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Communication Preferences of First-Year University Students from Mexico and Spain

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to analyze how Mexican and Spanish university students communicate with peers and professors when they have an academic or administrative question. The methodology is quantitative and descriptive; it follows a comparative case study design that has been carried out over time, emphasizing two different contexts that share a common goal. In both universities, there are some differences in the way that first-year university students communicate with each other. When students have academic or administrative doubts, they rarely contact their professors or the university administrative structure as a means of solving them. Communication is a fundamental topic to work to improve the way how faculty communicate with students. Students are less willing to appropriate social networks as a formal learning tool, preferring it as a form of course-related communication or using it for non-academic purposes.