The earth is home to over 7.6 billion people and of them, over 4 billion people have their association with the internet. The massive surge in the number of internet users is dependent on multiple factors and the most important driving factor for the use of the internet is social media platforms. Social media platform has 3.196 billion users and is still growing which cites the dominance that the subject of the paper is entertaining (Zhan et al. 2018). The theme of the article (social media), started as a platform for connecting people socially. However, with changing trends, different sectors have begun to leverage the social media platforms for different purposes. Most of the areas such as industries, marketing, education and others are using social media in ways they deem it fit (Tsay-Vogel, Shanahan and Signorielli 2018). Marketing, promotion and sharing of ideas & thoughts are the most prominent field in which social media are being used. The educational sector is also attempting to leverage the social media platforms. However, the question of the viability of social media use in the educational industry is a matter of discussion.
Social media in education can be used in multiple ways which include interacting and sharing of information with fellow students, faculties and subject matter experts (Kaplan and Haenlein 2016). Additionally, the institutions have also started to utilise the social platforms to communicate with the students because it omits the barriers of geographical distances, cultural & communications obstacles, broadcasting of notifications and similar others (Ngai et al. 2015). Another crucial reason for the institutions to adopt social media is associated with the “#hashtags”. The hashtags are used by the social media platforms to reflect the trending tools, techniques or topics which assists the students to keep up with the changing environment outside the educational campuses (Saxton et al. 2015). The social media are also being utilised for research and data collection purposes. The mass size of users available on the social media platform can act as the most prominent and vital participants for any research work. Additionally, certain social media users can also perform the role of mentors for the research works which would enable the academic researchers to conclude on more accurate and reliable finding for their assessed work (Sobaih et al. 2016). Similarly, multiple benefits are associated with the use of social media in the educational sector. However, the effectiveness of the social media tools in the educational institute is a matter that needs to be discussed.
The proposed paper aims at identifying the vitality and feasibility of the social media tools in the universities. The aim of the paper will be based on the fact that social media has also been considered to be one of the most distracting factors for a student. Hence, the impact of social media in universities is in dire need of assessment which the paper aims to establish.
It is evident from the overview that social media is capable of playing in the educational institutes; however, the subject can also act as constraints for the academic lives. The reason for the above-made statement could be supported by the fact that several types of research have cited the adverse impact that social media is capable of having on the academic life of a student. According to Alwagait, Shahzad and Alim (2015) social media’s use adversely influence the time management which affects the student’s academics. Another research work by Vorderer, Kromer and Schneider (2016) reveals that the loss of internet has some strong response to the students which may influence their personality and perception. Fox and Moreland (2015), also cited some similar results where the authors state that the Facebook users do experience negative emotions, however, the fear of missing out makes them visit the site frequently. The negative emotions that the authors have discussed are associated with the loss of privacy & control, annoying content management, social jealousy and comparison and others.
Hence, it would be adequate to state that social networking sites are capable of citing some adverse effects on the students and their academic life. However, the perks offered by social media as discussed in the section above also need to be taken into account. The results from taking both the discussions are vague in nature and cannot be reached to a conclusive decision. Hence, the proposed paper is aimed at answering the role of social media in the educational institution, and the discussions above can be taken as a witness to justify the selection of the topic. The findings from the paper will assist the readers to conclude on the decision on whether they should adopt the social media as part of the academic operations in an institution or should they stick to the traditional methods of education. The paper will also prove to be viable for the readers who wish to pursue the topic and establish or deduce theories associated with the social media and its uses. Hence, it would be adequate that the discussed topic and discussion is not just viable in nature but will also have some real-world implications that will prove to be of great prominence from the future perspective.
The research work will be initiated by reviewing the literary works, which have been assessed on the subject to establish a background for the proposed action. Post identification of the available knowledge about the subject, the research aims and questions have been discussed which is succeeded by the research methodology which includes the research method, data collection and analysis procedure. The analysis of the data is discussed in the next section which is succeeded by the summary of the findings. The future scope and limitations of the research work have also been discussed before summarising the report to conclude the paper with appropriate recommendations.
