International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM) – eISSN: 1865-7923 – Vol. 14, No. 13, 2020


Paper—WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in Indonesian Higher Education… 

WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in 

Indonesian Higher Education 

What’s Up? 

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i13.14121 

Imam Fitri Rahmadi 
Universitas Pamulang, Tangerang Selatan, Indonesia 

imamrahmadi@unpam.ac.id 

Abstract—Technology plays a pivotal role in today’s teaching and learning 

process in terms of facilitating learning and improving student’s performances. 

Exploring an avant-garde technology to be integrated into the classroom is criti-

cal for finding new ways of learning. This study aimed at investigating university 

students’ usage, perception, attitude, and readiness towards the WhatsApp group 

as a teaching and learning platform. This is an exploratory study engaged in one 

class of university students after joining a course conducted by integrating a 

WhatsApp group for teaching and learning platform. The result revealed that stu-

dents actively use WhatsApp in daily life, but unfortunately passively use it for 

learning in a group. Students recognise that the WhatsApp group has potential 

for ubiquitous learning, and they have a good attitude to this app as a teaching 

and learning platform. However, it was found that students are not ready yet to 

learn actively, collaboratively, and independently through the WhatsApp group. 

The academic and practical implications of these findings are discussed, and av-

enues for future research outlined. 

Keywords—Teaching and learning platform, technology integration, Whats 

App group. 

1 Introduction 

Integrating WhatsApp application into the instructional processes in higher educa-

tion has been a trend in the last decades. The use of this application is aimed at facili-

tating learning and improving student’s performances in particular subjects or courses 

including English [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], physics [8] and education [9], managing 

teacher-students interaction [10] as well as working on collaborative learning [11] and 

research projects [12]. In short, it is obvious that the application has potential pedagog-

ical, social and technological benefits. 

WhatsApp is a free mobile instant messaging application founded by Jan Koum and 

Brian Acton in 2009. Today, this application has been using by 1 billion people around 

the globe in over 180 countries. WhatsApp was developed as a communication appli-

cation to get in touch with friends, families, and colleagues anytime and anywhere in 

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https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v14i13.14121
mailto:imamrahmadi@unpam.ac.id


Paper—WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in Indonesian Higher Education… 

the world without barriers. The main features of WhatsApp are sending and receiving 

a variety of media: text, photos, videos, documents, and location, as well as voice and 

video calls [13]. With those features and advantages, it appears that the WhatsApp ap-

plication is promising for ubiquitous learning. 

Ubiquitous learning or u-learning is a new learning paradigm based on ubiquitous 

computing technologies. Although there are different views in defining u-learning, the 

existing definitions have been synthesized by Yahya, Ahmad, and Jamil [14] as “a 

learning paradigm which takes place in a ubiquitous computing environment that ena-

bles learning the right thing at the right place and time in the right way.” This kind of 

learning gives a possibility for learners to learn anywhere and anything they want. 

Exploration of avant-garde technology like WhatsApp to be integrated into the class-

room is critical for finding new ways of learning. Some studies have investigated the 

WhatsApp integration for teaching and learning in a variety of issues. The study about 

students’ perception of M-learning through WhatsApp application revealed that this 

method is favorable to the students [15]. Students recognised that the WhatsApp appli-

cation has a positive effect on studies [16]. A more comprehensive study conducted by 

Bansal & Jhosi [17] showed that WhatsApp has a potential for ubiquitous and collabo-

rative learning, increases students’ social interactivity, and is favorable for learning. 

This study confirms the results of previous studies and investigates further the uni-

versity students’ usage, perception, attitude, and readiness towards the WhatsApp group 

as a teaching and learning platform for learning in active, collaborative, and independ-

ent ways. The results of the study could be beneficial for improving the practice of 

technology integration facilitated by the WhatsApp group in the higher education con-

text. 

2 Methods 

The study is an exploratory study participated by one-class university students after 

joining a course conducting by integrating a WhatsApp group for teaching and learning 

platform inside and outside the classroom. There were 25 first-year students in the class 

voluntarily participating in the study. It was declared in advance that their engagement 

in this study would not affect their course grade and all collected data is used merely 

for research purposes. This study was conducted in the Department of Civics Education, 

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Pamulang, Indonesia from Sep-

tember to December 2018. 

