Creation and validation of the Online Self-Disclosure via Educational Platforms (OSDEP) Scale

Globally, higher education institutions now implement some element of hybrid learning, heightened since the COVID-19 pandemic and temporary shift to online learning. To communicate online self-disclosure (revealing information about the self) is required. Globally, the majority of higher education students are aged between 18-24 years, which is considered the developmentally sensitive period of ‘emerging adulthood’. Having only ever known a digitally-connected world, emerging adults self-disclose differently to other generations when communicating via an online environment. Whilst communicating online with higher education staff, students may self-disclose in a way that misaligns with the expectations of staff; this may result in miscommunication or over-disclosure (revealing inappropriate information to a misjudged audience). Over-disclosing via online educational platforms (e.g., Moodle, MS Teams, email) may result in negative feedback from staff and this may impact student experience, engagement and attainment. Problematically, no standardised measure exists that captures student self-disclosure via online educational platforms and so research on this topic is currently limited and theoretically unstable. Via a three-phase study, comprising four studies and 283 participants, we have created and conducted an initial validation of the Online Self-Disclosure via Educational Platforms (OSDEP) Scale. The OSDEP Scale is the first psychometric tool to specifically measure higher education students’ online self-disclosure specifically within an online educational context. The OSDEP Scale can be used for future educational and pedagogical research to further understand higher education students’ online self-disclosure behaviours and to what extent these may be associated with topics such as mental health, engagement, attainment, and student experience.