Social media are internet-based tools that are used for sharing & discussing information by the people among the people. The information in the discussion is the user-generated information, opinions and other prominent contents that are discussed over the digital network. Social media has expanded itself from being an information sharing platform to productivity tools for different industries. The industries in the discussion are marketing, advertising, education and several other sectors. To make the social media more viable in nature further researches have been conducted and as per the objective of the paper, the literary work on social media and education has been reviewed in the deemed section. The sub-sections of the discussed section have been summarised to cite the main findings from different articles that are similar in nature to make the discussion more understandable.
According to Leftheriotis and Giannakos (2014), social media has emerged as a primary productivity tool for the business enterprises. The major reason associated with the dominance that social media is entertaining as a productivity tool for the business world is because of the broad base of people available on the former. Additionally, the freedom and ease of sharing and communicating information at a cheaper cost and effort is another prominent reason for the mass adoption (Fuchs 2017). The prominence of understanding the market and the associated customers is another benefit offered by the subject in discussion. Hence it would be adequate to state that social media platforms are beneficial for the businesses as a productivity tool. However, specific instances are also available where social media has emerged as a significant challenge for the enterprises and have adversely impacted the organisational goodwill (Gunitsky 2015). The situation in discussion arises when a controversial or inappropriate post, act or comment is made by the higher official of the businesses who is using the social media as a productivity tool. Additionally, trespassing of the social media applications and misusing them can also lead to a similar situation which is undesirable in context with the business (Cardon and Marshall 2015). It does not only affect the goodwill of the organisation but also affects it overall revenue due to the hashtags and boycott post that social media assists in spreading.
The discussed review has enabled the author of the proposed paper in understanding the roles that social media is capable of playing as a productivity tool. Additionally, the benefits offered by the social media tools will also establish the base for the future assessment of the paper. The challenges will also assist in the understanding of the problems that social media is capable of citing if the improper use or inadequate use of the subject is done. Hence, it would be adequate to state that the discussed section has enabled the understanding of the traits (both positive and negative) that social media is capable of citing.
The role of social media as a productivity tool in the organisation is visible from the above-reviewed articles, and it is evident that they are efficient and effective in their designated work. However, the scope offered by social media is not limited to the commercial organisations but also extends to educational institutions. The impact and role of social media have been discussed by Greenhow and Lewin (2016), in their paper. The authors have stated that social media is capable of offering significant benefit to the educational institutes and its associates. The authors of the reviewed papers have also provided an insight into the interests of the social media in the academics. One of them states that the subject enables the students to connect with the subject matter expert and seek for guidelines & help for a specific topic (Davis III et al. 2015). The reason for the discussed benefit is that the social media is a platform were over 3 billion people are associated and following the experts enable the students to gain new insights about their relevant subject (Zhan et al. 2018). Additionally, the ease of communication offered by the social media platforms also enables the students to clarify their doubts. The expert in the discussion could be from the same college or university or another part of the globe.
Another significant benefit offered by the social media in the educational institute is that it provides a comfortable and feasible channel for communication between the institution and the students (Selwyn and Stirling 2016). The increase in e-learning is attracting a lot of non-native students who learn from remote areas or are unable to access the regular classes. The institutions to communicate with them have adopted the services of social media tool. YouTube and Facebook, Google Plus groups, have emerged as the most prominent social media tool for this type of communications. Broadcasting of information, announcement makings and other similar activities are the most prominent use of social media by the institutions (Perrin 2015). Additionally, the subject offers opportunity of developing engagement between the student and the university that would be of great assistance in mitigating the issues faced by the students.
