Abstract
Social media are one of the most valuable management tools used by sport managers in the fulfilment of their daily tasks. However, the studies that share and analyse the impact of educational experiences that incorporate social media into sport management education for professional purposes are scarce to date. Thus, this study presents an educational innovation piloted in a sport management course where LinkedIn—the social media most associated with the professional sphere—is introduced through an experiential learning methodology, as a driver of students’ career development and as a tool to keep up to date and interact with the sport industry. To assess the learning outcomes, a new scale was developed and tested. A total of 90 Spanish undergraduate sport management students (M = 22.71; SD = 3.84) participated in the study, partaking in a pre-test and a post-test. Regarding the results linked to the testing of the scale, the statistical analysis reflects the scale’s two-dimensional nature, explaining 68.78% of the variance, presenting good psychometric properties (α = 0.95). On the other hand, significant increases in all the scale items between the two measures were obtained, with large effects size in the two dimensions (Cohen’s d ≥ 0.80). Therefore, it is concluded that LinkedIn can help to develop the professional profile of sport management students, Linked(In)g what is taught in the classroom with what the sport industry demands.
Highlights
The global expansion of the virus SARS-COVID-2 and, with it, the illness COVID-19, has undoubtedly challenged the higher education landscape [1,2], resulting in a significant disruption to the education system [3]
The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) results and all indicators related to convergent and discriminant validity are presented
This study explores the educational potential of LinkedIn when it is introduced through experiential learning in an educational innovation, to develop the students’
Summary
The global expansion of the virus SARS-COVID-2 and, with it, the illness COVID-19, has undoubtedly challenged the higher education landscape [1,2], resulting in a significant disruption to the education system [3]. Considering that mobility restrictions will continue to have an impact on the education system [7], access to distance learning will be essential to ensure inclusive and equitable education, promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all [8]. In this context, digital technologies can support sustainable instruction [9], facilitating access to education for students worldwide [10]. One of the most popular digital technologies among the population and, more recently, in the higher education sector is social media [11]. It is a term that, according to Manca and Ranieri [12]: “refer to a wide range of applications enabling users to create, share, comment and discuss digital contents”
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