Social Media in Education

By: Julie Kotler

Topic: Is incorporating social media into education instructional design beneficial for learning?

Theme and argument:

Over the past few years, society on a global scale has come to be known as having entered the ‘age of social media’ as a result of the dramatic rise in the use of online social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs. In fact, it is largely because so many have adopted social media within their daily lives that students are now commonly referred to as digital native and many educators, especially those teaching in post-secondary institutions, are integrating its use within their instructional design strategies. For instance, according to a survey conducted by the Babson survey research group, out of 1000 post-secondary faculty members across the United States, more than 52% reported using blogs, wikis and online videos within their classroom (Blankenship, 2011). Similarly, there have been many reports illustrating the positive response courses using social media has received from college and university students. Thus, when looked at closely, it becomes evident that using social media within the instructional design of post-secondary courses is beneficial to learning through its ability to enhance collaboration and communication, to promote an increase in the level of interactivity and engagement as well as to satisfy the significant need to adequately prepare learners for their future careers.

Issues to be addressed:

One of the most important benefits that arise from using social media in instructional design is that it creates a great opportunity for learners to collaborate and strengthen their communication skills since they are both key elements within the core structure of social media tools. For example, in a study conducted by George & Dellasega (2011)on the effects of using social media in graduate courses at Penn State College, results from the questionnaires showed students rated the courses with high favorability. They also believed incorporating social media into the instructional methods significantly improved the level of collaboration and learning. Furthermore, analysis of the data demonstrated how using social media increased team work on activities and peer communication outside of the class while also permitting students to connect with experts in the field (George & Dellasega, 2011).

In relation to improved collaboration, integrating various forms of social media within the course instruction also leads to a higher level of engagement because in order for students to understand it, they must also interact with it. That is, ‘participatory media is social media…it is necessarily a hands-on enterprise, requiring active use of digital media’ (Reingold, 2008). As such, many educators are strategically designing their instruction so that students learn how to use different forms of social media by actually manipulating it. One such instructor is a theater professor at the University of North Carolina who used Second Life to teach his students about Shakespeare. Specifically, he had students create and control their own characters to collectively experience what it was like to see a play in Shakespeare’s Global Theater (Blankenship, 2010).

In addition to improving students learning and experience in the classroom, many post-secondary institutions are purposefully encouraging the use of social media in course instruction so as to better prepare students for their future careers. The reason for this is that many businesses and organizations are now either creating positions entirely based on social media or they are including some form of its related skills within their job descriptions. Consequently, college instructors and other faculty members like Kristin Uttech at the Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin are ‘working closely with local employers to advice the college on the skills most in demand’ (Ullman, 2012). Since they, just like most other schools want to give their students hands-on and real world experience, they currently now ensure courses offer or include skills such as web design strategies for online and mobile use, writing for new media, and how to create social media campaigns (Ullman, 2012).

Provisional conclusion:

Taking into account the vast array of benefits social media can bring to learning, including increased collaboration, engagement and interactivity along with better preparation for the future, it is clear that the instructional design strategies within post-secondary institutions are not only demonstrating efforts to keep up with the new age of social media but striving to offer its students the most valuable education they possibly can.

Primary and secondary sources:

Blankenship, M. (2011). How Social Media Can and Should Impact Higher Education. The Education Digest, 7(76), 39-42.

Careless, J. (2012). 20 Ways to Make Tech Work in Schools. Technology & Learning, 6(32), 26-38.

George, D. & Dellasega, C. (2011). Use of Social Media in Graduate-level Medical Humanities Education: Two pilot Studies from Penn State College of Medicine. Medical Teacher, 33(8), 429-434.

Koenig, D. (2011). Social Media in the Schoolhouse. Teaching Tolerance, 39-42.

Rheingold, H. (2008). Using Social Media to Teach Social Media. The New England Journal of Higher Education, 23(1), 25-26.

Schachter, R. (2011). The Social Media Dilemma. District Administration, 7(47), 27-33.

Tolic, M. (2011). Media Culture and Media Education in Modern School. World Journal of Education, 1(2), 89-97.

Ullman, E. (2012). The Social Media Network. Community College Journal, 82(3), 24-28.

Wagner, R. (2011). Educational Technology: Social Media Tools for Teaching and Learning, Athletic Training Education Journal, 6(1), 51-52.

Wankel, C. (2009)). Management Education Using Social Media. Organization Management Journal, 6(4), 251-262.

Wells, K. (2011). Social Media in Medical School Education. Surgery, 150(1), 2-4.

Yarrow, L. (2012). Becoming Social Media Savvy: Using Web 2.0 to Enhance Education. Topics in Clinical Nutrition. 27(1), 34-40.