Integrating Social Media Technologies In Higher Education: Costs-Benefits Analysis

Abstract

Social networking and electronic channels of communication are effective tools in the process of teaching and learning and have increasingly improved the quality of students’ learning outcomes in higher education in recent years. The process encourages students’ active engagement, collaboration, and participation in class activities and group work, and provides a flow of information dissemination in a sophisticated method that yields measurable results. Faculty can monitor collaborative and independent activities of their students and can also provide timely feedback. Studies identified some issues associated with social networking and students’ learning ability, but argue that performance assessment and learning outcomes can be adequately managed as a result of social networking mechanism. This paper concludes that electronic media enhance collaborative learning activities, enabling students to engage in an ongoing communication with one another in the process of learning. Effective use of social networking tools in learning environments by faculty can sustain the quality of instructions and skills-development in business education.