Research processes also earn a buff because of the adoption of the social media as part of the productivity tool for academics (Ngai, Tao and Moon 2015). The subject monitoring tools and broad base of the audience are the most crucial factors that enable the researching benefits offered by the subject in academics. The academic or scholarly researchers can conduct a survey or drop a post and based on the reviews they can analyse the impact of their research subject and how people feel about it. Additionally, the experts available on the social media will increase the reliability of the findings from the research (Houston et al. 2015). The platform also offers different discussions and current trends and technologies which the students can compile and in the process develop useful contents and topics for their research work. The platforms also enable the students working in the group to communicate and share information to enhance the quality of offering (Cardon and Marshall 2015). Hence, it would be justified to state that social media tools and platform can play a significant role in the research works.
Social media benefits in education are not limited to the communication and sharing of information only but further extends to technological and personal advantages. The personal benefits in the deemed scenario refer to the individual level benefits that the subject entertains to both the student and the institution. The students through the use of social media as a productivity tool enhance their social skills, credibility and others while the institutions can use it as Learning management system (LMS), use its networking capability to deliver online educational modules, administrative activity management and others (Balakrishnan, Liew and Pourgholaminejad 2015). The LMS in discussion includes the IM (Instant Messaging), video forums for sharing of information and other primary educational facilities. It enables the institution to attract online students. The benefits of marketing, advertising and similar others are standard with the benefits posted. On the contrary, the students avail the opportunity of building credibility for themselves. Through reflection on their educational background, they can gain exposure that would develop their credibility and attract the attention of the experts of the relevant field (Balakrishnan and Gan 2016). Additionally, developing a brand through social media will enable the students to build a portfolio that would prove to be crucial for their career.
Hence, from the review of the articles above it would be justified to state that the social media offers prominent advantage to the educational institutes. Additionally, it also offers the individual benefit to the institution and the students as well.
Social media as discussed in the section above can offer extended benefits however specific articles have also stated the adverse of the above findings. The reports in the discussion have stated that the subject can develop certain criticality for the student and their personality. Hence, it is of great prominence that the issues posed by the social media should be brought into the discussion and the deemed section aims at attaining that objective.
A survey by the ECAR (Educause centre for analysis and research) states that 65.1% of participating student believed that they would like to keep their personal and academic life separate (Sánchez, Cortijo and Javed 2014). Another notable fact is that the percentage gradually increased from 43.5 % in 2012 to the above mentioned figure in 2015 which could be taken as evidence to state that the students are not comfortable with the idea of social media being part of their social life. Additionally, it has also been identified that University of Washington students stated that only 28% of them believed that the student devices and other outside class resources were put to adequate utilisation. The image attached below acts as a reference to the challenges that social media is citing and is adopted from the survey by the ECAR.
Figure: Social media Challenges in higher education
(Source: Itconnect.uw.edu 2018)
Additionally, the challenges of social media are not limited to the student’s perception. However, certain studies have also cited that the university professors believe that social media is a distracting factor which affects their studies (Lau 2017). It has also been noted that the social media leads to a degradation in the productivity and quality of tasks by the students which deems the need for high concentration (Alwagait, Shahzad and Alim 2015). Other risks such as destroying the campus environment through online bullying, spreading of fake and inappropriate news and similar others are also one of the concerning factors that need to be addressed.
Hence, it would be adequate to state that there are certain challenges that the introduction of social media brings to the academic institutions and the lives of its associates. Hence, based on the findings above it can be stated that there are certain aspects of the social media in educational institutions that need to be addressed and can be considered as the gap in the literature.
Figure: Conceptual Framework
(Source: Created by Author using MS Visio)
The image attached above is the conceptual framework developed by reviewing the literature and the variables identified from them have been summarised to create the framework. The review of the literature has cited that specific gaps need to be addressed one of the most prominent of them is that the role of social media as an education productivity tool is vague and no clear concept about it is defined. Another prominent identification is that the social media in the real-world educational situation needs to be identified that will assist in gaining a proper insight into its capabilities and constraints as an educational productivity tool. Additionally, the internet is full of different social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many others which needs to be concussed to identify the most suitable social media tool for educational purposes. Finally, what prominence does (if it does) social media offers compared to the traditional mode of learning is another gap in the literature that needs to be addressed. Based on the gap in the literature the research aim and questions have been developed and discussed in the following section.