An online questionnaire in Google Form was developed for gathering the primary 

data about university students’ usage, perception, attitude, and readiness towards 

WhatsApp group as a teaching and learning platform. The Google Form link 

(https://forms.gle/2oRKVmAZawYN7Ehb6) was shared to the WhatsApp group in or-

der to be filled by students. The questionnaire is a four-level Likert scale: 1) 1 = strongly 

disagree; 2) 2 = disagree; 3) 3 = agree; and 4) 4 = strongly agree. Particularly on the 

readiness issue, the scale includes: 1) 1 = never; 2) 2 = sometimes; 3) 3 = often; and 4) 

4 = always. 

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Paper—WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in Indonesian Higher Education… 

All data from the questionnaire was analysed by a descriptive statistics technique to 

simplify, analyse, and describe the key features of the data [18]. The first step was to 

tabulate the data in Microsoft Excel software, adding percentage score on the data and 

measuring the central tendency with focus on the mean. The analysed data is presented 

in summary tables. In addition to the data collection method, the activities on the 

WhatsApp group were retrieved, analysed and visualised by using Chatvisualizer. It is 

an application for generating data visualisations from WhatsApp chats with ease [19]. 

No prior coding skill or advance technical knowledge is required to visualise the data. 

3 Results and Discussions 

The primary data of this study have been gathered by questionnaire. It asked for 

general profile data, specific information related to the WhatsApp usage, and particular 

issues regarding students’ perception, attitude, and readiness to learn by using 

WhatsApp group in active, collaborative, and independent ways. The study findings are 

presented in the following sections starting by portraying the profile of respondents, 

describing data of the investigated issues, and finally discussing the key findings. 

Table 1.  The profile of respondents related to gender, age, and marital status 

Gender Respondents Percentage 

Male 13 52% 

Female 12 48% 

Total 25 100% 

Age Respondents Percentage 

< 20 years 21 84% 

20 – 22 years 3 12% 

23 – 25 years 1 4% 

> 25 years 0 0% 

Total 25 100% 

Marital status Respondents Percentage 

Single 24 96% 

Married 1 4% 

Total 25 100% 

 

Table 1 describes the gender, age, and marital status of respondents. There are almost 

an equal number of male and female respondents. The vast majority of respondents are 

aged less than 20 years while no respondents are aged over 25 years. Only one of the 

respondents is married. 

3.1 Students’ usage of whatsapp in daily life and for learning in group 

The students’ WhatsApp usages are related to the use of WhatsApp in daily life and 

WhatsApp group for learning. In the context of everyday life, it addresses their famili-

arity, experience, and frequency of using the WhatsApp. The data of users’ statistics, 

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Paper—WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in Indonesian Higher Education… 

activities time and users’ activities on the WhatsApp group for learning were retrieved 

from the Chatvisualizer. 

Table 2.  The profile of respondents related to the WhatsApp usages 

Familiarity with WhatsApp Respondents Percentage 

Not Familiar 2 8% 

Familiar 13 52% 

Very Familiar 10 40% 

Total 25 100% 

Experience of WhatsApp use Respondents Percentage 

< 1 year 9 36% 

1 – 2 years 11 44% 

3 – 4 years 2 8% 

> 4 years 3 12% 

Total 25 100% 

Frequency of WhatsApp use Respondents Percentage 

1 – 2 hours 6 24% 

3 – 4 hours 8 32% 

5 – 6 hours 4 16% 

7 – 8 hours 3 12% 

> 8 hours 4 16% 

Total 25 100% 

 
Table 2 describes the profile of respondents related to the WhatsApp usages. The 

majority of respondents were familiar and only two or 8% of respondents were not 

familiar with WhatsApp. However, merely 20% of them experience using WhatsApp 

over than 2 years. More than half of respondents use the WhatsApp around 1 to 4 hours 

on a daily bases while only 16% of them using the WhatsApp over than 8 hours. 

Table 3.  The WhatsApp group uses statistics 

Duration       

13 September – 13 December 2018 (3 months) 

Total    

Days Messages Words Characters 

92 416 7.897 50.233 

Mean       

Words per message Characters per message Messages per day Characters per day 

18.98 120.75 5 546 

 

Table 3 describes the statistics of the WhatsApp group uses. The WhatsApp group 

has been used for delivering the instruction inside and outside the classroom over three 

months, starting from the middle of September to the middle of December 2018. There 

are 92 days with over than 400 messages consisting of 7.897 words and 50.233 

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Paper—WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in Indonesian Higher Education… 

characters. In average, there are 18.98 words and 120.75 characters per message as well 

as 5 messages and 546 characters per day. 

