Social Media In Higher Education Research Articles

Special Collection Editorial – Social Media in Higher Education: What’s Happening?

Special Collection Editorial – Social Media in Higher Education: What’s Happening?

Perceptions des étudiants/étudiantes et des instructeurs/instructrices concernant les avantages et les inconvénients d’utiliser une évaluation basée sur Twitter dans un cours de premier cycle sur la nutrition en santé publique

Perceptions des étudiants/étudiantes et des instructeurs/instructrices concernant les avantages et les inconvénients d’utiliser une évaluation basée sur Twitter dans un cours de premier cycle sur la nutrition en santé publique

Social Media as a Catalyst Among Student Organizations in a Selected University in China

This paper presents a study that explores the role of social media as a catalyst among student organizations at Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SDUTCM) in China. The research objectives are to examine the current landscape of student organizations, assess social media usage patterns, investigate the impact of social media on student engagement, identify challenges and opportunities, explore student perceptions and experiences, develop best practices and recommendations, and contribute to the broader understanding of social media in higher education. The research reveals a positive correlation between higher frequency of social media usage and increased student engagement in organization activities. This suggests that social media can serve as a catalyst for engagement within the unique academic context of SDUTCM. The study provides valuable insights into the relationship between social media and student organizations, contributing to the improvement of student engagement, organization efficiency, and the understanding of social media's role in higher education. It also highlights the university's progressive approach in leveraging technology for educational and organizational advancement while promoting responsible social media use. The findings have international relevance and can benefit universities and student organizations worldwide.

The Impact of University-Specific WeChat Official Accounts on the Socialist Values of Art Students A Exploration Based on the “BIFT Art Sea Studio” WeChat Official Account

In contemporary higher education, the rise of social media has provided universities with new platforms for information dissemination, establishing connections, and shaping institutional culture. Universityspecific WeChat Official Accounts have emerged as crucial tools for interaction and information dissemination between universities and students. However, their influence on students' ideological perspectives, particularly in shaping socialist values, remains relatively underexplored. This research focuses on investigating the potential impact of the "BIFT ART SEA STUDIO" WeChat Official Account on the socialist values of art students. Socialist values, as an integral component of Chinese socialism, play a crucial role in guiding higher education. Art students, epitomizing creative thinking, contribute not only to the individual formation of values but also play a pivotal role in the inheritance and innovation of institutional culture. The "BIFT ART SEA STUDIO" WeChat Official Account, as a primary channel for information dissemination and interaction, is of particular interest in its potential influence on shaping the socialist values of art students. Through an in-depth exploration of the content, interactive strategies, and levels of student engagement on the "BIFT ART SEA STUDIO" WeChat Official Account, this research aims to unveil the mechanisms through which university-specific WeChat Official Accounts influence the socialist values of art students. The findings of this study contribute to a nuanced understanding of the role of social media in higher education and provide empirical insights for the development of informed educational management strategies. In essence, this research addresses existing gaps in the literature, delving into the substantive impact of university-specific WeChat Official Accounts on the socialist values of art students and offering practical recommendations and theoretical guidance for social media operations in higher education institutions.

“New stage, new reality, new role”

Learning is being shaped/reshaped in this digital era and the pace of these changes is accelerated by the use of social media. Many teachers are spending an increased amount of time creating and distributing content via social media platforms. It is suggested that this practice can support their cognitive, affective, social and identity growth (Trust et al., 2022). At the same time, there is a growing body of literature debating the pros and cons of adopting social media in higher education (Willems et al., 2018; Hamadi et al., 2022). Although there is a significant number of studies examining the teachers’ use of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for professional and educational reasons (Park, 2022; Davis & Yi, 2022; Randahl et al, 2022; Greenhalgh, 2021), a scarce attention has been paid to teachers, who create visual media content for YouTube. We aimed to explore the motivations and values related to teachers’ engagement in YouTube content creation practice. As we analysed the several theoretical lines of literature, we are settled on a comprehensive framework for interrogating the data. From the outset, we viewed the YouTube platform both as a landscape for teachers to interact and create artefacts, and an affective space appropriated by its users (Reckwitz, 2012). To this we added the concept of imagined communities (Gr?dinaru, 2016) that connects teacher through virtual sociability and sustain them as they create digital goods. Goffman’s theory of performance (1959) offered an additional layer of understanding the sense of belonging to these communities. Finally, we suggested the value creation framework by Wenger-Trayner et al (2019), which includes five dimensions of value for professional development. In the second part of our research, we applied our framework analytically to 105 YouTube video channels identified as teacher produced content. To date, in-depth, purposive, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with 15 participants (school teachers) through Skype, Zoom and/or Facebook Messenger. Our intention is to reach about 50 over the course of the study adding higher education teachers as well. Our initial analysis showed the three key messages: • Teachers take a proactive role believing that nowadays is the time of creating and sharing new knowledge; • Teachers signing up for this proactive vision become a part of the imagined community of like-minded colleagues; • The process of video-making involves constant research for new teaching ideas and personal transformative changes. We believe that our study may provide some implications for tertiary education. Importantly, it explores and analyses a different image of teaching and learning, crafted in visual media, which might spark enthusiasm to embrace the video sharing platforms in higher education and enhance agency in the digital world.