The primary objective of the paper is to identify the impact that social media is capable of citing in university learning outcome. Additionally, the paper will also pursue some sub-objectives that have been listed below along with the primary objective of the paper.
The research aims of the paper have been modified to develop the research question which the discussed paper has attempted to answer as part of the discussion. The research questions have been listed as follows:
Outline
Literature review is one of the most prominent methods of establishing the base for the development of the background for a research work. Hence, the paper has done a preliminary literature review to understand the current status of social media as an educational productivity tool. The research philosophy for the proposed paper is positivism that will account for both the abstract and scientific data. The approach of the paper is deductive in nature while the design for the paper is meta-analysis design. The data collection methodology will take consideration of mixed data collection methodology which will account for both the primary and secondary data. The primary data collection will be quantitative in using the Google form and Spreadsheet will be used for collection of the graphs to cite the results. Additionally, the sampling of the collected data will be done based on the likelihood sampling method.
Research Philosophy
Interpretivism and positivism are two primary research philosophy and selecting the most appropriate research philosophy are of great importance because it influences the perception of the readers (Hughes and Sharrock 2016). Interpretivism philosophy believes in the idea that humans are not robots and they need to be assessed individually while taking consideration of their consciousness. In other words, it would be justified to state that the philosophy believes that the people cannot be judged on specific set of answers and need an in-depth analysis. It believes that each may react to a specific situation separately and hence, it becomes of great prominence to determine their reactions & perceptions individually rather than on a common ground (Kennedy 2017). Therefore, the discussed philosophy is more suitable for the qualitative research works. However, the nature of the presented research work is quantitative in nature which makes positivism a more appropriate research philosophy for it. Positivism research philosophy believes that the social or abstract norms and facts shape the perception and action of an individual (Ryan 2018). The discussed philosophy believes that social norms can be concussed together to determine the outcome of the provided scenario. It also supports the theory of evaluating a shared group on a common platform.
Hence, the positivism philosophy is in context with the quantitative research work making it suitable for the discussed research study and thus the selection.
Research Approach
Deductive and inductive research approach is the most widely adopted research approach (Scrimpshire et al. 2017). Deductive approach is chosen by the researchers who are of the ideology that a scenario needs to be analysed by formulating an aim before validating and confirming the outcome. On the contrary, the inductive approach supports the ideology that the research subject or scenario needs to be observed and analysed before concluding on hypotheses (Singh 2015). The discussion above could be summarised to state that the inductive approach is suitable for the research work that aims at inducing new theories, tools or framework to change the impact of the researched scenario or subject. While the deductive theory is supportive of the research work that aims at deducing the provided scenario and subject which makes it suitable for the discussed study (Gottfredson and Aguinis 2017).
The statement above could be supported by the fact that the research study in the discussion is aimed at deducing the goal of social media as an educational productivity tool which could be used to justify the selection.
Data Collection
Primary data collection and secondary data collection are the primary means of data collection and if both data collection type are equipped then it is referred to as mixed data collection (Palinkas et al. 2015). Furthermore, the primary data could be classified into two data collection types, and they are qualitative and quantitative (Lewis 2015). The qualitative data collection is the data collection mode where the individuals and their perceptions are offered more prominence and interviews, observations and others are the prominent means for collecting the discussed data. On the contrary, quantitative data are those data that believe that the circumstance or domain of the group could be evaluated to summarise on a particular scenario (Cleary, Horsfall and Hayter 2014). Hence, the discussed data collection method collects data through surveys, group discussions and others. Finally, the secondary data collection is the mode in which the literary work of the past along with the government publications, newspaper & magazine articles, articles from other reliable sources are considered for the collection of data. The discussed data collection methodology offers the advantage of concluding on the findings that are viable for the entirety and not just a specific geographical domain (Swart et al. 2015).
