Adoption of Social Media Tools in Higher Education

This study explores the adoption of social media tools in higher education and their impact on teaching and learning. It investigates the benefits and challenges of using social networks in education and aims to identify the requirements for traditional learning and teaching techniques. The research methodology includes literature review, surveys with students, and interviews with lecturers. The study also examines the level of awareness and usage of social media tools among lecturers.

Running head: ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Adoption of Social Media Tools in Higher
Education
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Abstract
The Social Networking cites are an
emergent sensation among the present
generation, which has gained importance
in the private as well as academic life. .
These tools help in social interaction and
also enhances the traditional teaching
processes. YouTube, Facebook, wikis, and
twitter are some of the examples which
provide wide range of knowledge on
subjects.
The purpose of this suggested
study is to investigate the requirements for
the traditional learning and teaching
techniques. Exploring the reasons for the
use of social networks through higher
education, to acknowledge the effect of the
same instruments in teaching and
education in general, to identify the issues
faced by the students and lecturers due to
social networks and determining whether
the traditional techniques need alterations
are the primary objectives of this proposed
study. This paper has researched the use of
social media in teaching and learning
based on literature study as well as
explained the implication of
implementations of social media in
education. It also shows how the
experiences of higher education lectures
are scheduled and planned. Also to be
more specific, this suggested research
includes the study of the level of
consciousness of lectures and their
experience sin the use of social media.
Whether the teaching staff are well
informed about the social media networks,
and how the teachers use the social
networks in the teaching process are also
discussed.
This article provides an in-depth
illustration of the research methodology
that includes what stages have been
completed and what might be done for the
lecturers and the students to investigate the
social networking instruments that could
affect the teaching and learning. The sort
of information to be gathered is both
quantitative and qualitative. This research
also concentrates upon the perspective of

2ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
the student and teacher towards the use of
social networks and it also reaches to a
conclusion whether lecturer’s age and
work experience can influence their use of
social networking tools.
Keywords: Social Networks; Social
Software; Higher Education; Facebook
I. INTRODUCTION
Social networking systems are gaining
greater popularity. Different individuals
are using them for all kinds of reasons, to
which the social networking advocates
have commented, that if one is not
presented on the social networking cites,
he or she is not considered to be alive.
Numerous academic organizations are
making excellent efforts to adopt such
techniques to interact with their faculty
members and learners, as well as parents in
order to provide better facilities.
Therefore the students can turn to
any of these instruments for further
clarification. The students can keep in
touch with their classmates as well as
instructors with the help of Virtual tools
such as Moodle. These instruments are
readily available to any user. The students
or the users can inquire about any query,
post questions in such a participatory
environment, and the instructors will
answer them. Additionally excellent
quizzes and tents can be graded by the
educators. In this manner, they can
evaluate class involvement and comment
on any topic for teaching and information
dissemination purposes. It is possible to
use Facebook, Twitter and other
instruments in a comparable manner.
There are numerous other social
networking tools, such as bookmark and
citation, online storage, online surveys, as
well as collaboration and crowdsourcing.
These can be also be utilized for enhancing
the education process.
The difference between the
electronic media and the traditional media
are important to be identified and
understood in order to learn and receive
knowledge in the mist efficient manner.

3ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Users can have their social media
instruments, like computers and mobile
gadgets which have become quite
common. Facebook and Twitter are the
most frequently used interfaces today.
Facebook provides the users with the
opportunity to develop their own profiles
and communicate with other users.
Twitter, by comparison, is a social media
interface that enables users to quickly and
easily share a contents. The significance of
these interfaces have become concentrated
to the education sector only, specifically
by higher education students. Ever since
then, the way of learning have been
altered, through the offering of free classes
on the websites and also by allowing
learners to share their expertise with their
teachers.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW AND
RELATED RESEARCH
Over the previous few years, there
has been a steady surge in the
accessibility and commitment of many
schools and universities to teach their
classes online to their learners. Due to
the availability of these electronic
classes, the efficiency of learning have
improved through the use of various
social networking instruments. Due to
modernization, and shift to the
extremely technological globe of
today, education has also transformed
from the traditional teaching
techniques to online learning methods.
The learning in classrooms have
shifted from the simple lessons to
digital and multimedia presentations
due to the increasing technological
innovations. The globe has also
become a vast storehouse of data with
technological development and the
Internet [1]
Social learning networks are social
structures composed of nodes
representing interactions within a
certain domain between people (or
organizations) [2]. The social
networking sites are provide the wen
based services. The individuals are

4ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
allowed to (1) construct a public or
semi-public profile within a bounded
system, (2)have a connection with the
other users, over the network (3) view
their list of connections and traverse
them [3]. Social networking is not only
used for communication but they are
also important in the education sector.
Important and appropriate materials are
provided by the colleges and
universities. [4]. All activities can be
made “face-to-face”, but many are also
communicated through the social
networking technologies, including
evaluation, discussion and cooperative
work [5]. The student also use the
social networking sites for
communication purposes and this
accounts for 30% of them. Online
videos , blogs , podcasts are used by
most of the students which account for
52% of the. They also use group-
authored websites during the class time
[6]. Researches have also showed that
the instructional operations are enabled
by the social media websites, by active
involvement, critical thinking and the
sharing of data or resources. [1]
III. SOCIAL MEDIA
APPLICATION AND ITS
IMPLICATIONS
Researches have indicated that the
extensive use of social media apps as a
complement to formal instructional
environments provide fresh possibilities in
the modernization and the innovation of
the educational institutions. It also helps
the students and prepares them for the 21st
century. [1], [3],
The implementation of Facebook and
MySpace made social media popular.
Facebook offers an opportunity for
academics and students to post threaded
conversations on content and events
related to academics. Either the
academician or the students can initiate
these conversations. Furthermore a
network can be formed among the
academics and students, thus gaining

5ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
insight into the interest and actions of each
other. This could promote higher class
solidarity [7].
It has been known through surveys,
that learners use Facebook to share their
instructional expertise. For example, 60%
of learners claimed to use social networks
to discuss academic subjects and 50%
discuss schoolwork issues [3]. The
learner’s feelings of social affiliation
coupled with extreme use of Facebook
makes them academically perform better.
It is also thought that the social networking
sites like Facebook will assist the students’
skills, fix disputes and enhance their
reading and writing abilities [8]. Also by
enhancing social interactions with and
between learners, using the social
networks, academics can increase the level
of commitment and interaction and thus
generate an effective teaching environment
[3]. The learners are allowed to glimpse
the academician’s profiles which contain
private data, concerns. Background and
friends that help to improve student
motivation, emotional learning and
teaching atmosphere [9].
Twitter is another social networking
platform which is used by micro bloggers.
According to the statista website of Figure,
the social networking platform of Twitter
is particularly popular in United States.
Also according to the statistics, the
microblogging service had 47.05 million
active users as of January 2019. Japan was
ranked second with 38.6 million users and
United Kingdom was ranked third with
13.6 of them. Interactive collaboration is
permissible by Twitter as well as
flexibility. It also provides the opportunity
to be connected to other user’s processes
by discussing, reading, commenting or
improving it. Twitter also provides the
facility of instant feedback. The students
can therefore use Twitter as an interface
where they can voice their opinions and
suggestions related to academic matters.[7]
Twitter allows a huge quantity of
interactivity to enrich the sessions it takes
place in. twitter’s capacity top connect to

6ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
blog posts spread latest news, connect to
Facebook and enable simple
communication is another essential
role[10]. However it has also be suggested
by researches that older academicians
often consider this tweeting of students to
be an indication of distraction of them
from the doings at the front of the room.
[11]. The millennial students receive
information regarding various kinds of
topic from different and multiple sources.
They often feel engaged in this. On a final
note the internet world has been changed
with the introduction of YouTube with it
simplified approach of sharing videos. The
users are provided with the academic
materials on their computers and other
devices in the most flexible and versatile
way. The academicians can upload video
clips contacting the tutorial lectures on the
YouTube channels which can be
of utmost help for the students
and they can watch them, share
as well as express their feelings
[4]. YouTube thus has a key
advantage of delivering learning materials
in a more convenient way. It helps the
students to get involved in active learning,
shifting from the passive learning.
According to a study conducted by the
statista website, the most frequently
accessed social networking sites as of May
2016 include Facebook. 58% of the
internet users claimed that they use
Facebook several times in a week. In
accordance with this, the study also aims
to investigate on how the social
networking tools are used by both the
students as well as the lecturers, and
whether their usage is proper or not. This
research also focusses on the presence of
any sort of significance between the young
and the old lecturers in terms of the use of
social networking tools in education.

7ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Figure 1.Leading Nations as of April 2019,
Based on Number of Twitter Subscribers
(in Millions) Source: (Statista,2019)
Figure2. Most Frequently Accessed Social
Networks of Internet Users As of May
2016 Source: (Statista,2019)
IV. ANTICIPATED RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY AND
DISCUSSION
This research study has
incorporated a set of different research
techniques for it successful completion.
These methods can be discussed as
follows:
1. Stage one: Conduction of a
Literature Review for the
exploration of the following topics:
 Social networking systems
and their definitions.
 The frequently and the most
popular social networking
tools.
 How is the online teaching
and learning affected by the
use of Facebook, YouTube
and Twitter?
 How is social media used
and adopted in higher
education system?

8ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Furthermost prominently the
research paper has successfully
covered the requirements of this
particular stage and the two
following stages mentioned below
are a proposed work of this
research and they are intended to
be achieved and published this
year.
2. Stage two: Survey with
questionnaire to be conducted
among the students of higher
studies, so that they can help to
answer, with their experiences,
how social media have affected
their learning procedure.
A questionnaire will be distributed to the
students of both male and female gender.
The participating students will be
categorized into age groups of 18 to 24
years old and 25 to 40 years old. The
students participating would be from all of
the degrees, Bachelor’s, Masters, and
Diploma.
The questionnaire that has been used in the
survey of the topic involves the presence
of open and closed questions and queries.
Check boxes have been provided for the
closed questions where the respondents are
advised to close one response from the
possible answers provided to them. On the
other hand, text boxes have been provided
for the open questions and the participants
are advised to fill in a text box with as
much information as necessary. Below are
a set of sample questions for the open
questions.
 Do you have a smartphone with an
internet connection?
 According to your preference, what
is the better social media type?
 Why do you use social media?
 How often do you visit the social
networking websites?
 How do you consider the sharing
of academic resources over the
social networking websites?

9ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
In accordance with this, a sample of the
closed questions have also been provided
below.
 Have the use of Social networks
have improved my educational
performance?
 I receive more help from the social
networking users than my
classmates in my studies.
 The topics are more apprehensible
to be than the traditional teaching
methods due to the presence of the
social media.
 The social networking sites have
helped me to gain knowledge
anytime and anywhere. This has
been the reason why I prefer the
flexibility of the sites.
 YouTube, Twitter and Facebook
are the sites that I resort to if
anything is not clear.
 The social networks have helped
me upgrade my communication
skills which the traditional mode of
learning was unable to.
 The social networks have
developed my technology skills.
 I am encouraged to work on group
projects by the social networking
websites.
 Interaction with other students and
teachers online is something that
gives me more confidence than the
offline interactive sessions,
 The social networks provide me
with more ideas and opinions than
the earlier methods of education.
 The social media websites do have
a positive impact over the new
generation education.
3. Stage three: Conduction of an
interview among lecturers of higher
education to bring about the
responses from their experiences of
the adoption of social networks in
traditional teaching process.
The purpose of this interview is to
analyse the usage of social networking
websites by the teaching staff in their
lectures.

10ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
This anticipated study aims to explore
the usage of social media networks and
its role in enhancing the teaching as
well as learning process. The teachers
are also into using these modern
methods like the wider public, for
numerous reasons.
Additionally, how the lecturers employ
the social media in their teaching
classes is also explored in this study.
The sample of the questions in the
interview are provided below.
 Do you use social networks?
 Why so you use the social
media and what is the main
reason behind it?
 What are the main problems of
usage of social media in
education?
 Why do you think that the shift
from the traditional teaching
method to the modern methods
will be beneficial?
 What are the pros and the cons
of social networking sites on
education?
 What are the barriers of using
the social media networks and
what are the lecturer’s views on
them?
Also, the researcher will gather
some general data from lecturers such as:
training experience, department and age,
social media tools their usage and their
importance in improving teaching and
learning process. Also there will be an
assembling of the personal experience and
views about the usage of social media
usage.
This proposed study will also look
at the level of lecturer’s awareness
regarding the most popular social
networking sites and see if there is any
significant difference between young
teachers and old teachers in terms of usage
of social media. Also, it will identify if
lecturers use social media as a part of their
course syllabus such as uploading videos

11ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
on YouTube for their students to watch
outside class. \
V. CONCLUSION
Social media has become the most
inevitable interactive tool among the
people, which allows a collaborative
discussion, exchange and creation of
information. The focus of this research
had been to discuss the usage of social
networking as a way of learning in high
education. In this research both qualitative
and quantitative methods have been used
to investigate on how the learners view
social networking tools such as Facebook,
YouTube and Twitter and how these tools
help them to enhance and improve their
educational performance. Also, the
research has aimed to evaluate the
awareness of lecturers towards the use of
social networking tools and how they use
those tools in their teaching. Another
interest of this research has been an
observation of whether the age and lecturer
work experience throw any impact on the
people.

12ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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