Opinions of Faculty Members on the Effects of Using Social Media in Higher Education

This study aims to evaluate the opinions of faculty members about the effects of social media in education. The research was carried out as a qualitative study, and phenomenological design was used in the study. We selected a total of 36 faculty members to participate in an interview about their perceptions of social media effects on education. The results showed that most faculty members think that social media is an effective educational tool. In the context of the positive aspects, the role of social media in higher education is indicated as a support tool, a follow-up tool for educational activities, an entertaining platform, communication tool, resource, learning management tool and a guide. According to the findings, more than half of the academics think that the role of social media in education is positive. The study predicts that social media will have different roles in future education with the increasing number of users every day.

Knowledge sharing via social media in higher education: a bibliometric analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to review the application of social media for knowledge sharing (KS) in higher education. KS is the most crucial component in knowledge management. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are the epitome of knowledge creation and acquisition. With the advancement in technology and the embracement of social media, knowledge should be shared more freely and easily.Design/methodology/approachUsing a bibliometric analysis, this study applies bibliographic coupling and co-word analysis to analyze the present and future trends on KS using social media in HEIs. 455 journal publications and 21,181 cited references were retrieved from Web of Science (WoS) database.FindingsFindings show that most themes are categorized towards academics and students. Themes related to academics are the use of social media for expertise sharing and KS's impact on university-industry networking. In contrast, themes related to students revolved around the impacts of social media and academic performance.Practical implicationsImplications towards major social media practices on KS are discussed.Originality/valueThis study provides a novel, state-of-the-art bibliometric review of knowledge sharing via social media in the higher education context.

Exploring the potential of TikTok as a learning resource for enhancing scientific writing skills in physical education

Technological advancements have permeated the field of education, including the use of multimedia-based learning materials in the learning process. This study aims to help students of the Department of Physical Education at Universitas Riau overcome the obstacles they face when writing scientific papers, especially when preparing a thesis. By harnessing the potential of TikTok social media as a learning resource, it is anticipated that students’ interest and motivation, especially in scientific writing, will be enhanced. This research adopts a quantitative descriptive approach and employs the survey method, utilisingutilizing a questionnaire as the research instrument and descriptive statistics as the data analysis technique. The population and sample of this study consisted of 26 students from the 2020 class of the Department of Physical Education at Universitas Riau. Findings showed that 9 students (34.6%) strongly agreed, 10 students (38.5%) agreed, and 7 students (26.9%) expressed neutrality towards utilizing TikTok social media as a learning medium. The results suggest that TikTok social media can serve as a catalyst for students’ curiosity, facilitating the learning of scientific writing, and fostering increased enthusiasm and interest in the learning process. Future research should consider expanding the sample size and incorporating comparison groups to gain further insights in this field. This study contributes by providing initial evidence on the potential of TikTok as a learning resource, highlighting its impact on students’ motivation and interest in scientific writing, and identifying opportunities for integrating social media in higher education to overcome writing obstacles.

Social Media Engagement and Student’s Intention in Indonesian Higher Education Using Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology

Understanding the motivations behind the use of social media in higher education is crucial for assessing its potential benefits and challenges. However, examining the contribution of social media on collaborative learning within the context of Indonesian universities holds significance due to the country’s growing digital landscape and increasing adoption of social media platforms. This research aimed to analyze proposed collaborative learning models involving social media use among Indonesian University students. The proposed models are constructed based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). The quantitative method used was analyzing primary data from 143 private university students in Indonesia. Data were collected using a 5-point Likert scale self-reported questionnaire of Internet Anxiety, Habit, and Performance Expectancy and Behavior Intention as well as Social Media Engagement to mediate collaborative learning. The result of this study was that Social Media Engagement and Behavior Intention significantly influence Performance Expectancy and Habit. There was also a significant influence of Internet Anxiety on behavioral intention. Thus, Collaborative Learning is significantly influenced by Social Media Engagement. These results provided insight into developing effective strategies for integrating social media into higher education.

