1. Academic and Personal Use of Social Media Frances G. Smith, Ed
Academic and Personal Use of Social Media Frances G. Smith, Ed.D & Joan A. Rhodes, Ph.D
Virginia Commonwealth University
Background and Purpose
Research Design and Questions
Results & Conclusions
University students have unprecedented access to a wide range of social media such as blogs, wikis, video sharing and social networking sites. Social media technologies have been identified as emerging technologies to watch by both The Pew Internet and American Life Project and the New Media Consortium’s The Horizon Report (Lenhart, Madden, & Hitlin, 2005; NMC, 2009.) On-line social learning communities that foster participatory learning experiences are growing and provide an environment where learning occurs through the community exchange of information (Jenkins, Clinton, Puroshotma, Robison, &Weigel, 2006).
The current study was conducted in a school of education at a large, urban university in the Southeast to examine student use of social media in academic and personal environments and students’ expectations for the integration of social media in the classroom .
An online survey was adapted from the ECAR Students and Information Technology in Higher Education 2008 Survey Questionnaire (Salaway, Caruso, & Nelson, 2008) and administered using the Inquisite Survey™ program for three weeks at the beginning of the spring 2009 semester to answer the following three research questions: RQ1: What social media tools are used by school of education students in personal and educational environments? What specific educational uses do students describe for social media tools? RQ2: What specific educational uses do students report are being used by students and instructors in their courses? RQ3: Do students believe educators should be involved in the use of social media tools for educational purposes? If so, what specific ways do students believe are appropriate educational uses of social media tools?
Results indicate that student use of social media occurs more often in personal than academic environments. Students report using video sharing websites (23.7%), wikis (21.6%) and blogs (20.3%) most in courses. In addition to these social media, students indicate that instructors also use podcasts (13.8%). Only 53% of respondents suggest that educators use social media for educational purposes, specifically suggesting using social media to develop multimedia presentations and course content and enhance communication. Of note, is the limited use of social media by both students and instructors potentially reducing opportunities for participatory learning experiences.
Figure 2: Student Reported Choice for Educational Use of Social Media .
Figure 1: Reported Personal and Academic Use of Social Media
Participants
All graduate and undergraduate students enrolled during the 2009 spring semester were asked to participate in this study (N = 1,613). Of these, a total of 173 (10.7 %) responded to the online survey. Respondents included female (82.1%), male (17.9%), undergraduate (26.3%) and graduate (73.7%) students. Student responses were highest in the age groups of (50.9%) and (23.7%) years.
References
Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Retrieved November 29, 2009 from A3E0-4B89 AC9CE807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
Lenhart, A., Madden, M., & Hitlin, P. (2005). Teens and technology: Youth are leading the transition to a fully wired and mobile nation. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Washington, DC: American Institutes of Research.
NMC: The New Media Consortium (2009). The horizon report—2009 edition. Retrieved on September 3, 2009 from
Salaway, G. , Caruso, J. B. & Nelson, M. R. (2008). The ECAR study of undergraduate students and information technology, Full Study. Retrieved February 17, 2010 from
Virginia Commonwealth University