The selection of the secondary data could be justified by the fact that secondary data offers a large sample size for data and even offers the author of the research study to gather pre-analysed data. Additionally, the chances of ethical issues in the secondary data collection are also low which will cite ethically sound results (Cheng and Phillips 2015). On the contrary, the selection of quantitative data could be supported by the fact that it will offer real-time data which the secondary data is incapable of (Walliman 2017). The need for real-time data could be supported by the fact that social media are in the continuous phase of transition that are witnessing major updates and hence, their most disruptive capability needs to be considered which supports the need for both the data types.
The secondary data has been collected through the internet and more specifically google scholar that pave the way for scholarly articles. However, a questionnaire was distributed among 100 students to obtain the primary quantitative data. Additionally, the educational groups on Facebook and other social media were looked into to analyse the perception of the users.
Sampling Techniques
The sampling of the data has been done on the likelihood sampling method that considers all the collected data at the same stage to analyse. The secondary data will act as a source of inspiration (Kimani and Simba 2017). While, as discussed above the primary data will be collected through an online survey that will be developed over the Google form and the results cited by it will act as the summary of the findings. The pie charts while being collected from Google Spreadsheet and will be used as part of the report to cite the responses. The likelihood sampling technique has been selected for sampling because all the raw data will be collected form the quantitative data and that needs to be accounted on the same level because the participants were provided with a set of answers and they selected from it. Hence, it would be justified to state that the selection of likelihood sampling technique is justifiable.
The discussed section aims to discuss the results that had been collected from the primary quantitative data using an online survey. The questionnaire or the responses of the respondents have not been attached to the report to ensure the ethical values of the research by not revealing their privacy. However, the necessary screenshot such as the description or the instruction along with the absurdity that has been provided to them has been disclosed to understand the attempts made by the researcher along with the ethical validity of the work. The screenshot attached below cites references to the description of the moral values and assurance of privacy that was offered to the respondents as part of the questionnaire.
The results of the survey are presented in the discussed section with the pie charts that were collected from the findings and had been attached below.
Participants
The chart attached above cites the age group of the participants, and it should also be noted that the survey was filled by the students only. It is evident from the pie chart that over 70% of the participants were of the age group 21-25. The age group could be used to establish that they were University students. Furthermore, the researcher also distributed the questionnaire to some high school students and their contribution to the findings is 16% and the more top aged students contribute 12% of the results. The age determination of the participants has been done to identify the use of the social media at the different level of education.
Another question that was part of the questionnaire aimed at identifying the use of the social media by the students and based on the aim their frequency of use was identified. The results reveal that 52% of the participants used social media on a daily basis, 14% on a weekly basis and 6% were not using the social media. Furthermore, 14% of the respondents claimed that they use social media once or twice a month and the remaining stated that they rarely use the social media platform. The summary of the discussed question could be emphasized to state that social media is a part of the student’s life and over 50% of them use it on a daily basis while the remaining ones access its services occasionally. However, there are certain students who believe that social media could not contribute to their academics and prohibit from it.
The findings from the questionnaire are in context with several types of research that had been assessed on the discussed topic. One of the similar findings was presented by the HuffPost US where they stated that over 98%. The author of the post, Griffin (2015), in the article has shared a graph that cites the social media use by the students in between 1987 to 2014. Furthermore, the use of social media was also identified the most by the age group of 18-29. The research work presented by Alwagait, Shahzad and Alim (2015) has also supported the use of social media by the students and have even stated it to be the most prominent choice of communication for the students. The findings from the post are supportive of the responses that had been identified in the questionnaire results.
