CHAPTER TWO

Social Media in Education

The push to innovate teaching and learning using social media has been a clear theme in

both the early stage research on web technologies represented by blogs and wikis as well as

recent research on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Bradley (2009)

and Grosseck (2008) gave emphasis on recognition of higher education and promoting the

huge potential brought by web technologies to improve student engagement, college

experiences, and pedagogical practices, and has been advocating innovations and changes

to stay current with the changed education market. Ajjan & Hartshorne, 2008; Chen &

Bryer, 2012; Roblyer, McDaniel, Webb, Herman, & Witty, 2010 indicated several factors

and investigated in the context of higher education, faculty use and student engagement on

social media and their usage in education. Heiberger & Harper, 2008; Hsu & Ching, 2012;

Junco, Elavsky, & Heiberger, 2012 studied impact of social media and its relation to

academic achievement. Yang and Chang (2011) concluded that university students showed

more positive attitudes toward peer interaction and academic achievement through

interactive blogs. The study by Junco et al. (2011) showed that the use of Twitter

significantly improved undergraduate students‘ engagement and semester grade point

averages (GPA). However, in the other study Junco (2012), the author found that time spent

on Facebook was significantly negatively related to college students‘GPA, and was weakly

related to time spent preparing for classes.

Most studies investigated individual social media tools such as MySpace, Facebook, or

Twitter as innovations in education, and this research trend seems reasonable considering

the sweeping generalization of the term social media itself. It indicates that social media

technologies have not become a mainstream technology adopted in education. Roblyer et

al. (2010) found that in higher education, students are more positive about the potential of

using Facebook and other similar new technologies for supporting teaching and learning

than faculty, who prefer traditional technologies. In his review of social media in higher

education classes, Tess (2013) concluded that most universities have the infrastructure and

support for social media use, but instructors are slow in adopting it for educational purposes.

In addition, while social media may have the potential to promote personal learning

environments (PLE) as a promising new pedagogical approach to enhance self-regulated

learning (Dabbagh & Kitsantas, 2011), some caution against the use of social media for

academic purposes due to the ‗‗commercially contoured‘‘ nature of social media services

(Friesen & Lowe, 2011, p. 193) or simply ‗‗an academic form of a ‗moral panic‘ without

empirical evidence‘‘ (Bennett, Maton, & Kervin, 2008, p. 775).

Patel (2010) gives us a visual way of seeing the rise of social media. In his article, he draws

and reports that the rise of social media among three target groups (Baby Boomers,

Generation Xers, and Millennials) is dramatic. Not only has the usage of these technologies

grown, Patel notes that the tenants of learning and work productivity also improve

dramatically as we move along the target groups. In fact, this notion of using social media

as a learning tool has carried over to the business world.Baird and Fisher (2005) are credited

with conducting the first major examination of potential uses of social media in education

and identify key advantages that social media platforms provide today's neo-millennial

learners. Their study readily points out that today's students have been raised in the "always

on" world of interactive media, the Internet, and digital messaging technologies and,

therefore, have very different expectations and learning styles than previous generations.

This net-centric generation values their ability to use the Web to create a self-paced,
customized, on-demand learning path that includes multiple forms of interactive, social,

and self-publishing media tools.

Usage of Social Media and Academic Performance

Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010; Kolek & Saunders, 2008; Pasek, More, & Hargittai, 2009

Pasek et al. 2009 examined the relationship between Social media usage and academic

performance, and found there was no relationship between between Social media usage and

grades.Saunders (2008) found that there were no differences in overall grade point average

(GPA) between users and non-users of Facebook. Kirschner and Karpinski (2010), on the

other hand, found that Facebook users reported a lower mean GPA than non-users;

additionally, Facebook users reported studying fewer hours per week than non-users.The

Kirschner and Karpinski (2010) paper examined differences

The Relation between Social Media Usage and Academic Performance

The first appearance of the social networking site was in 1997 and the first site appeared

was SixDegrees.com to establish personal profiles, especially for users of the site with

commentary on the news on the site and the exchange of text messages between users. This

site was followed by the site MySpace.com in 2003, and then Facebook.com appeared this

site allows users to exchange news and information among themselves and to allow friends

to access their own files. The latter site not only affects the scope of the virtual community,

but also affects the reality of the lives of social, political, cultural, and religious clients.

These networking sites used by most people to interact with old and new friends (Asemah

& Edegoh, 2012).The world has changed rapidly with the development of technology; this

has led to use the technology as the best way to explore the vast area of knowledge. The

“Journal of Cases on information technology” has published study (Mensah & Nizam,
2016) based on an objective analysis of the use of social media by college students and

study the positive and negative effects on students’ academic performance and behavior.

