Social Media Impact on Higher Education: A Comprehensive Report

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The impact of social media in Higher Education is currently a
conflicting issue
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Body Paragraph..........................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
Reference List............................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Social media is the means of interactions that allow people to create and exchange ideas and
views in presence of virtual networks. The major social media platforms are YouTube,
Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and others. Social media involves building
relationships by connecting the audience through community groups and conversation. Social
media strongly influences the communication settings in modern world. The advent of social
media has started influencing academic life and career of students. Higher education provides
an individual to get success in modern global economy. It holds the key for knowledge
creation and a higher standard of living. Incorporating social media in higher education can
bring several positive or negative changes. Therefore, the study will focus on relevant
contemporary impacts of social media on Higher Education in order to identify conflicting
issues, measuring different examples. The report shall demonstrate some arguments and
claims to identify various aspects of the chosen contemporary issue. All arguments will be
provided with adequate support and a concluding sentence. In addition some comparison will
be done on the new and traditional media.
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Body Paragraph
Social media has numerous positive effects and impacts on higher education. It provides
students with new mechanism to familiar with education systems. It gives a direct medium to
evaluate institutional policies, campus environment, professors, classes, and administration in
real-time. Student awareness regarding higher education is increasing through the
implementation of social media. As opined by Blankenship (2011), students are able to get
reviews on different institutions in which they want to pursue their study. Social media and
community groups are helping to select a better institution for higher education. A depicted
by Tess (2013), higher education is important to develop prepared minds, who can serve
research, development, and innovation process occurred in society. Therefore, taking
admission in a good institution for higher education is necessary to develop skills and prepare
for future requirements. Social media reviews are major sources to identify an educational
institution having great value for shaping future of students.
As stated by Gikas and Grant (2013), social media improves learning and education, as it
helps students to get access to all required information from the internet. It acts as a
searchlight for gaining information on advanced courses chosen in higher study. Some
information is not found in research centres and libraries of educational institutions providing
higher studies. Students can use search engines including Google Scholar to get valuable
information. The world has become a small place for circulating knowledge and information
in higher education level. Educational problems and issues encountered by faculties and
students are being solved and discussed on social media forums. This is helping to increase
the knowledge base of students without putting much effort. This concludes social media
improves educational life by giving maximum sources of knowledge and information.
Other than social media which is also considered as the new way to communicate, there is
traditional media that is still has its presence felt in the communication process across
geographical boundaries. While traditional media consisted of newspapers, radios and
television, new media consists of internet, different social networking sites, emails and so.
Bothe the vehicles of communication sharing are effective enough to spread messages to a
large number. However, in the present scenario, internet and emailing is used to convey
information to a large number of people (Cardon and Marshall, 2015). In social media, the
method of feedback is fast and effective. It is a known fact that, feedback is the elemental
signal of complete communication process. In traditional media, the method of feedback is
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either absent or immensely slow. The traditional media is the best possible pathway to attract
the people in their old age. While the youth needs to be targeted by providing the information
in the social networking sites. Updating of information is fast in the social media when
compared to traditional methods of communication. Moreover, information in the social
media is more engaging as it is presented with the help of attractive graphics and videos. In
the fast-paced life, the relevance of social media is more when compared to the traditional
forms of it.
Figure 1: Adoption of social media in institutions
(Source: eqafy.com, 2016)
Distance learning has become easier through application of social media. According to
DeAndrea et al. (2012), many universities are providing online courses and materials to
students through social media. For example, YouTube is an effective platform to upload
course material and tutorials for students. This has brought learning and education to
students’ doorstep at an affordable cost. Students are availing higher education without
travelling away from their homes. Lecturers are assigning projects and assignments through
emails and advising students to submit solutions through online mode. This allows students to
perform complex projects and be rectified easily from tutors instead of printing, which in turn
reduces cost of preparing photocopies and risk of misplacements. As stated by Gikas and
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Grant, (2013), reading materials, handouts, and lecture notes are easily available in social
media and students can download these to support their higher education. This proves how
social media has made education easier and affordable for students.
Social media allows students to meet experts from different parts across the globe and gather
ideas and knowledge as per requirements. As opined by Dabbagh and Kitsantas (2012),
students are getting easy access to educational group created on Facebook, LinkedIn and
other platforms. In such platforms, intellectual people discuss on various contemporary
issues, social problems and education systems. This helps students in broadening their
knowledge base and learning more information taught in classrooms. As depicted by Gibson
et al. (2015), social media is a beneficial arrangement for students to interact with their role
models and mentors, who are present far away from them. Students are able to contact these
people and discuss on courses that they are perusing in higher education. They get useful
information on how to develop skill and knowledge to get best job opportunities after
completion of their education. They have opportunities to contact with companies of interest
so that they can prepare for getting a relevant position in organisations of their choice. Thus,
social media is a major tool for gaining job opportunities.
