Theories of Social Media and Learning

Abstract

The objective of the study is to find out how students use social media for learning. Theories of social media and learning: social constructivism, heutagogy, activity theory, connectivism, cognitive development, peer learning, and peer tutoring, Cooperative learning is discussed and connected to learning. Social media is used at the college and university level for formal learning. The research methodology was survey research by a questionnaire, personal interviews, and focus group discussion. Youth in general are interested in using the technologies and it is found that they adopt technologies faster than the respondents in the age group of 45 and above. Learning takes place in their own habitats as opposed to formal classroom learning. The study also proves that the social media learners find new web portals to extend their learning and find answers for their questions from quora.com, edx.org, scribd.com, libgen.io, etc.