The most important findings of the study are that there is a positive and negative impact on

the social networking sites on the academic performance and the behavior of the student, in

that the university student is attracted to social networking sites for many reasons, including

the search for information that can be accessed easily and in an unsafe and unreliable way.

This will reduce their ability to learn and research effectively. In addition, students who are

heavily involved in the activities of networking sites during study have a lack of

concentration and distraction. The study also found that these students lose an important

aspect of real human communication skills as they spend long periods in the unfavorable

and may even be affected negatively, physically and mentally. Academic excellence or

achievement plays an important role in individual placement, both in academic institutions

and in employment. Because of this, many people feel less with ways that can enhance

academic achievement. The emphasis on academic excellence is also prevalent throughout

the world and has encouraged many studies on the terms of its promotion. The role of

academic achievement as one of the factors predicting and success in life and also in the

aspect of academic placement in schools for higher institutions as well as the level of

usability in their career is inevitable.

Today, most young people and students have Facebook accounts. The most important

reason is the growing use of Facebook in all aspects of working life, while many researchers

blame the quality of teachers bad, while attributed to the prevalence of the phenomenon of

Facebook madness and became a master of the minds and consciousness. According to

(Oche & Aminu, 2010), it is noted that students are very divided in social media and spend
about 24 hours online. Even in the classroom and lecture theaters, it has been observed that

some students are always busy in chatting and communicating, during lectures and which

should guide these times toward learning, scientific research and innovation along the lines

of students’ attitudes to meeting new online friends and discussing issues of most

importance. Most students suffer from setbacks as a result of social media preoccupation.

As per the study of (Obi, Bulus, Adamu, & Sala’at, 2012), it was observed that the use of

these sites also affects students’ use of English and grammar. Students use short forms of

writing words in their chat rooms; they use the same thing in the classroom.

On the other hand, social networking sites can assist students in developing themselves,

enhancing their knowledge and creativity, leveraging their knowledge exchange, and

increasing their technical skills. Through the optimal use of social networking sites, students

can access as much knowledge and information as possible that enhance their academic

performance and excellence learning (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). The most important

conclusions of Hadeel Al-Obaidi’s study at the University of Bahrain (2016) (Harrath &

Alobaidy, 2016) on the students of the Arabian Gulf that there is a positive impact of this

technology at their academic level through the useful and optimal use of social networking

sites. Analysis of the study showed that students are aware of and have a good level of

awareness of using social networks for academic purposes. A large proportion of students

expressed satisfaction with its use as a useful means of collecting data and searching for

useful information. In addition, social networks have helped students to join educational

networks, interact with colleagues and access e-learning resources. A study conducted by

US researchers (Junco, Heiberger, & Loken, 2011) found that adolescents writing SMS

through mobile phone can negatively affects their ability to speak properly, and that
messages cause a delay in speech and learning skills significantly. The researchers

explained that teenagers who use text messages to communicate with their peers

permanently commit many linguistic errors in addition to their reliance on colloquial words,

abbreviations and numbers instead of letters in most messages. According to a study

conducted by Mosa’d Al Sharari about students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it has been

concluded that there is a negative impact on students from the use of Facebook and the most

important effects watching unethical images and video, meet new bad friends and the loss

of study time. More than 78% of male and female students were negatively affected by their

use of social media sites in the 16-20 age group, and 67% of students in Saudi Arabia did

not use them for educational purposes.

Student attitudes toward use of social media in the learning process

We will first define social media to establish a platform for further understanding its role in

facilitating learning process. Social media could be defined as a group of Internet platforms build

on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 that allow the creation and exchange

of user-generated content (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). According to Bryer and Zavatarro (2011),

social media gather various technologies including blogs, wikis, networking platforms (social

networks), virtual worlds and media sharing tools that serve social purposes with the emphasis on

social interactions facilitation, collaboration possibilities and deliberation across stakeholders. As

the authors suggest, social media in the educational context has a wide variety of implementation

and use both in terms of outcomes and media through which it can be facilitated. Additionally,

different social media platforms contributes differently to the learning experience. For example,

wikis being tool for collaboration as opposed to blogs that are more focused on authorship (Bryer

and Zavatarro, 2011). However, each of the social media platforms that can be used in an
educational environment should focus on integrating and contextualizing knowledge in the most

efficient way.

