Social media in undergraduate learning: categories and characteristics

Abstract

This study investigates the core categories and characteristics of the social media technologies (SMTs) that undergraduate students choose to use in their own learning, outside of the formal curriculum. Within a mixed method research methodology, this inquiry employed 30 semi-structured interviews and an online survey (N = 679) to explore why and how undergraduates across disciplines view SMTs to be a meaningful part of their own university learning. Together, the qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate that several contextual relationships exist, including an important relationship between the particular ways of meaning making students identified and the specific social media technologies they use for their university learning. While no differences were found for general social media use, there is a significant relationship between particular ways of making meaning and use of specific SMTs, indicating the importance of learning context and social media affordances.

Debating the use of social media in higher education in Australasia: Where are we now?

“…At the same time students are making use of social media for their learning (Smith, 2017). Ignoring these facts could effectively create an artificial boundary between HE institutions and the society of which they are a part.…”

“…Thus, we have essentially an argument in favour of the social utility of connectedness -meeting students where they are at (Kift, Nelson, & Clarke, 2010;Nelson & Clarke, 2014;Smith, 2017), developing digital literacy (Seaman & Tinti-Kane, 2013) and critical thinking skills (Barnett, 2015;Bruns, 2010), and engaging students (Kumar Sharma, Joshi, & Sharma, 2016) through new pedagogical approaches designed to leverage the affordances of social media (Trowbridge, Waterbury, & Sudbury, 2017).…”

“…Indeed in the intervening 10 years, the use of social media has rapidly permeated the HE sector globally (Johnson et al, 2016;Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010) and there is evidence that institutional approaches aside, students are making use of social media in their learning (Smith, 2017). However, the more they proliferate, the more debate arises about the pros and cons of their adoption.…”

Análisis sobre el uso de la red social Facebook en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje por medio de la ciencia de datos

“…Algunos de los beneficios de las redes sociales en el campo educativo son la colaboración para la creación de documentos, la difusión de la información en la red, la construcción de las relaciones entre pares y el envío de los recursos digitales (Alarabiat y Al, 2015;Smith, 2017).…”

Social Media Learning Activities (SMLA): Implications for Design

“…Likewise, in a 2015 ECAR study, students requested the use of social media as a learning tool (Dahlstrom, et al, 2015). Research shows that students are mainly using social media technologies for collaboration through online file sharing tools, online sharing of information through websites, tracking and managing their academic schedule, and communicating with peers (Smith, 2017).…”