Abstract
Informal use of social media in higher education:A case study of Facebook groups
Highlights
The role of digital media in higher education has been discussed for decades
As is generally the case when discussing the relationships between technological innovations and educational practices, there is a tension between, on the one hand, those who see the educational system as slow to make use of the promises of the new resources, and, on the other hand, those who are sceptical of the claims made regarding the advantages of such media for teaching and learning
In this case, such an approach implies that rather than expecting uniform impacts of innovations when introduced into long-established educational practices, the critical issues to explore concern how sociomaterial practices – the concrete doing of teaching, learning and student life – are transformed when new artefacts are taken on board and become an integrated part of everyday institutional life (Ludvigsen et al, 2011; Säljö, 2012; Mäkitalo, Linell & Säljö, 2017)
Summary
The role of digital media in higher education has been discussed for decades. As is generally the case when discussing the relationships between technological innovations and educational practices, there is a tension between, on the one hand, those who see the educational system as slow to make use of the promises of the new resources, and, on the other hand, those who are sceptical of the claims made regarding the advantages of such media for teaching and learning. Selwyn (2014, pp. 10–18) contrasts what he refers to as the booster’ and ‘doomster’ discourses, respectively, painting radically opposing pictures of the potentials of technologies. The artefacts are ascribed agency within sociomaterial practices as is expressed, for instance, in the approach to technology studies suggested by the so-called Actor-Network Theory (Latour, 2005; Law & Hassard, 1999) In this case, such an approach implies that rather than expecting uniform impacts of innovations when introduced into long-established educational practices, the critical issues to explore concern how sociomaterial practices – the concrete doing of teaching, learning and student life – are transformed when new artefacts are taken on board and become an integrated part of everyday institutional life (Ludvigsen et al, 2011; Säljö, 2012; Mäkitalo, Linell & Säljö, 2017)
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