What some scholars emphasize is the contemporary susceptibility of social media with

constructivist learning theory and a learner-centered model. This approach focuses on learning as

a social process in which one constructs the knowledge, as opposed to simply gaining it through

the traditional model of learning (Duffy and Cunningham, 1996). George Siemens (2005) in his

article on a learning theory in the digital age has further explained the existing learning theories in

the context of social media, thus explaining that, as opposed to traditional view, learning does not

happen inside the person. Rather, numerous connections are important to facilitate the process.

Therefore, Siemens has proposed the new learning theory view called connectivism that relies on

the following principles (2005, p7):

• Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions.

• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.

• Learning may reside in non-human appliances.

• Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.

• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.

• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.

• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning

activities.

• Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning

of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a

right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information

climate affecting the decision.

Concisely, connectivism could be considered a networked social learning (Duke, Harper and

Johnston, 2013). In this context, the interactions and collaboration that social media can provide

in the learning process will contribute to knowledge construction through meaningful and smart

connections, contextualization and synthesis of learning problems. It can also contribute to the

more efficient assessment of learning outcomes. Moreover, social media places students into

familiar surroundings and helps advance information literacy and metacognitive development

(King, 2011). The fact that communication through social media often times requires interpretation

of presented or acquired data makes participation and collaboration an important aspect of

learning.

With Facebook exceeding 1.5 billion active users and many other platforms with hundreds of

millions of users (Statista, 2016a), social media should be considered a mainstream

communication platform in the developed world. Social media is an integral part of both our

professional and our private lives. Additionally, social media likely gained popularity as an

important communication and educational tool within higher education in response to the high

adoption rate among students and its potential role in improving student participation (Draskovic,

Caic and Kustrak, 2013). It could be argued that social media platforms present educational,

ethical, economic, and revolutionary changes in the organization and structure of the higher

education system worldwide (MeabonBartow, 2014). Indeed, the support for using social media

platforms within the higher education environment is currently growing (Ellefsen, 2016; Fasae and

Adegbilero-Iwari, 2016; Taylor, McGrath-Champ and Clarkeburn, 2012; Kassens-Noor, 2012).

According to Foroughi (2011, p 3), the learning environment could benefit from the application of

social media for the lecturer-student interraction:

 • Learning-related benefits: facilitation of collaborative learning, development of

independent learning skills, problem solving, team work, reflective learning,

responsive feedback from instructors, overcoming geographic isolation, peer-topeer

support/feedback, visibility of students work, integration of multimedia assets, and the

creation of informal relations between educators and students.

• Social benefits for students: increased engagement in course material, development of

a sense of community and transferable skills that enhance student employability,

increased sense of achievement, control, and ownership of their work.

• Benefits for institutions of higher education: increased cross-institutional

collaborations, support and community building outside the course environment,

development of communities of practice, increased student enrolment and retention.

Although social media introduced more active ways of learning for students, sometimes it seems

that instructors do not share same level of enthusiasm due to concern that less formal

communication via social media might erode their authority (Draskovic, Caic and Kustrak, 2013).

Furthermore, utilization of social media as a teaching and communication tool requires additional

effort and proper level of computer literacy. Many of today’s students are highly proficient in their

use of digital media (Bodle, 2011). On the other hand, the overall level of digital literacy and

competency of faculty still requires some improvement and more systematic approach to the

teacher education (Tømte et al. 2015; Krumsvik, 2014; Krumsvik, 2008).

To address the problems of student collaboration, engagement and interaction, many higher

education institutions use e-learning platforms known as Course Management Systems (CMS) to

ensure a more satisfactory and meaningful experience. Facilitating student participation is not only

a requirement in a contemporary classroom due to technological changes, but it is strongly linked

to learning outcomes. However, usage of CMS, although appealing to lecturers due to its controlled

collaborative features that such closed systems enable, is not always efficient in terms of true

collaboration and the sharing that social media facilitates (Bryer and Chen, 2012). In addition,

CMS as a learning tool cannot be entirely considered in the context of social media and its benefits

in learning/teaching environment because it is essentially an online translation of traditional brick-

and-mortar classroom surroundings where students are treated as information receivers and not as

information co-creators (McLoughlin and Lee, 2008).

Social media is also important through virtual communication or what can be called a computer-

mediated communication (CMC). Regarding this particular channel, Mazer, Murphy and Simonds

(2007) argue that “the use of CMC in the instructional context could ultimately have a positive

effect on the student-teacher relationship, which can lead to more positive student outcomes.

