Social Media

THERE ARE 3.499 BILLION ACTIVE SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

With that level of engagement, these cultural tools and the "conversations" that go within them are important in how people make meaning of and construct knowledge in the world (Schrader, 2015).

How Can social media benefit education?

In education, social media allows communication among students, tutors, professors, and experts, as well as enables learners to share resources, develop content and construct knowledge through a community of practice (B Online Learning, 2021).

The very heart of social media is the ability to generate connections (Churcher et al., 2014).

CommunitiEs of Practice

Social media platforms provide opportunities for social and collaborative learning to take place. Allowing information to be shared across new and larger networks, these platforms provide users the opportunity to activity participate in ongoing searchable conversations in a virtual synchronous or asynchronous time and space. Through "friends" and dialogues online, a "community of practice" forms for educational learning purposes (Schrader, 2015).

As stated by Wenger (2011), "communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly" (pg. 1).

Social media provides interactions that create opportunities for the evolution of knowledge (Schrader, 2015).

#twitter(@X)

"This hashtag, POL3065, works as a site for students to come together and connect outside of their lectures"

- Holland (2013)

Twitter (X) is an interactive social media microblogging platform established in 2006 that allows users to send 280-character messages or links, known as tweets, to each other.

Hashtags are words or phrases preceded by the hash sign (#) and used to classify content as relating to a specific topic.

Digital natives

Immersion in this technology-rich culture is said to influence the skills and interest of digital natives in ways significant for education (Bennett et al., 2008).

They are dependent on communications technologies for accessing information and interacting with one another (Prensky, 2001). Several scholars have described social media as the 'natural habit' of the digital natives.

Social media sites have the ability to foster creativity and communication in children.

"These sites really encourage them to express their opinions, thoughts and emotions in very creative ways"

- University of Minnesota (2009)

Discussion forums are ideal for the stimulation of constructivism and observational learning (Mbati, 2013).

Facebook

"Creating eLearning groups, sharing eLearning content and participating in eLearning course-related online discussion on Facebook, have been proven effective strategies for a large number of eLearning professionals"

- Pappas (2015)

Facebook is an online social networking site with more than 2 billion users where people can share personal information and photographs as well as to connect and communicate.

It has the ability to impact all levels of academia and academic settings by providing an empowering educational environment that promotes collaboration and communication (Avraamidou & Voivonta, 2018).

group creation

An example of a group created for EUQ650 Future Trends in Learning Design designed using Facebook.

REFERENCE LIST

Aksal, F. A., Bahcelerli, N. M., & Gazi, Z. A. (2013). Practice of connectivism as Learning theory: Enhancing learning process through social networking site (Facebook). Gaziantep university Journal of Social Sciences, 12(2), 243-252. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/223282

Alismaiel, O. A., Cifuentes-Faura, J., & Al-Rahmi, W. M. (2022). Online Learning, mobile learning, and social media technologies: An empirical study on constructivism theory during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustainability, 14(18), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811134

Assignment Desk UK. (2019). How social media transforming future of education [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaNLrPkrVoU

Avraamidou, L., & Voivonta T. (2018). Facebook: a potentially valuable educational tool?. Educational media International, 55(1), 34-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2018.1439708

Aymerich-Franch, L., & Fedele, M. (2014). Students’ privacy concerns on the use of social media in higher education. IGI Global.

Bennet, S., Kervin, L., & Maton K. (2008). The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence. The Journal of Educational technology, 39(5), 775-786. 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00793.x

B Online Learning. (2021). Make social media part of your eLearning strategy. https://bonlinelearning.com/how-to-make-social-media-part-of-your-elearning-strategy/

Brand, D. (2021). Inclusion & diversity Q3 2021: Our multifaceted approach. https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2021/inclusion-and-diversity-report-multifaceted-approach-october-2021

Churcher, K. M. A., Downs, E., & Tewksbury, D. (2014). ‘Friending’ Vygotsky: A social constructivist pedagogy of knowledge building through classroom social media use. Journal of Effective Teaching, 14(1), 33–50. http://uncw.edu/cte/et /articles/Vol14_1/Churcher.pdf

Holland, J. (2013). Introduction to using Twitter in higher education teaching [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEWzYVd92JU

Mbati, L. (2013). Online social media applications for constructivism and observational learning. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14(5), 166-185. 10.19173/irrodl.v14i5.1579

McBride, M. F. (2012). Reconsidering information literacy in the 21st century: The redesign of an information literacy class. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 40(3), 287-300. 10.2190/ET.40.3.e

Pappas, C. (2015). Using Facebook for eLearning: The ultimate guide for eLearning professionals. https://elearningindustry.com/using-facebook-for-elearning-ultimate-guide-for-elearning-professionals

Potter, J. (2019). How to teach in Facebook groups [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qiT1LSWyc8&t=11s

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6. 10.1108/10748120110424816

Schrader, D. E. (2015). Constructivism and learning in the age of social media: Changing minds and learning communities. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 144, 23-35. 10.1002/tl.20160

Tinmaz, H. (2012). Social networking websites as an innovative framework for connectivism. Contemporary Educational technology, 3(3), 234-245. 10.30935/cedtech/6080

Twitter. (2023). Accessibility features of Twitter. https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/accessibility-features

University of Minnesota. (2009). Social networking sites have educational benefits [Video file]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxrlrbP4UNo&t=36s

Wenger, E. (2011). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Scholars’ bank. https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/11736/A%20brief%20introduction%20to%20CoP.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

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