 

Fig. 1. The activities time on the WhatsApp group 

Figure 1 describes the activities time on the WhatsApp group. The most active time 

is at 9 AM which is the course starting time. Texts dominated the activities at that time 

illustrated by the blue color. Outside the classroom, the group members starting to com-

municate in the WhatsApp group from 3 to 7 PM. File sharing activities, which are 

illustrated by the gold color, usually started between 8 and 10 PM. Through this figure, 

it can be seen that after the course students tend to communicate in the afternoon while 

sharing files commonly happen at night. It was not surprising that most activities were 

happening during the course time. 

 

Fig. 2. The users’ activities on WhatsApp group 

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Paper—WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in Indonesian Higher Education… 

Figure 2 describes the users' activities on the WhatsApp group. Each member has a 

different portion of activities. Almost one-fourth of activities were dominated by the 

lecturer. Only five students recorded actively engaged in the WhatsApp group. Other 

students can be categorised as a passive member of the group. 

3.2 Students’ perception of whatsapp group as a ubiquitous teaching and 

learning platform 

The ubiquitous teaching and learning are viewed from the aspects of concept, imme-

diacy, and interactivity. The concept is related to the ability to learn whatever, wher-

ever, and whenever they wish through the WhatsApp group. Additionally, immediacy 

and interactivity aspects concern about the ability to obtain information immediately 

and communicate with lecturers and peers effectively through the WhatsApp group. 

Table 4.  Students’ perception of WhatsApp group as a ubiquitous teaching and learning 

platform 

Aspects Items 1 2 3 4 Total 

Concept Be able to learn whatever you wish 

through the WhatsApp group 

0 (0%) 3 (12%) 17 (68%) 5 (20%) 25 (100%) 

Be able to learn wherever you wish 

through the WhatsApp group 

0 (0%) 4 (16%) 15 (60%) 6 (24%) 25 (100%) 

Be able to learn whenever you wish 

through the WhatsApp group 

0 (0%) 4 (16%) 16 (64%) 5 (20%) 25 (100%) 

Be able to learn in your own learning 
styles through the WhatsApp group 

0 (0%) 5 (20%) 17 (68%) 3 (12%) 25 (100%) 

Immediacy Be able to obtain information you wish 
immediately through the WhatsApp 

group 

0 (0%) 2 (8%) 16 (64%) 7 (28%) 25 (100%) 

Interactivity Be able to communicate with lecturers 
and peers effectively through the 

WhatsApp group 

0 (0%) 1 (4%) 16 (64%) 8 (32%) 25 (100%) 

Mean 0 (0%) 3.17 

(12.68%) 

16.16 

(64.64%) 

5.67 

(22.68%) 

25 (100%) 

Note: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree. 

Table 4 reveals the view of students regarding the WhatsApp group as a ubiquitous 

teaching and learning platform. Overall, it is clear that by far students recognized that 

the WhatsApp group is potential for ubiquitous learning. Over 60% of students agreed 

that facilitated by the WhatsApp group they are able to learn whatever, wherever, and 

whenever they wish as well as are able to learn in their own learning styles. Further, 

64% of them agreed that by using the WhatsApp group information could be obtained 

immediately and communication with lecturers and peers could be conducted effec-

tively. 

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Paper—WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in Indonesian Higher Education… 

3.3 Students’ attitude towards whatsapp group as a teaching and learning 

platform 

The students’ attitude addresses value, favor, and inspiration for using the WhatsApp 

group as a teaching and learning platform. The value is about the idea and benefit while 

the favor is regarding the likes and preferences of using the WhatsApp for learning. 

Inspiration relates to their willingness to recommend and use the WhatsApp group as a 

teaching and learning platform in the future. 

Table 5.  Students’ attitude towards WhatsApp group as a teaching and learning platform 

Aspects Items 1 2 3 4 Total 

Value Using WhatsApp group for learn-

ing is a positive idea 

0 (0%) 1 (4%) 21 (84%) 3 (12%) 25 (100%) 

 WhatsApp group is very beneficial 
for learning inside and outside the 

classroom 

0 (0%) 0 (0%) 21 (84%) 4 (16%) 25 (100%) 

Favor Like to learn using WhatsApp 

group 

1 (4%) 6 (24%) 16 (64%) 2 (8%) 25 (100%) 

 Preferring WhatsApp group than 
LCD projector as instructional me-

dia in the classroom 

1 (4%) 12 (48%) 11 (44%) 1 (4%) 25 (100%) 

Inspiration The desire to propose to other lec-

turers to use the WhatsApp group 

as a learning platform 

0 (0%) 8 (32%) 13 (52%) 4 (16%) 25 (100%) 

 Using the WhatsApp group when 

teaching as a teacher in the future 

0 (0%) 2 (8%) 20 (80%) 3 (12%) 25 (100%) 

Mean 0.33 

(1.32%) 

4.84 

(19.36%) 

17 

(68.00%) 

2.83 

(11.32%) 

25 (100%) 

Note: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree. 

