An Exploratory Interview Study About Student Perceptions of Using Social Media to Facilitate Their Undergraduate Studies

Kevin Fuchs

doi:10.3389/feduc.2022.834391

Abstract

The true power of social media lies in its ability to enable users to connect and share information with anyone around the globe. The use of social media in education helps students get more useful information and connect with learning groups and other educational systems that make education convenient. The purpose of this exploratory interview study is to identify how undergraduate students use social media to support their studies. Moreover, the study examines student perceptions concerning the benefits and limitations of using social media for educational purposes. The empirical data for this study was generated through a series of semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students (n = 27) and analyzed thematically. Three themes emerged through the thematic analysis: (1) perceived usage of social media, (2) invasion of privacy, and (3) the approachable teacher. The results of the study offer practical implications for educators and policymakers about incorporating social media in their curricula.

Highlights

The merger between social media and mobile devices allows students to create, edit, and share course content in textual, video, and audio forms
There is a potential area for concern as identified by Stathopoulou et al (2019), who state that students perceive a distinct divide between their learning space and their personal space
This research project aimed to investigate how undergraduate students perceive the use of social media to support their studies

Summary

Introduction

The merger between social media and mobile devices allows students to create, edit, and share course content in textual, video, and audio forms. These technological innovations offer a new kind of learning culture, based on the principles of collective exploration and interaction (Greenhow and Lewin, 2016). There is a potential area for concern as identified by Stathopoulou et al (2019), who state that students perceive a distinct divide between their learning space and their personal space. They argue that educators must address individual student preferences to combine or separate the two domains. Some studies argue that teachers play an important role in inspiring students to use social media to support their studies (Van Den Beemt et al, 2020), while others state that excessive instructional control may lead to boredom and lack of motivation (Barkley and Lepp, 2021)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion