Do students like using social media in the classroom?

You might be really comfortable using social media as part of your studies, but what about everyone else in your class?  Not everyone is convinced of the value as part of their learning and teaching experience.  Find out what some recent research uncovered about using social media in higher education…

This piece was originally posted on SAGE’s Management Ink Blog and is re-posted here with the kind permission of Management Ink Editors. 

By Christa I.Carlson, Management INK

Social media is trending in higher education. About 41% of faculty members use social media as a teaching tool and 87% of Facebook users are between the ages of 18 and 29, according to Pew Research Centre.  But does social media enhance learning or does it disrupt pedagogy? How does social media affect the students’ opinion of the instructor and university overall? Is the use of social media in higher education a trend worth following?

To answer these questions, researchers Stacy Neier and Linda Tuncay Zayer surveyed and interviewed marketing students at a private university about their motivations for using social media in class. 

The students’ responses detailed their familiarity with certain social networking and microblogging sites, and most importantly, how they contributed to their academic performance. Based off the study’s findings, the researchers discussed social media’s potential as an engaging and entertaining educational tool.

To learn more about how students and teachers use social media in education, read Students’ Perceptions and Experiences of Social Media in Higher Education, a new study out today in the Journal of Marketing Education.