Research Report: Social Media Use by Higher Education Students

This report investigates the use of social media by higher education (HE) students, focusing on the platforms they use and their purposes. It highlights the increasing reliance of HE students on social media for communication, information access, and task completion. The report explores the role of...Read More

RESEARCH SKILLS AND
USING INFORMATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION
 Background to the problem
 Summary of the literature
 Evaluation of the reliability and
relevance of the literature
sources
 CONCLUSION
 REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION
 The topic chosen i.e., “The use of social media by higher education (HE)
students – which platforms and for what purposes” is useful nowadays as
most of the people and especially the HE students are totally depended on
the social networking platforms so that they can share and complete their
task also.
 The research on this topic was chosen as this is used by most of the people
and its demand will increase by day.

BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM
 Social media is playing a meaningful role in the higher education which is
increasing day by day. Social media can help in enhancing the journey of
student’s learning along with making the connection of students and
educators easier.
 The use of social media is increasing nowadays because through these
platforms of social media the teachers can easily connect with the students
and also if social media is embedded in the lessons also, then the learning
can become more relatable, interesting and engaging.

CONTINUED…
 This can be in various forms like blogs, social networking sites, vlogs,
virtual communities and even instant messaging.
 This enhances the relationships between the students and the teachers as the
students find it easier in communicating, accessing information and
providing information as well.
 Along with learning, it also helps to create awareness and advertise.
 The students can also be recruited through these social media platforms
which also help in providing perfect platform for highlighting new courses,
teaching staff, research and the facilities in campus for attracting more
students.

LITERATURE
 Earlier, social media was used more for marketing as the universities used
various platforms of social media for recruiting budding scholars,
promoting the spirit of institutions and raising the fundraiser dollars.
 But these platforms are now more used as communication channels. The
students have started using the social media platforms as online
technologies in the learning environments.
 This has enhanced the learning, helped in increasing the engagement and
participation of students along with improving the content dissemination
and pedagogy and sharing of information more efficiently.

CONTINUE…
 The social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Myspace,
Instagram, LinkedIn and many more are used by the higher education
students.
 This was observed that 90% of the students use Facebook for educational
purposes and 31% of the students preferred using Twitter as a
communication tool.
 On one hand, these social networking sites helps the students to make
contacts with the educated people but on the other hand this was also
observed that while studying, the higher education students make use of the
social media and get distracted which also affects their performance greatly.

CONTINUE…
 The students can also attend various educational programs on the Facebook
like environments.
 Facebook helps the students of the colleges greatly in the educational
activities. This was also evaluated that the students also used these
platforms for the research purposes which enhanced their knowledge and
learning.
 Similar thing was observed with the use of Twitter also that Twitter is also
helping the students by becoming a tool which facilitates the growth of the
learning network which is referred to as personal learning network.

CONTINUE…
 The main role played by the social
media is that the students can be
facilitated in both ways either in
participating in formal learning
conditions which is studying of
the course material or in informal
learning conditions which helps in
looking for relevant information
everywhere.
 The students can also take its
benefits as they can match their
capabilities and skills along with
the way of thinking with the other
well known and great people
which create a sense of
competitiveness and help them to
increase their abilities.

CONTINUE…
 The first year students make use to get the information of the faculties
through their seniors on the social media platforms which makes them feel
familiar to the college and the faculties.
 This can also be elucidated that Facebook is also used by the HE students to
improve their fluency in English and their vocabulary.
 This helped the students for enhancing their language skills also.
 If used judiciously, social media can help the HE students greatly whose
benefits can be with them forever whereas if not used judiciously then it can
also distract the students and destroys their academic performance.

EVALUATION OF THE RELIABILITY AND RELEVANCE OF THE LITERATURE SOURCES
 The literature sources helped in knowing the role of social media in the
life of HE students.
 This also influences the performances of the students positively. The
students using Facebook judiciously got better results as compared to
when they were depended on traditional methods of learning.
 This was argued that when the students post their knowledge on the
social media then they get accepted or they can get rejected due to any
other issues.

CONCLUSION
 The above report focussed on the use of social
media by the HE students.
 This was followed by mentioning and describing
the platforms which are used by the students and
the reason behind choosing one over another.
 Therefore, the role of the social media in the life of
HE students was critically evaluated in the report
which helped in gaining in-depth analysis regarding
the use of social media in the life of HE students.

REFERENCES
 Chugh, R. and Ruhi, U., 2018. Social media in higher education: A
literature review of Facebook. Education and Information
Technologies. 23(2). pp.605-616.
 Clark, M., Fine, M.B. and Scheuer, C.L., 2017. Relationship quality
in higher education marketing: the role of social media
engagement. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education. 27(1).
pp.40-58.
 Greenhow, C., Galvin, S.M. and Staudt Willet, K.B., 2019. What
should be the role of social media in education?. Policy Insights
from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 6(2). pp.178-185.
 Morton, C.M., Wells, M. and Cox, T., 2019. The implicit
curriculum: Student engagement and the role of social
media. Journal of Social Work Education, 55(1), pp.153-159.
 Radwan, E., Radwan, A. and Radwan, W., 2020. The role of social
media in spreading panic among primary and secondary school
students during the COVID-19 pandemic: An online questionnaire
study from the Gaza Strip, Palestine. Heliyon. 6(12). p.e05807.