send assignments by their deadlines and tried to
convince each other about the most convenient date for the final exam. In their
reflections, the students explained how Telegram gave them a sense of belonging to
the other students in their group that they did not feel before in a traditional
classroom. The frequent student interactions in online activities increase their
emotional closeness beyond the limited time and place during face-to-face sessions
[32], [33]. Moreover, educational online interaction on SNSs offer students a sense of
academic community with their classmates [29]. In this study, the students further
emphasized in their reflections that employing Telegram in the course better
encouraged them to become involved in collaborative learning than in traditional
lectures. The students explained the benefits of this academic collaboration in

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providing them great prospects to read other students’ ideas, experiences, and
suggestions, which enhanced their learning. Academic collaboration accompanied by
peer comments and feedback on Telegram thus has a pivotal role in improving
students’ academic performance [16]. Moore [1] emphasized that peer interaction
improves the educational skills and expertise of students and sharpens their skills as
knowledge creators.

4.3 Students’ perceptions of telegram as a means to enhance their course

interactions

The students presented their perceptions regarding their use of Telegram in this
course in their final reflection papers. The researcher noted that talking about the
advantages of Telegram as a communication tool was the dominant statements in the
students’ reflections. Further, the students compared Telegram to other
communication methods, as well as discussed, some challenges they faced in using
Telegram.
On Telegram, the students expressed their enjoyment with using Telegram as a
new technology in their learning. One student posted on Telegram, “Using Telegram
in this course is a great opportunity for students in the education technology discipline
to apply what we study about educational technology and distance learning”. The
students stated that as one SNS, Telegram was easy to download and create an
account for, as well as enjoyable, exciting [20], free of charge, and compatible with
any device or web browser, had great speed and high security [8], and supported
Arabic, which was the students’ mother tongue, and distance learning.
The students further discussed specific features of Telegram that they utilized. One
such feature was saving messages as resource repositories to keep important
information that was discussed in the lectures, which offered the students the ability to
return to this information to study for the exam, consequently assisting and improving
their learning. Telegram’s search feature as well was reported as a tool that helped the
students find needed information faster inside their course group. The students
determined how employing Telegram for class activities could support the natural
environment as well by reducing the amount of paper that is used for these activities
in traditional settings. The students appreciated Telegram’s excellent support for
media sharing, regardless of the size or type of media [6]. They also favoured
Telegram’s synchrony, which allowed them to have conversations with the instructor
all at the same time. The students explained how turning on notifications let them be
current with the course announcements and not miss anything. The students also
mentioned the editing features that helped them edit and improve their answers in the
class activities. Telegram’s editing feature provides a unique service that is
unavailable with a normal delete feature, as it allows the user to edit his or her post to
change a character or a word, then repost it without the need to rewrite the entire post.
On other SNSs such as Twitter or WhatsApp, when a user wants to correct a word in
his or her post after sending it, he or she must delete the first post and rewrite it from
the beginning. Thus, Telegram’s editing feature saved time and effort, encouraging
the students to improve their writing.

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In addition, the students discussed some Telegram features that kept their privacy.
For example, private messages meant that they could send their inquiries or
assignments to the instructor far away from their peers. Creating a specific group for
each class provided them more privacy and was more effective in terms of discussing
what was relevant to them, such as a change in lecture time or place. The students also
preferred hiding their mobile phone numbers to secure their privacy; although
Telegram requires a phone number for registration, its settings offer users the choice
to show or hide their phone numbers from the public. In fact, this was one of the
reasons the instructor preferred Telegram for this course, as she did not wish to give
her personal phone number to the students. Security and encryption made Telegram
the top-ranking SNS in terms of high security [5]. Its privacy features include private
messages between users, secret chats that offer message self-destruction [8], and the
ability to hide user phone numbers from the public [7]. Most of these privacy features
are restricted to Telegram only. For example, private messages between users are
available on WhatsApp, but the self-destructing messages and phone numbers hidden
from the public are unique features of Telegram.
Moreover, the students compared the use of Telegram in their learning to their use
of email and Blackboard, which is their university’s LMS. The students reported
facing challenges in employing Blackboard, such as technical issues, the complexity
of practice that needed special training, the need to sign in upon every site access, and
delayed media playback. Contrary to these challenges, Telegram was easy to
facilitate, constituted a small proportion of technical issues, provided immediate
media playback, and automatic sign-in upon use. Faramarzi [8] stated that Telegram is
characterized by its the speed of uploading and downloading files due to its structure
as a cloud-based system. The students also commended Telegram’s advantages over
email in some respects, such as supporting collaborative discussion among students,
confirming message receipt, and minimizing spelling errors in email addresses.
However, regarding message delivery and receipt confirmation, the students were not
aware of the delivery receipt feature in email that confirms a message was read by the
recipient. One student even complained that she got a zero on an assignment because
the instructor did not receive her message through email, and she could not find a way
to confirm whether she did or did not read her email. She reported this event by
preferring Telegram over email because Telegram provides users with receipt
confirmation as she stated.
The students also listed some of the challenges of using Telegram in the course.
First was the inability to utilize Telegram in offline mode. Second, Telegram rapidly
consumes battery life and cellular data. However, these challenges may appear in
most SNS apps that need Internet connection and battery life to operate. Additionally,
Telegram does not offer the ability to select more than one file to share, unlike other
SNSs such as WhatsApp. Anonymous users on Telegram also frightened some of the
students due to the potential harm they can cause. The anonymity is made possible by
the feature that hides users’ phone number, which was previously considered an
advantage by some students. Using Telegram inside the class may additionally
distract students, as they can easily browse other sites without their instructor
knowing. Several studies supported this finding, explaining how browsing irrelevant