A systematic review of social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education: A theoretical grounding perspective

The use of social media in higher education has been demonstrated in a number of studies to be an attractive and contemporary method of teaching and learning. However, further research and investigation are required in order to align social media's pedagogical benefits with the theoretical perspectives that inform educational practices. It is the objective of this study to provide a systematic literature review using bibliometric analysis techniques and content analysis to provide a map of research produced between 2009 and 2021. This study aims to identify theoretical frameworks, current research trends, and patterns in this field. A total of 772 publications were analysed using bibliometric methodology, while a subset of 55 publications were analysed using content analysis. As indicated by the results, there is still a growing interest in this area of research, with recent studies still focusing on attitudes towards the use of social media in teaching and learning. According to the content analysis, technology acceptance theories and learning theories are the most commonly used reference theories. This field has yet to elaborate on pedagogical theory, and there is a tendency to rely primarily on technology acceptance models rather than pedagogical models. A discussion of future practice and research implications is also provided.

Improving Speaking Skills through Tiktok Application: An Endevour of Utilizing Social Media in Higher Education

TikTok is one of the popular applications that contain short-video sharing. Every year, the number of users grows up in every country. They use TikTok not only as the media for entertainment and business but also as the media for learning. The aim of this research is to describe the effect of the TikTok application to improve students’ speaking skills. This research belongs to quasi-experimental research with group pre-post-test design involving 32 students in Diploma of Midwifery Program Universitas Muhammadiyah Kudus as the population. The sampling technique is total sampling with the experimental group (16 students) and control group (16 students). To know the students’ speaking skills, there are four components that must be measured, such as vocabulary, fluency, pronunciation, and comprehension. Moreover, the students’ score has been classified into five categories, they are very good, good, medium, low, and failed. After treatment, the score of speaking ability is improved for the experimental group. The vocabulary increases 45,6%, fluency increases 40,6%, pronunciation increases 31,6%, and comprehension increases 32,8% from the pre-test score. TikTok is a useful application that not only improves speaking ability but also improves the students’ creativity, motivation, and vocabulary.If the students have wrong in speaking, they not only get the academic punishment but also digital punishment.

Social Media Use in Higher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Social networking platforms have had an important impact on the way of life of modern humans due to their interoperability and real-time nature, and this impact is also reflected in the field of higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for social media to enter the field of education, making social media an indispensable and important tool. A complete screening of relevant papers was carried out using the PRISMA method, resulting in a systematic review of the 26 papers screened. The papers investigate how social media platforms are being used in higher education during the pandemic. It not only derives current research trends and popular research methods, but also investigates the impact of social network adoption on industry development and student populations. Additional surveys covered perceptions of the social network, and recommendations for its post-pandemic development and use. It can be concluded that the use of social media in higher education is valuable and beneficial.

The Use of Social Networks in E-Learning Technologies in the Context of Distance Education

The research purpose is to identify trends, opportunities, and limitations in the use of social media in higher education based on the study of how students and teachers use social networks in distance learning. The study involves 500 students and teachers of Sechenov First Moscow State University and Kuban State Technological University. The research methodology is based on an empirical approach. The study contained the authors’ questionnaire with 25 questions addressed to students and teachers. Respondents answered them using a Likert scale (1 to 5). It has been found that Instagram is the most popular network used by students (90%) which is followed by VKontakte and Facebook used by 81% and 49% of the respondents, respectively. The results show that students are much more active users compared to teachers and are more satisfied with distance learning. The results obtained can be used in international practice to improve the quality of the remote learning process, develop more advanced types of content consumption, and improve the channels of personal communication between the teaching staff and students.

Social Networking Media in Higher Education: A Review

Social media has become a constant presence in the daily lives of young people. As a result, many educational procedures and processes have been influenced by the widespread use of social networks. The number of people using social media has continuously increased. Students’ perceptions on how social media affects their learning is a prominent subject of research. Students’ school achievement has been significantly impacted by their interaction with professors, peers, and online knowledge-sharing behaviors. Several aspects are involved in this review, which aims to shed light on how students use social media in higher education. Findings reveal that the usage of online social media for cooperative learning encourages students to be innovative, dynamic, and research oriented. In other words, it is a matter of academic competence. This study gathered and analyzed social media data in higher education for computing disciplines. Digital libraries from EBSCO, IEEE, and ACM were utilized for data gathering. All of the above traits were found to be positively influenced by social networks, which suggest that their usage in higher education should be broadened. Teachers and educational institutions have not taken full use of internet social networks. Keywords: social media; social networks; higher institutions education

COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact of the Social Media Technology on Higher Education

