Social Media in Education

An understanding of the role of WhatsApp groups as social media tools used in the delivery of change in the
Zimbabwean education is still rudimentary. This study sought to assess the role played by a WhatsApp group for
Heritage Studies teachers in Zimbabwe in addressing new curriculum implementation challenges. The study was
guided by the symbolic interactionism theoretical framework. The lived experiences of the participants in this study
were elicited through the use of a questionnaire which was administered by the researchers. The questionnaire was
sent to the participants via the WhatsApp platform for Heritage Studies teachers. The study established that the
WhatsApp group for Heritage Studies teachers was utilised as a vehicle for the dissemination of the new Heritage
Studies Syllabus, syllabus interpretation, sharing of reading material as well as staff development. It can be
concluded from this study that Zimbabwean Heritage Studies’ teachers used WhatsApp groups to facilitate the
implementation of the new curriculum in general and Heritage Studies syllabus in particular.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of blended learning and social media supported learning on the students' academic success and motivation in Science Education. This research, in which the mixed pattern method is used as research model, took place with the 7th grade 74 students attending to a primary school in Kadikoy, Istanbul and carried out " Our Body Systems " unit at 2011-2012 Academic Years. The study groups of the research were; the control group (CG) taught by using the face to face learning, experimental group-1 (EG1) received blended learning model and experimental group-2 (EG2) received social networking supported learning model. Academic success test (AST) and motivation scale for learning science (MSFLS) were used to determine the effects of blended learning and social media supported learning to the students' successes and motivations in science learning. Besides, a semi-structured interview form was applied to experimental group about the methods and the practices. Quantitative data were analyzed by One-Way Anova in SPSS 17 Statistic Program. Descriptive statistical methods were used to analyze the qualitative data. As a result, while blended learning increase academic success and motivation in a meaningful way compared to face-to-face learning; social media supported learning has a positive impact on academic success and motivation, although this change didn't make a significant difference compared with the face-to-face learning. There was also no significant difference between academic success and motivation between blended learning and social media supported learning. The results of qualitative analysis carried out for student interviews are aligned with the quantitative results.

While the use of social networks (SNs) and social media is increasingly permeating all sectors of the global society, in Italy there is an ongoing debate about its advantages and drawbacks for learning, especially within formal educational contexts. In order to contribute to such a debate, a study has been conducted, aimed to investigate the Italian university students' beliefs about the positive and negative effects of social networking on their learning and to identify any correlation between such beliefs and the students' characteristics. This chapter reports and discusses the results of the study, which was based on the data collected through a survey to 336 Italian university students (F=63.6%, 83.8% aged below 32). Results revealed that Italian university students perceive social networks as useful tools for both improving their learning and connecting with their peers, but also that they are aware of their undesirable consequences, such as experiencing negative emotions, losing concentration and being prevented from engaging in extra-academic activities.

Modern education has now become student centered and our students are no more confined to the four walls of traditional classroom. Mobile technology and the web 2.0 have made today’s education synonymous with anywhere, anyplace, anytime learning coupled with  the growing interest of social media in all spheres of our lives which higher institutions can tap into these emerging technologies to support and improve teaching and learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of social media technologies in teaching and learning at higher institutions of education. A blended approach was adopted as a research methodology with the use of survey questionnaires and interviews to gather data. The result of the study confirmed the researcher’s theory that social media is a very powerful educational tool that can be harness to improve teaching and learning in developing countries. It further revealed that students were using these technologies in learning and wanted authorities’ to incorporate these social media technologies into their teaching and learning. Participants showed a very high positive perceptions, readiness and strong attitude of adopting and integrating SNS in their education to benefits from these technologies which they strongly believed outweigh the draw backs. The study concluded that social media is a viable educational tool for anytime, anywhere, anyplace mobile learners and needs greater attention from stakeholders in the educational sector.

Authors: Tynes, B. & Monterosa V.

In this chapter, we focus on one school in the Los Angeles area that serves a predominantly Latino population. We outline the specific classroom practices as well as the academic and social-emotional learning opportunities students are afforded as one of their master teachers supports civic learning opportunities through a digital literacy course.

Social and technological changes over the last 25 years mean that teachers are now faced with the challenge of utilizing technology to support their student’s digital literacy development. This article reports on how the online curation software platform SymbalooEDU was used to support undergraduate and postgraduate learners of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). The pedagogical theories behind personal learning environments (PLEs) are reviewed and then considered in the interpretation of data from two student surveys – a needs analysis of student’s E-learning preferences, and a feedback survey about student perceptions and experiences of using SymbalooEDU to support their academic English learning. The results indicate that the students found the software beneficial for learning EAP but that the use of social learning was restricted by the way in which instructors set up and administered the social media in their courses. Educators need to be cognizant of the role they play in helping EAP learners develop their PLEs. Crucially, social media use in PLEs is not an activity whereby educators simply let the students take center stage. Its use has to be appropriately scaffolded and modelled to enable students to engage in meaningful peer mentoring, learning and teaching.

Facebook’s development from the paper “face books” of cohort photographs and brief biographies circulated amongst beginning students at some universities, and its original restriction to users with an “edu” email address, has contributed to a form of use where the online interactions are strongly connected to an offline community. Facebook is used in conjunction with, and as part of, face to face interaction, strengthening the feeling of social cohesion in the community. Using the student Facebook page “People Sleeping at The University of Newcastle” as a case study reveals Facebook as a blended world of online and offline interactions, where the online forum allows students to keep track of the offline goings-on of staff, courses and fellow students.
While surveillance usually has negative connotations of intrusion, control and privacy invasion, participatory surveillance can be seen as empowering rather than violating users.  Mutual surveillance on Facebook is a social act which facilitates connections. An analysis of the discourse on the “People Sleeping at the University of Newcastle” page shows students choosing social cohesion over privacy by identifying themselves in anonymous photographs, responding to posted images with explanations and excuses for their on-campus naps, and sharing advice on the most comfortable sleeping spots and the most ennui-inducing courses and lecturers. Students offer themselves up for surveillance and in doing so establish a presence in the University community.
One of the primary uses of Facebook is for “social searching”: finding out more about the people met face to face or encountered in everyday life. This surveillance function allows users to profile the interests, actions and values of the communities into which they have been inducted on enrolment, and to situate themselves with in these communities. Establishing a connection with those caught napping on campus facilitates a sense of belonging to the University community.