Another one of the primary findings from the research questionnaire reveals that Twitter is overtaking the Facebook as the favourite social media platform, however, the difference is minor. 34% of the respondents claimed Twitter to be their favourite social media platform while 32% voted for the Facebook. Furthermore, Instagram and LinkedIn with 14% and 10% votes respectively, are also posing a challenge to the dominance of the Facebook. Poell and Van Dijck (2016) in their paper have discussed the dominance of the Facebook over other social media taking the context of the student’s perception. Imlawi, Gregg and Karimi (2015), are also supportive of the fact that Facebook is the most dominant social media platform for the student. However, recent researches have established the rise of Twitter in context with the universities (Shields 2016). The reason for the growth of Twitter is more evident in higher educational institutes. The reason for the dominance of Twitter in the higher educations could be supported by the presence of high dignitaries on the twitter. The students pursuing the higher educations are availed with the opportunity to follow and observe their role models and is one of the most prominent reasons for the increase in the number of Twitter users (Agostino and Arnaboldi 2017). Hence, it would be justified to state that the findings from the survey may not support the general studies. However, when taken account of the higher education based researches the outcome are justifiable because most of the respondents are pursuing their higher studies.
Privacy on social media adoption
The discussed part of the questionnaire aimed at identifying the perception of the students in context with the privacy on adoption of the social media as an educational productivity tool. Specific questions related to the privacy of the students were asked as part of the questionnaire, and the responses from the students have been discussed. Furthermore, the findings have been compared with the subsequent literary work to justify the results of the questionnaire.
The pie charts attached to the discussed cite reference to the different questions that had been asked by the privacy of the students. The first question was asked to understand that the perception of the students regarding the potential misuse of the tool by the institutions. The question asked whether or not the institutions were using the social media tools to stalk the students. The stalking here refers to a much broader term than just watching the student profile. Here the term refers to the monitoring of the activities of the students that includes the posts made by them, their comments, likes and many more events. The concern in the discussion was inspired from the article of Fox and Moreland (2015). In their paper, they have discussed the dark side of the social media platform and have also stated that the students believe that they will lose their privacy due to the introduction of social media tool as part of their institution’s productivity tool. However, the results cite contradicting results because 18% of the respondents strongly disagree with the fact that their institutions are stalking them. Furthermore, 42% of respondents disagreed to support the fact that they are not being hunted by their students. 8% of the respondents hold no response to the discussed topic. However, 20% and 12% of the respondents strongly agree and agree respectively with the staking. The majority of the respondents (around 60%) denied the possibility and hence will be considered as the outcome of the question. The next question will further enhance the understanding of the potential misuse of the social media by the universities.
The pie chart attached above cites response for the potential misuse of the social media by their professors. The question in the discussion aimed at identifying the perception of the student on their association with social media and how it impacts the understanding of their professor towards them. The question stated professors use the social media posts and comments to develop a perception towards the students and in the process judge them. The response from the students supports the fact that social media tools develop a better bond between the professors and the students because 74% of the respondents denied the use of social media activity as a factor for judging of their character by the professors. Gettman and Cortijo (2015), supports the belief that the professors are just attempting to bond with their students, however, the latter believes that the professors and students could be part of the same group on different social media platforms, but there is no need for them to befriend on the platform. They stated that the discussion and notifications could be broadcasted through the group where both of them are the members. However, befriending will enable the students to privacy vulnerability and could be judged based on their social media activities which in the process will affect their academics. The article in discussion acted as the secondary source that was used as the base for the development of the discussed question. However, the responses from the respondents oppose the belief and state that the students are willing to befriend their professors without worrying about being judged that is supported by Lin, Lin and Lee (2015).
Both the discussion above could be used to state that the students did not believe that their professors or institutions entities on the social media develop the threat of being stalked or being judged.
The discussed question aimed at identifying the overall conclusion of the above questions and other privacy issues. The question aimed at understanding the privacy concern of the students when they are part of the social media along with their institutional entities. The results reveal that 68% of the students do not consider that being associated with the educational entities on the same platform pose threat to their social privacy. Their perception towards the confidentiality was clear because a clear description of the aim of the questions was presented in the questionnaire. A screenshot of the description has been attached below.