The COVID-19 pandemic led universities to transform the traditional teaching methodologies into distance education. Therefore, social media has become progressively prominent as teaching and learning resources in universities. Several studies have been conducted for the development of social media as a learning tool. However, there is limited empirical evidence supporting this claim. The present study bridges the gap in the literature concerning the value of the use of social media in higher education. This research seeks to examine the impact of the use of social media in (a) enhancing teaching and learning in universities, (b) motivating and supporting students and (c) developing community connection. A qualitative methodology was adopted. Specifically, in-depth interviews were conducted to assess the effectiveness of social media on students learning in higher education. The results showed that the use of social media by higher educational institutions positively impacts the educational process by (a) promoting teaching and learning, (b) motivating students to be active participants, and (c) establishing connections in the university community. Some obstacles in the teaching and learning process were also identified. Future areas of research are proposed.

Enhancing Customer Engagement in Social Media with AI – a Higher Education case study

Purpose: The study aims to demonstrate the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and examples of tools based on it in the process of enhancing (building, measuring, and managing) customer engagement (CE) in social media in the higher education industry. CE is one of the current essential non-financial indicators of company performance in Digital Marketing strategy. The article presents a decision support system (DSS) based on social media engagement management with the use of AI-based tools in a higher education industry case study. Methodology: The study was based on an analysis of the literature on AI in conjunction with CE, the results of research – 2022 Social Media Industry Benchmark – prepared by Rival IQ, and qualitative research (in-depth interviews with experts) at selected universities in Poland. At a later stage, the interviews were transcribed, thematically analyzed, and open coding with NVivo was performed. Findings: The conducted study was of an introductory and exploratory nature. It recognises the significant role of AI in enhancing CE in social media. At the same time, examples of AI-based tools that can be used for this have been indicated. It was unequivocally stated that by implementing AI in marketing, universities can act more effectively and consequently enhance their non-financial performance. For them, it is a system that assists decision-making in the field of social media engagement management. Research limitations: Due to its preliminary nature, the study used secondary sources (Rival IQ Report 2022) and individual in-depth interviews with three managers of promotion/marketing departments, which does not give a complete picture of the situation under analysis. However, it is the first step in research on this subject that is to be continued. The theoretical contribution: The conducted research demonstrated the role of AI in enhancing customer engagement in social media in higher education while at the same time showing its auxiliary role in the decision-making process. Practical implications: Specific tools such as Sprout Social or Rival IQ were identified that, when applied in universities, can measure the engagement rate and effective CE management in social media used by the university.

A Preliminary Study on the Use of Social Media in Higher Education

A Preliminary Study on the Use of Social Media in Higher Education

A study on intention to use social media in higher education: the mediating effect of peer influence

PurposeSocial media sites are one of the vital technological developments of WEB 2.0. This study aims to emphasize on building an empirical model to investigate the impending determinants of users’ intention to use social media sites in higher education. Depending on the existing theories such as the social media acceptance model, e-learning acceptance model, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and existing literature, determinants such as “performance,” “communication functionality” and “self” have been identified to test. Further, the mediation effect of “peer influence” on the relationship has also been tested.Design/methodology/approachA total of 310 students of different private and public Indian institutions have participated in an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple linear regression analysis are performed and results were analyzed.FindingsThe results of this study demonstrated substantial evidence of the impact of performance, communication functionality and self on the intention to use social media in higher education. The mediation of peer influence has also been seen between all the relations.Originality/valueAn empirical model of intention to use social media in higher education is built. The median of peer influence is tested.

The Opportunities and Challenges of Social Media in Higher Education: A Literature Review

The Opportunities and Challenges of Social Media in Higher Education: A Literature Review

Developing a comprehensive theoretical model for adopting social media in higher education

ABSTRACT To identify the most frequent factors that showed significant results in the previous literature of social media, a quantitative systematic approach of 713 studies was conducted. The results showed that perceived enjoyment (PE), subjective norm (SN), self-efficacy (SE), perceived critical mass (PCM), facilitating conditions (FC), perceived compatibility (PC), and information quality (IQ) were the main frequent factors that showed significant results in the reviewed studies. Accordingly, this research aims to develop a comprehensive theoretical model by extending the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with those factors to investigate the students’ behavioral intention to adopt social media in higher education. The developed model is validated using the partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique through data collected from 655 students studying at eight colleges/universities situated at eight governorates in Oman. The findings showed that PE, PCM, PC, and IQ positively impact the perceived usefulness (PU) of social media for learning purposes. The results also indicated that PE, SE, FC, and IQ positively affect perceived ease of use (PEOU). However, PU was not affected by SN and SE. Similarly, PEOU was not influenced by PC. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of these results are also discussed.