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websites, other Telegram groups that the student has joined, or friend’s posts may
distract the student far away from class learning [16], [22]. Students also complained
that Telegram does not support virtual classrooms.
Despite these challenges, the students’ main perception was that Telegram was
very useful and valuable to increasing their educational interactions in this course.
They enjoyed the educational interactions between themselves and between them and
their instructor on Telegram.

5 Conclusion and Implications

This study sheds light on Telegram as a medium to encourage students’ educational

interactions. The study’s findings present a number of instructional activities that can
be employed on Telegram by instructors who perceive interaction as an important
aspect of successful learning. Notably, Telegram can be utilized as an announcement
and reminder tool to keep students current with course updates. Instructors can also
employ Telegram as an exciting medium to motivate students to engage in lecture
discussions. Using an overhead projector to display Telegram discussions in front of
the class can improve the students’ answers to assignments, as they will be seen and
appraised by their peers, and motivate shy students to become active in these
discussions. Telegram’s features also offer various services that support the
educational process, such as groups, media sharing, and polls.
With these features, using Telegram can enhance course interactions in general.
The educational interactions on Telegram in this particular course were not restricted
to learner-instructor interactions, but also involved learner-learner interactions that
appeared in several ways, such as social, academic, and emotional interactions
between students. In fact, the frequent interactions on Telegram between the students
and their instructor and among themselves created a sense of academic community
with the instructor and students. The findings also show that the students held positive
perceptions of using Telegram in this course, as the students discussed some of
Telegram’s advantages, such as its ease of use, media sharing support, and strong
privacy options. The students ultimately found that Telegram was more useful for
interaction than email and Blackboard. They also mentioned some of the challenges
they faced while using Telegram. Thus, the challenges the students faced need to be
kept in mind should Telegram be implemented in other classrooms or universities.
The study presents some limitations, however. This study examined students’
interactions and perceptions only and did not include learning outcomes. It is
important to mention that learning content was not addressed in detail here either due
to not conducting tests to examine the learners’ engagement with online learning
content. Future studies can address this issue by using either qualitative, quantitative,
or mixed methods. Further studies can also compare the use of Telegram and an
official LMS, such as Blackboard, in terms of enhancing students’ educational
interactions. Another study could address if the course’s topic or format (e.g., a large
class reliant on instructor lectures vs. a small seminar) influence the results.

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Paper—University Students’ Use and Perceptions of Telegram to Promote Effective Educational...

This study’s findings may supplement important contributions to our knowledge of

Telegram’s use to enhance students’ educational interactions. University
policymakers and instructors can benefit from this study to understand how students
perceive Telegram, a popular SNS for social purposes, in educational settings.
Additionally, they can learn how to encourage students to engage more in academic
interactions by using Telegram as a new and enjoyable medium.

6 Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Faisal

University for the financial support under Nasher Track (Grant No. 206116)
My thanks to my students for their participation in the study.

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v13i09.8566

8 Author

Hibah Khalid Aladsani received her Ph.D. degrees in educational technology

from the University of Sheffield, UK, in 2019. Since 2019, she has been an Assistant
Professor with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (Educational
Technology), at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia. Her research interests focus
on online learning, educational use of social network sites, and employing new
technology in education using qualitative research approach. She acts as a reviewer
for various prestigious journals and publishers. She likes tweeting on her account
@HibahKA regarding teaching and researching issues.

Article submitted 2020-10-17. Resubmitted 2020-12-22. Final acceptance 2020-12-23. Final version
published as submitted by the authors.

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