Analyzing the Impact of Social Media on Education in Higher Learning

This report, ID 9107, explores the multifaceted impact of social media on education, focusing on its influence on student academic performance, contributions to educational goals, and the challenges students face. The introduction highlights the increasing trend of e-learning facilitated by platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, emphasizing the convenience and accessibility they offer. The body of the report delves into how social media enhances knowledge acquisition, facilitates communication between students and instructors, and provides access to valuable learning resources. It also addresses the challenges, such as distractions, potential for misinformation, and the preference for traditional learning environments, and the negative impacts of social media on students. The conclusion summarizes the benefits and drawbacks, emphasizing the need for cautious and informed social media usage by students to maximize its advantages while mitigating its risks. References from various academic sources support the findings.

Running head: IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
Impact of Social Media On Education
Assignment Number
ID: 9107 Sec: L-54
Roqayah Ramadan
Name of the University
Author’s note

1IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
Table of Contents
I. Introduction.............................................................................................................................2
II. Body......................................................................................................................................3
i. Influence of social media network on student academic performance...............................3
ii. Contribution of social media and how it contributes the achievements of educational
goals.......................................................................................................................................4
iii. Challenges and difficulties students face in using it.........................................................6
III. Conclusion............................................................................................................................7
IV. References............................................................................................................................9

2IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
I. Introduction
The social media like the Facebook, Twitter and YouTube helps the students to study
course materials online over the Internet sitting at the time. They can learn and study
according to their convenience via e-learning programs. The students who do a job and the
students who are shy and introvert can be largely benefitted by the e-learning programs. The
students can even get the opportunity to communicate with the teachers, can even get the
opportunity to communicate with the peer group over the social media all throughout day and
night. The social media can enhance the education more in coming future (Gikas & Grant,
2013). The institutions have started to offer certificate programs recently and more and more
students are showing interests in pursuing the study course via social media websites. It is
hoped that the course study offered over the social media platform will come up with some
advanced and profitable features in future and the courses will be supported worldwide. All
the aspects of social media on education has been highlighted in the report.
Thesis Statement: The trend of using social media is increasing every day and this
approach is facilitating both the students and the teachers. They are now able to communicate
and share information in quick times. This approach can enhance the productivity, can help
them to work in collaboration or in groups. The social media can help in conducting
researches as well.
II. Body
i. Influence of social media network on student academic performance
The Social Media can be helpful in acquiring knowledge about a particular subject,
about a particular study course, the Twitter, Facebook and YouTube can help in. The
communication between the people was previously restricted due to the long distance range.
However, with the advent of the Internet and advent of the social media sites like Facebook,

3IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
YouTube and Twitter have come up as the giant contributor in the social world (Tess, 2013).
They a contribute immense benefits to the education and have a greater impact on the lives of
the students. The advantage lies within is that the students in schools and colleges can use the
social media for their benefits like they can open a Google account and browse the video
course on YouTube. The lecturers from various reputed college and universities upload their
lectures and the students of those universities can view those lectures and learn the content
course. The students can pause the video, can repeat the video and play video at any time, can
learn the contents any time sitting at home. The approach is basically helpful for the students.
The students who take up the online video course and the distance learning program can be
largely benefitted from this approach (Cheston, Flickinger & Chisolm, 2013). The students
can learn the course materials sitting at home at any time and along with that, the students can
get time to do any job.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has made various courses for the students and
published those on YouTube. The students all over the world can access those quality
materials and can learn the course materials.
The shy introvert students who hesitate to interact with the professors and any other
friends can join a community and can learn many kinds of stuff (Strasburger et al., 2013).
Also building a group or community students can learn important lessons, course materials.
The StackOverflow is one of the platforms where coders from every corner of the
world can join and talk about the code. In this platform, they can also solve issues and can
prescribe solutions. The coders can be greatly benefitted by this approach.
The Facebook page can help the students to learn course materials as well.

4IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
The video quality is far better and rich in contents (Au & Lam, 2015). Thus the
students can learn the best stuff. This can help the students to perform well and get good
marks in the exam.
ii. Contribution of social media and how it contributes the achievements of
educational goals
The details of the contribution of social media to education can be stated as –
The students by working on the computers and surfing web browsers daily can get
well versed with the computers or similar other electronic devices.
With the help of technology usage in business and education, the students can learn
new skills that can give them immense benefits (Davis et al., 2015).
The students who are good at coding can showcas4e their talents online and can get
recognition and hence can get better job opportunities.
The students can inform common people with their if they face any kind of issues and
problems (Tess, 2013). The social media can bring awareness and can solve problems of the
students if possible The talents like anyone good in music, anyone good in dance can be
recognized by their talent showcase on the social media sites.
The students having expertise on photography can take pictures, snapshots and can
share those snapshots over the Internet and the social media sites like Facebook, Google+ and
lots more (Buckingham & Willett, 2013). This approach can help them to get feedback and
based on that the students can hone their talents and enhance their career growth.
The students can communicate online over the social media sites with their teachers
and the teachers can solve their issues or queries online sitting at home.

5IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
The instructors and the teachers and the lecturers often underestimate the usage of
social media and the mobile technology (Cheston, Flickinger & Chisolm, 2013). However,
with the advent of the smartphone and the Internet technology, the students can learn the
course materials by simply installing an android app or iOS app.
There are various benefits YouTube offers to the students. The students from all over
the world can learn the course materials with ease. The students can learn the materials at
their own pace. The students can get access to best materials. The students can earn
certificates and credentials from specific sites like Udemy, Coursera and this can give them
benefits to grow and enhance their career
iii. Challenges and difficulties students face in using it
Besides the benefits but the students face challenges using it, there are also many negative
aspects of the social media. The social media has many disadvantages and they are as
follows-
All the students are not equipped with the computer system, not equipped with the software
and the internet so they sometimes feel uneasy to use the computer system.
The students may face difficulties while following the lectures, but do not get the opportunity
to communicate with their lecturers or the teachers (Cheston, Flickinger & Chisolm, 2013).
Sometimes students want to feel the school environment, want to feel the college
environment and the students prefer the school or college environment to the online video
course.
The students may get distracted by any other images, videos, music and jokes not related to
the academic course thus their academic work can get disrupted (Attai et al., 2015). Thus the

6IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
usage of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter can have adverse effects on the students’ academic
performance. That is why students prefer schools or colleges.
The students nowadays spent more time on the social networking site rather than spending
time socializing with the persons (Tess, 2013). The students sometimes get depressed and lost
energy in studies. Students want to play and study and learn and thus avoid study from the
social media sites. Because of the social media, the social interactions are getting lost, the
face-to-face communication is becoming vague, this can lead to havoc and the students can
face communication problems or can feel uncomfortable while communicating with others.
Many students do not have social media accounts and they do not want to indulge in the
social media. Thus it is a serious challenge for the social media usage.
Sometimes students want to separate the online social life and the academic life and so this is
a challenge.
In the year 2015, ECAR conducted a survey and found that the students want to separate the
social media and the academic lives, the percentage has increased from 43.5% in 2012 to
65.1% in 2015. Thus ECAR survey can conclude that the social media can be a challenge for
students.
The negative impact of the social media can be traced by the effect of the Facebook site.
Many students or the teenagers commit suicide due to the leak of private information on the
website. On Facebook, it has been found the students get engaged in an illicit relationship
which results in loss of students’ lives (Au & Lam, 2015). Because of Facebook, the students
get distracted from studies and thus the academic performance gets suffered due to this
approach.

7IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
III. Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above discourse that the social media has become an
integral part of the students’ lives and this cannot be restricted. The social media can help
them to complete the project, can help the researchers to carry out research incorrect and
effective manner. The social media can assist the students to communicate with the teachers,
it also helps the students to participate in the community group and this approach can benefit
the introvert students. The students can get immense benefits from the distance learning
programs conducted over the social media. The social media sites besides having positive
aspects have some negative aspects. Therefore, the students must be careful and should use
the social media cautiously. All these aspects have been discussed in the report.

8IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
IV. References
Attai, D. J., Cowher, M. S., Al-Hamadani, M., Schoger, J. M., Staley, A. C., & Landercasper,
J. (2015). Twitter social media is an effective tool for breast cancer patient education
and support: patient-reported outcomes by survey. Journal of medical Internet
research, 17(7).
Au, M., & Lam, J. (2015). Social media education: Barriers and critical issues. In Technology
in education. Transforming educational practices with technology (pp. 199-205).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Buckingham, D., & Willett, R. (Eds.). (2013). Digital generations: Children, young people,
and the new media. Routledge.
Cheston, C. C., Flickinger, T. E., & Chisolm, M. S. (2013). Social media use in medical
education: a systematic review. Academic Medicine, 88(6), 893-901.
Davis III, C. H., Deil-Amen, R., Rios-Aguilar, C., & González Canché, M. S. (2015). Social
media, higher education, and community colleges: A research synthesis and
implications for the study of two-year institutions. Community College Journal of
Research and Practice, 39(5), 409-422.
Gikas, J., & Grant, M. M. (2013). Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student
perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. The Internet
and Higher Education, 19, 18-26.
Strasburger, V. C., Hogan, M. J., Mulligan, D. A., Ameenuddin, N., Christakis, D. A., Cross,
C., ... & Moreno, M. A. (2013). Children, adolescents, and the
media. Pediatrics, 132(5), 958-961.

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Tess, P. A. (2013). The role of social media in higher education classes (real and virtual)–A
literature review. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(5), A60-A68.