Recently, teachers find social media is a perfect way to communicate with students at any
time and solve their educational problems. As demonstrated by Seaman and Tinti-Kane
(2013), social media allows them to use learning management systems through which
students can get access to their teaching at any time. Students react positively and proactively
when social media is integrated with teaching methods. Teachers are able to create a strong
community through social media platforms, where they connect with experts from different
parts of the world to improve their teaching practices. As opined by Dabbagh and Kitsantas
(2012), social media is a great tool to determine the educational needs of students and provide
them with a learner-centred teaching environment. It is the only communication channel used
for guiding students when they are unable to attend classes. It keeps students involved and
engaged during holidays so that syllabus can be completed before the examination.
Encouraging teamwork and collaboration can be difficult during classroom teaching, as
limited time is set to complete a course. Therefore, social media acts as a proven tool to
encourage students for working together during critique projects and group works.
Some authors do not agree with implication of social media in higher education, as they find
students wasting time on internet surfing and chatting for a non-educational purpose. They
are glued to phones all day losing most of the time in doing irrelevant work. Veletsianos
(2012) argued that some students are found using their phones during libraries, classrooms,
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and seminars. They believe social media platforms are catalysts for an easy learning process.
However, they do not utilise these tools for study and knowledge creation purpose. Students
use social media tools for searching for information having no value in their educational
field. They browse the internet and go through social media pages to read social and fashion
blog. They seek pleasure and entertainment by watching videos streaming on social media
and playing online games. In the words of Veletsianos (2011), students spending maximum
time in doing such activities read to pass examination instead of gaining and developing
knowledge. This has reduced application and development of the brain in higher studies.
Therefore, they tend to show poor performance and low grades in universities. This shows
how social media influences student performance negatively.
Social media platforms have disrupted writing skills and styles of students. It has enabled
students to use an abbreviation, incomplete sentences, and making a habit of using shorthand.
This is ultimately affecting communication, writing, grammar and other skills of students.
Students are unable to perform well in tests and examinations due to habit of using
incomplete sentences and abbreviation.
Students are no longer paying attention to classroom studies and books, as they are finding
social media stuffs more interesting. The rate of absenteeism is increasing in universities.
Seaman and Tinti-Kane (2013) argued that some students are unable to appear examination
due to a shortage of attendance and this increases students’ stress leading to physical and
mental health issues. Nowadays, students have become lazy to note down information in
notebooks. They are using mobile notepads to write down information for which they are
unable to understand during exam preparation. Students believe asking queries to teachers is
useless, as they know information can be obtained easily from social media platforms. This
subsequently leads to a reduction in students’ concentration towards classroom activities.
Additionally, students use some social media sites having detrimental value to their
education. This concludes how social media is making students to pay low attention during
higher education.
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Conclusion
From the above discussion, it is observed that social media is influencing higher education
positively and negatively. The study has identified aspects stating the overall impacts of
social media. If social media are used for a good purpose, it can develop student learning and
education. Students and teachers can expand their brain to engage in a collaborative learning
process. Social media is an unlimited source for study materials, handouts, and tutorials.
However, students are unable to pay attention during classroom studies and seminars by
keeping themselves busy with irrelevant stuff. In order to mitigate this conflicting issue,
teachers and experts should create awareness among students on how to use social media for
valuable purpose so that their knowledge base can be strengthened.
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Reference List
Blankenship, M., 2011. How social media can and should impact higher
education. Education Digest, 76(7), pp.39-42.
Cardon, P.W. and Marshall, B., 2015. The hype and reality of social media use for work
collaboration and team communication. International Journal of Business Communication,
52(3), pp.273-293.
Dabbagh, N. and Kitsantas, A., 2012. Personal Learning Environments, social media, and
self-regulated learning: A natural formula for connecting formal and informal learning. The
Internet and higher education, 15(1), pp.3-8.
DeAndrea, D.C., Ellison, N.B., LaRose, R., Steinfield, C. and Fiore, A., 2012. Serious social
media: On the use of social media for improving students' adjustment to college. The Internet
and higher education, 15(1), pp.15-23.
eqafy.com 2016. US University and College Websites and Their Social Media Choices.
[online] eQAfy.com. Available at: https://www.eqafy.com/component/content/article/49-
blog/208-us-university-and-college-websites-and-their-social-media-choices-hesm.html?
Itemid=293 [Accessed 13 May 2019].
Gibson, D., Ostashewski, N., Flintoff, K., Grant, S. and Knight, E., 2015. Digital badges in
education. Education and Information Technologies, 20(2), pp.403-410.
Gikas, J. and 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, pp.18-26.
Seaman, J. and Tinti-Kane, H., 2013. Social media for teaching and learning. London,
England: Pearson Learning Systems.
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), pp.A60-A68.
Veletsianos, G., 2012. Higher education scholars' participation and practices on
Twitter. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(4), pp.336-349.
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