Hence, to conclude the analysis of the discussed section, it would be adequate to state that the students do not believe that their institution or professors are posing any threat to their personal or social life by violating their privacy.
Impact on academic life
The discussed section has been aimed at identifying the impact of the social media on the academic life of the students. The screenshot attached below cites evidence to the description that was provided to the students to earn their response and offer a clear understanding of the purpose of the questions.
The chart attached above acts as the reference to the response cited by the respondents when asked about whether or not the social media consumes their academic time. In answer to the question, most of the respondents stated that the social media does not consume their educational time. Opposing the 60% who disagreed that social media consumes academic time, 24% agreed with the fact that it is time consuming and 16% did not have any response to the question. As the majority of the students admitted to the fact that social media does not consume their time. It will be considered that social media does not consume academic time. The findings from the survey are supported by the article of Bellur, Nowak and Hull (2015) that states that the academic life of the student is affected by multitasking at a single instance and not by the social connection. The secondary source in the discussion has also supported the idea of a time division where it is suggested that the time for individual tasks should be divided. The students should divide their time between academic and other activities including social activities. Hence, based on the survey results and the secondary sources it would be justified to state that the students should focus on their time management skills and social media should not be held responsible for it.
The findings from the discussed question reveal that even though the students believe that social media does not consume their academic life but still it is difficult for them to balance their academic and social life. 48% student’s response suggests that they believe that it is difficult to adjust the social and educational life. However, with just a little difference, 46% student feels that it is not difficult for them to maintain their social and academic life. Hence, it would be suitable to state that the response from the respondents and mixed and no definite conclusion could be reached. The reason for the mixed reaction could be associated with n number of reasons that may include their time management, their environment and multiple others. Furthermore, as the respondents are not from a specific discipline their balancing of academic and social life may vary due to their academic structure, their associates and other key factors.
Is the introduction of social media into academics productive or disruptive?
The collected data post analysis has revealed that the social media is productive. However, it also poses particular challenges. The study has shown that social media bridges the gap between the professors and the students which enhance the learning process. Social media attains the discussed measure by offering a friendly and active communication channel. The communication channel could be utilised in the dire situations when it is difficult for the students to reach the tutor and is even implacable for contradicting case (Manca and Ranieri 2016). The channel can also be utilised by the educational entities to broadcast information and other resources that could prove to be vital for the student. The video tutorials, live sessions and other prominent resources that are made available for the students are also great perk by the student. The assignments based on the social media platforms are also viable as they enable the student to develop creditability and even offers exposure to them (Greenhow and Lewin 2016). Social media also allows several benefits for the educational institutes such as attracting of international students and use of online tools to enhance their operational productivity. Furthermore, the communication channel saves the organisational resources and the effort invested by them with a high effectiveness and efficiency.
The subject of the paper also cites specific issues as part of the educational institution such as privacy, annoying contents, social jealousy and other similar activities (Kaplan and Haenlein 2016). To mitigate the discussed threat institutions needs the educational institutes to need to install social media monitoring tool and techniques. The threat of privacy is believed by the specified number of students, and the educational entities could mitigate it by communicating with the students in a friendly manner.
What are the issues or benefits of social media as an educational productivity tool in educational institutions?
Social media as an educational productivity tool has many layers; some of these layers’ act as an enabler and the rest as a constraint towards the impact of the former in the educational industry. The benefits and challenges of social media have been discussed as follows:
Benefits
Challenges
Are there any universities who have equipped social media tools to increase their academic productivity?