 

Table 5 reveals the attitude of students towards WhatsApp group as a teaching and 

learning platform. All in all, students have a good attitude to the WhatsApp group as an 

instructional platform. Over 80% of students believe that using WhatsApp group for 

learning is a positive idea and has advantageous for learning inside or outside the class-

room. Almost 65% of students have a good favor on learning by using WhatsApp group, 

however, the number of students who prefer WhatsApp group than LCD projector for 

learning in the classroom is only 48%. Moreover, 65% of students have a desire to 

propose to other lecturers to use the WhatsApp group as a learning platform, and almost 

all of the students would use the WhatsApp group for teaching when they become a 

teacher in the future. 

3.4 Students’ readiness to learn actively, collaboratively, and independently 

through the whatsapp group 

The students’ readiness addresses the ability of students to learn through the 

WhatsApp group in active, collaborative, and independent ways. Students’ active and 

independent learning activities related to their initiative in searching, reading, and 

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Paper—WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in Indonesian Higher Education… 

rereading learning materials. In addition, the collaboration is about their willingness for 

asking and answering questions among peers as well as sharing learning materials. 

Table 6.  Students’ readiness to learn actively, collaboratively, and independently through the 

WhatsApp group 

Aspects Items 1 2 3 4 Total 

A Reading learning materials given by lecturer 

through the WhatsApp group before attend-

ing the class 

0 (0%) 21 (84%) 3 

(12%) 

1 (4%) 25 

(100%) 

A+I Searching and reading learning materials re-

lated to the next course topic given by lec-

turer through the WhatsApp group from a va-
riety of resources before attending the class 

 

1 (4%) 17 (68%) 1 (4%) 6 (24%) 25 

(100%) 

A+I Rereading learning materials given by lec-

turer at the course in the WhatsApp group af-

ter attending the class 
 

3 (12%) 19 (76%) 1 (4%) 2 (8%) 25 

(100%) 

A+C Answering peers’ question in the WhatsApp 

group  

4 (16%) 16 (64%) 4 

(16%) 

1 (4%) 25 

(100%) 

A+C+I Asking the WhatsApp group should there is a 

learning topic that has not been understood  
 

8 (32%) 9 (36%) 3 

(12%) 

5 (20%) 25 

(100%) 

A+C+I Sharing texts, photos, graphics, videos, and 

files related to the learning materials in 

WhatsApp group 

2 (8%) 12 (48%) 4 

(16%) 

7 (28%) 25 

(100%) 

Mean 3 
(12.00%) 

15.66 
(62.64%) 

2.67 
(10.68

%) 

3.67 
(14.68%) 

25 
(100%) 

Note: A = active, I = independent, C = collaborative | 1 = never, 2 = sometimes, 3 = often, 4 = always. 

 
Table 6 reveals the readiness of students to learn through the WhatsApp group in 

active, collaborative, and independent ways. It is clear that students are not ready yet to 

learn actively, collaboratively, and independently through the WhatsApp group. Over 

70% of students were merely occasionally engaged in active, collaborative, and inde-

pendent learning activities facilitated by the WhatsApp group. Further, there are only 

16% of students reading learning materials before attending the class and 12% of stu-

dents rereading learning materials after attending the class. In addition, 68% of students 

are rarely searching and reading the learning materials related to the next course topic. 

Asking and answering a question from the peers as well as sharing learning materials 

were also uncommon students’ activities in the WhatsApp group. 

The results of this study confirmed the study of Bansal & Jhosi [17] and MI & 

Meerasa [15], confirming that WhatsApp group has potential for ubiquitous learning 

and students have a good attitude to this app as a teaching and learning platform. Mean-

while, this study revealed that students are not ready yet to learn actively, collabora-

tively, and independently through the WhatsApp group. 