Additionally, these findings may offer an explanation with regard to communication between

students and their teachers.“ In this particular article, the authors discussed the teacher-disclosure

through Facebook (i.e. the amount of information that an instructor discloses to students) and the

impact on student motivation, learning and classroom climate. They found a positive correlation,

meaning that higher disclosure enhances mentioned factors. This is important because not only it

provides a valuable insight for instructors in terms of whether their students might view such

activity as positive, but it also provides instructors with a certain power of creating their digital

image strategically, which is usually harder to achieve in face-toface communication. Lecturer’s

presence on Facebook can therefore not only enhance student motivation and learning, but also

help them brand themselves in a strategic way.

As many studies suggest (e.g. Ellefsen, 2016; Fasae and Adegbilero-Iwari, 2016; Sheldon, 2015;

Draskovic, Caic and Kustrak, 2013; Pestek, Kadic-Maglajlic and Nozica, 2012; Dabbagh and
Kitsantas, 2011), social media has potential as an educational tool that could improve student

motivation and in-class participation levels. However, use and implementation of social media in

the classroom depends on both student and instructor. Unfortunately, instructors typically share

rather conservative attitudes towards using both social media and contemporary technology, and

prefer using more traditional media (Mayberry et al., 2012; Roblyer et al., 2010). This gap between

lecturers and students and their perceptions of social media’s role in higher education (Draskovic,

Caic and Kustrak, 2013) could be bridged with better understanding of student motivation and

preferences toward social media use for educational purposes.

Theoretical Background

As mentioned above, starting from cave paintings, people have always used communication.

Communication allows us to form relationships with others, which was defined as “social” level

needs by Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Dessler, 2008). With the advancement of

technology, communication has become easier. Nowadays, people can spread their thoughts and

opinions with a couple of clicks via social networks. “the need to belong is a powerful,

fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation” (Baumeister & Leary,1995, p.497). The

importance of belonging can be understood from the previous statement and it is mentioned that

social networks satisfy the need of belong of individuals (Krasnova et al., 2008; Seidman, 2013).

According to Nadkarni and Hofmann (2012) Facebook is also used for self-presentation while

Peluchette and Karl (2010) further mentioned that some students share inappropriate materials on

Facebook in order to get the attention of their classmates. Teacher use of Facebook is received to

have a positive effect on students where it is argued that it increases their motivation and learning

(Mazer et al., 2007). Likewise, there are a variety of studies that have been carried out to

demonstrate there is a relationship between Facebook use and individual characteristics ranging
from agreeableness to esteem level (Lee, Moore, Park, & Park, 2012; Winter et al., 2014). In

addition, Lee, Ahn, and Kim (2014) stated that extroverts use Facebook (status/photo share and

using like button) more often than introverts. According to Grieve and Kemp (2015), extraversion

and openness are related in the context of Facebook connectedness and Marshall et al. (2015)

mentioned that there are more Facebook shares of social activities amongst extroverts. Photo/video

sharing and album uploads show significant differences among different personalities (Eftekhar,

Fullwood, & Morris, 2014).

Theoretical Framework

According to the literature review sections, the research is anchored on two theories: The Uses and

Gratification theory and the Connectivism theory. As was previously mentioned, social media

offers today’s youth a portal for entertainment and communication and it is becoming one of the

main platforms for accessing information and news.

The Uses and Gratification Theory

This study aims to explore the university students’ perception of using social media on their

academic performance and relate it to their actual academic performance, the results will reveal

whether they have control over their social media consumption or not. Uses and gratification

approach identifies the needs and motives behind online media usage. According to Olise &

Makka, (2013) the theory was developed by Elihu Katz in the early 1970’s Uses and gratification

theory suggests that social media users have power over their media consumption and assume an

active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives and that they are responsible

for choosing media to meet their desires and needs to achieve gratification (Olise & Makka, 2013).

Uses and gratification of the social media approach focuses on why and how people use social

media to satisfy their needs (Larose, Mastro, & Eastin, 2001). This study aims to explore to what
extent do university students using social media in academic related purposes and whether it

affects them positively or negatively.

The Theory of Connectivism

Connectivism learning approach emphasizes the role of social media context in how learning

occurs and explains how Internet technologies have created new opportunities for people to learn

and share information across the World Wide Web and among themselves (Siemens, 2005). The

theory was developed by Stephen Downes and George Siemens (Transue, 2013). Connectivism

theory suggests that students are encouraged to seek out information on their own online and

express what they find and that learning may reside in non-human appliances. Connectivism

suggests that the use of technology to help individuals to be connected with knowledge and

information ought to improve the learning process not vice versa (Evans, 2014).