Social Media in the Classroom

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“The use of social media has surged globally in recent years. Based on individual companies statistics in July 2011, Facebook passed 750 million users (2011); LinkedIn had over 100 million members (2011); Twitter hit over 177 million tweets per day (2011); YouTube reached three billion views every day (2011). Social media are infiltrating the educational arena” (Chen & Bryer, 2012, 89). From this quote it can be asserted that the use of social media is constantly rising. Post-secondary students and their instructors are using social media on a daily basis, thus researchers have taken a keen interest in the use of social media in classrooms (Chen & Bryer, 2012). The term social media is a broad concept and incorporates a large variety of tools; such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Wikis, Blogs, and YouTube (Moran, Seaman & Tinti-Kane, 2011).

However, as the use of social media infiltrates many areas of society many educational professionals ask this question – does social media belong in a classroom?

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Benefits of Educational Social Media

Many educational researchers and professionals view learning as a social event. “The basis principle is that students learn most effectively by engaging carefully selected collaborative problem-solving activities” (Chen & Bryer, 2012, 88). The use of social media in the classroom allows students the ability to communicate and interact with classmates and instructors no matter where they are located. Learners can be at home, a coffee shop, or on vacation and can still have access to their learning materials and classmates. As Jonas Gikas and Michael Grant (2013) state in their article it “provides learners opportunities to collaborate, discuss content with classmates and instructors, and create new meaning” (p. 20).

Social media also allows for diversity in learning. Instructors can use social media to deliver information in various ways and students can use it to apply their learning (Gikas & Grant, 2013). YouTube is a very common social media tool used in education. YouTube can provide students the opportunity to experience a variety of demonstrations and the application of skills. That same course could have students work together to develop blogs about specific topics. Therefore, students are not subject to routine learning methods.

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Networking is a huge benefit of having students use social media in the classroom. As Chen & Bryer (2012) state “students could benefit from internship and job opportunities through social networks” (p. 93). Instructors could have students create LinkedIn profiles for example. This is a way for students to join professional associations and market themselves. It is also a great way to keep up with advancements in their future fields by following LinkedIn professional and News sites associated with their educational field.

An obvious benefit is that many students today are living in the tech-world. Young learners grew up with technology; they use it everyday. Employing social media in a classroom may act as a motivational tool to get students involved. If it is something they are going to be using anyway, why not get them to bring their experiences into the classroom.

Challenges of Educational Social Media

With any technology come potential challenges. Two common concerns are privacy and ethics. These concerns can be viewed from both the instructor and the student’s perspective (Chen & Bryer, 2012). For example, questions may arise surrounding what should actually be included in social media profiles, how much information should they share, and what should the information be used for.

Another challenge is the amount of time and resources that need to be invested to effectively use social media in the educational setting (Moran, Seaman & Tinti-Kane, 2011). This includes training, development, and implementation. Instructors will need to be trained in how to use, develop and implement social media into their delivery. While a large representative of students use social media on a daily basis in their personal lives, many will need training in how to use it to aid in their learning. Moreover, both instructors and students need to be accepting and supportive of using social media (Chen & Bryer, 2012).

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While the idea is for social media to be used for educational purposes there still exists the possibility that students will use it for personal reasons during class time. There is concern surrounding the potential distractions that involving social media in curriculum might cause to students (Gikas & Grant, 2013). It raises the question of how would the instructor monitor students’ use of social media and how much time would that occupy. There is a possibility that this would be detrimental to the educational environment.

References

Chen, B. & Bryer, T. (2012). Investigating Instructional Strategies for Using Social Media in Formal and Informal Learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 13(1), 87-104.

Gikas, M. & Grant, M. (2013). Mobile Computing Devices in Higher Education: Student Perspectives on Learning with Cellphones, Smartphones & Social Media. Internet and Higher Education, 19, 18-26.

Moran, M., Seaman, J. & Tinti-Kane, H. (2011). Teaching, Learning, and Sharing: How Today’s High Education Faculty Use Social Media. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535130.pdf.