The study has also revealed that even though students actively use WhatsApp in 

daily life, unfortunately they use it only passively for learning in the group. This finding 

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Paper—WhatsApp Group for Teaching and Learning in Indonesian Higher Education… 

contradicts the study of Lokesha [16] in which found that the majority of their research 

respondents use the WhatsApp application for learning purposes. Hence, this issue 

should be investigated further in different contexts. 

In the higher education context, the WhatsApp integration for teaching and learning 

inside and outside the classroom should be taken into account. The integration has some 

educational benefits and is recognised as a positive idea by the students. WhatsApp has 

the potential for ubiquitous learning due to the features that enable teachers to deliver 

instructions remotely beyond the classroom. WhatsApp could be used as an effective 

tool for multiple purposes like sharing information, discussions, assessment, and feed-

back outside the classroom [20]. 

Looking in more detail into the Indonesian context, this country is a developing 

country in the Southeast Asia region with a population of more than 265 million. Ac-

cording to Kemp [21], it was quite surprising that 91% of the adult population in Indo-

nesia owned at least a mobile device, and mostly a smartphone (60%). More than 8 

hours and 30 minutes daily on average were spent on accessing the Internet through the 

mobile devices. Similarly, to the finding of Alkhunzain study in Saudi Arabia, univer-

sity students spend more than 8 hours in a day on their smartphones [22]. Further, 

smartphones have addiction effects to university students in that country [23]. Thus, 

from the other perspective, it seems that learning based on mobile devices has high 

potential. 

Mobile devices are an emerging tool for teaching and learning in the last couple of 

decades. The devices have influenced teaching and learning processes, particularly in 

higher education level. It is common nowadays in Indonesian university to have 

blended or distance learning facilitated by latest technologies. Likewise, university stu-

dents’ learning methods, styles, and preferences are turning to digital ways. Reading a 

digital textbook through mobile devices, for instance, is now more preferable than read-

ing it in the printed version. Therefore, initiatives to utilise mobile devices including 

social applications inside for learning, such as WhatsApp and the others, should be 

further explored continuously [24]. 

4 Conclusion 

Students actively use WhatsApp in daily life, but unfortunately passively use it for 

learning in groups. University students should be encouraged to change their habits in 

terms of using WhatsApp in daily life for more active learning. Students recognize that 

WhatsApp has group potential for ubiquitous learning, and they have a good attitude to 

this app as a teaching and learning platform. Hence, it is a good idea to integrate 

WhatsApp group into a variety courses in higher education. 

On the other hand, however, students are not ready yet to learn actively, collabora-

tively, and independently through the WhatsApp group. Therefore, before integrating 

the WhatsApp group into the classroom, lecturers should consider the competencies of 

students on learning in active, collaborative, and independent ways. It also implies that 

lecturers should not only solely teach the course contents, but they have to teach stu-

dents regarding active, collaborative, and independent learning skills as well. 

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This study is limited to one classroom of students so that the results may not be 

generalised. As an exploratory study in the case of a group student, the results of the 

study are valuable to the starting points for further studies. Conducting a wider study 

with more participants is suggested to gain more comprehensive findings. In addition, 

the forthcoming study should not only exploring WhatsApp but also investigating other 

social media applications used among university students in Indonesia and around the 

world. Since technology plays a more and more pivotal role in today’s learning and 

instruction, harnessing the technologies are essential as pedagogical innovations in 

teaching and learning practices. 

5 Acknowledgement 

The author would like to acknowledge Tony Houghton, a visiting professor at the 

Department of STEM Education, Linz School of Education, Johannes Kepler Univer-

sität Linz Austria, for proofreading and further taking concern about the academic writ-

ing issues in this article. 

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7 Author 

Imam Fitri Rahmadi is a lecturer at Universitas Pamulang Indonesia and currently 

a PhD student at the Department of STEM Education, Linz School of Education, Jo-

hannes Kepler Universität Linz Austria that interested in exploring mobile microgames 

for STEAM education. He is an awardee of the Indonesia-Austria Scholarship Pro-

gramme (IASP) for his PhD study. It is a joint scholarship programme between the 

Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (RISTEKDIKTI) of Indone-

sia and the Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research 

(OeAD-GmbH) in cooperation with ASEAN-European Academic University Network 

(ASEA-UNINET). 

Article submitted 2020-03-06. Resubmitted 2020-04-27. Final acceptance 2020-04-27. Final version pub-

lished as submitted by the authors. 

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http://chatvisualizer.com/
http://chatvisualizer.com/
https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2019-indonesia
https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v13i12.11120
https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v11i6.7453
https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v12i7.9634