Using social media to support teaching and learning in higher education: an analysis of personal narratives

Abstract

The increasing trend of using new media technologies and particularly social media (SM) among students provides an advantage for lecturers. Apparently their importance accelerated with the application of social distancing during a pandemic crisis such as the one World has been experiencing since the end of 2019. In this article, the stories of two academics are used expressing experiences, motives and perceptions on benefits and challenges of using SM to support teaching and learning in the classroom. The stories which form the data of the research describe how and why the participants started to use SM, their intended purpose and the ways of use. Besides, reasons, difficulties and positive as well as the negative sides are explored. The findings show that the virtual learning environments provided by SM facilitated the development of students' enthusiasm and interaction with peers assertively, thus increasing the students' participation. Because of emerging technologies, SM platforms surge and plummet quickly; therefore, it is important for institutions to either develop their platform or to subscribe to existing ones for effective knowledge sharing at an institutional level with clear ethical rules.

Transitioning to E-Learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: How have Higher Education Institutions responded to the challenge?

“…An effective way of sustaining a sense of learning camaraderie online is to exploit the use of SM in online delivery. This is supported by the study on SM use to support learning and teaching (Kara et al, 2020) which highlights the benefits of SM in expanding learning communities beyond the constraints inherent in an established class. SM represents a powerful, inexpensive asynchronous communication option for faculty and institutions to engage with their students (Carr & Hayes, 2015;Koshkin et al, 2016).…”

“…It was clear from the examined studies that institutional support was vital to the success of transitioning to online learning (Alqahtani & Rajkhan, 2020;Davies et al, 2020;Hartshorn & McMurry, 2020;Kara et al, 2020;Tartavulea et al, 2020;Todd, 2020). The suggested support improvements could take many forms such as providing clarity on plans and decisions as they evolve (Davies et al, 2020), providing support resources for faculty and students struggling with transitional arrangements to online learning (Hartshorn & McMurry, 2020), and paying for subscriptions for popular SM platforms used by faculty (Kara et al, 2020). It is unrealistic to expect faculty and students to seamlessly adapt to online learning spaces by repeating patterns of behaviour and processes that worked in a F2F situation.…”

“…The need for simulation software training for teachers and self-management strategies for students was mentioned in Wang et al (2020)'s study of medical student experiences with online learning in China. Finally, training for educators in the use of SM for educational purposes was cited as beneficial to its effective implementation in course delivery (Kara et al, 2020). While recognising that the COVID-19 pandemic provided no leeway for preparing faculty and students for their new learning environment, technologies and platforms such as Zoom, Moodle and Facebook have become almost ubiquitous among learners and are probably here to stay.…”

Pre-service teachers' perceptions of social media – A qualitative survey study in Turkey and Sweden

“…These studies emphasized mostly the qualities of SNSs which support educational activities in higher education. The qualities mentioned in these studies can be listed as interaction, communication, collaboration, exchange of information and resource (Al-Dhanhani, Mizouni, Otrok, & Al-Rubaie, 2015;Al-Rahmi, Alias, Othman, Marin, & Tur, 2018;Mazman & Usluel, 2010;Sendurur et al, 2015), learning performance and critical thinking (Al-Rahmi et al, 2018;Kara, Çubukçuoğlu, & Elçi, 2020), enhancing learning motivation and experience, increasing motivation, engagement and satisfaction with learning (Hosny & Fatima, 2012;Imlawi, Gregg, & Karimi, 2015), and improving academic performance through collaboration (Al-Rahmi, Othman, Yusof, & Musa, 2015). However, some researchers stated that only a small proportion of young people use SNSs in sophisticated ways that educators might value (Eynon & Malmberg, 2011;Ito et al, 2009).…”

The Influence of Information System Success and Technology Acceptance Model on Social Media Factors in Education

“…Face-to-face learning was prohibited; thus, all classes were disallowed as a preventive measure. Consequently, teachers and instructors began exploring different approaches to communicate with students to continue their academic discourse, leading to the initiation of virtual classes [1]. This event serves as an important turning point in world academic history.…”