The Australian Universities and other global universities are implementing social media as a tool for marketing, communication, recruitment and retaining students. The use of hashtags is an appealing factor for the students (Yudhiantara 2017). Social media can provide the community with the information related to ranking, branding, achievements, placement and openings of the universities. This quick feeds on the social media are more interesting than the conventional methods for the students. The social media is used by various universities of Australia and the world such as the University of Melbourne, Bond University of Queensland, University of Sydney Canadian University and many other universities. It is found that the Bond University of Queensland has attracted the new enrolment of the students to a large extent with the help of social media. The university has implemented the use of Facebook and blogs for proactive communication with the students about the enrolment procedure (Belanger, Bali and Longden 2014). The universities use the twitter for motivating students for their academic purpose as the universities are acquainted with the fact that there is a requirement of adjusting with the digital lifestyle of the students of Australia (Veletsianos and Kimmons 2016). The social media sites used by the Australian universities are Weibo, Wechat, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The universities are likely to use Twitter for providing the details of discussion topic and project requirements through twitter and relevant social media applications. The use of social media not only facilitate the communication with the students but also are profitable for the universities. The university gets the benefit by the number of traffic, views and followers and this acts a branding factor for the Australian university across the globe (Maity 2017). The use of social media is used for the enrolment of the student of foreign countries to the Australian university.
Which social media tool is most effective as part of the educational tools?
It has been identified that different social media tools are capable of playing different roles as an educational productivity tool (Norman et al. 2015). The above statement could be supported by the fact that media sharing platform such as YouTube, Instagram and others are effective in availing of learning resources. Similarly, Quora, Pinterest and similar others are effective in research works while Facebook, Twitter and similar other networking social media platforms are capable of offering their services in developing student’s credibility and similar other tasks. Hence, every social media has something to offer, however, the author of the discussed paper would recommend Twitter a the most prominent tool for the purpose. The reason could be supported by the fact that every social media is upgrading its capacity to maintain a competitive advantage by offering features that are available by the competitors and features that are unique. Hence, Twitter has also offered the basic features that are needed for the educational purpose however one of the prominent advantages that it enjoys over its competitor is the broad base of subject matter experts. Twitter is home to most of the subject matter experts from acting stars to scientists and politicians. The students who want to pursue their role model will greatly motivate by getting regular update from them. Hence twitter would be the most adequate tool as an educational productivity tool.
Is social media based learning environment better than the traditional learning environment?
The social media environment is considered to be a better platform of learning than the traditional method of learning. The self-directed learning is promoted through social media as it prepares and makes students search for the answers that help in enhancing their skills. The social media learning is an active method of learning that allows students to participate directly in their area of interest (Kent, Laslo and Rafeli 2016). However, traditional learning forces students to learn things in which they might not be interested. The information that presented through social media are shaped in a way to make the information interesting to learn for the students in a better way than the traditional learning tools. The students are required to submit assignments to the teachers in the traditional learning methods, however, the social media provides deeper engagement and better performance of the students as it allows sharing of information or posts with other students rather than submitting assignments to the teacher (Castañeda and Manrique 2016). Social media, for example, Facebook, can be used to connect the students by creating a group that would allow them to share their idea, knowledge and skills with each other. The social media platform allows learning from anywhere and at any time outside the classroom as it can be accessed from computers or mobile devices by the students. However, traditional method provides learning facilities to the students in the classroom only (Zulaihah and Harida 2017). There are several social media including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and many more that allows institutes to communicate and interact with students and to provide them with the useful information.
The paper in the discussion has offered an insight into the capabilities that social media is capable of citing as educational productivity. It will enable the readers to understand the ability of social media as an educational productivity tool and how it should be utilised. Furthermore, the discussed paper has revealed that the technological developments that are designed for savouring could also be used for productivity means. Hence, the readers of the paper could pursue the technological advancements developed for savouring and can identify the measures through which they could be used in more productive manner. The paper has also left an opening for research in the discussed topic equipping qualitative data. Similarly, several other opportunities to research in the field of social media and education have been posted by the paper.
The paper in the discussion has collected primary quantitative data and has cited the results based on which is one of the limitations of the paper. The quantitative data has been collected from the students who are currently studying in Australian universities. It limits the findings of the paper to the Australian universities and could be accounted for all the universities across the globe. However, the data from the discussed paper is reliable in nature because the data has been contrasted with the secondary data and is in context with them.
Conclusion
Social media is one of the most prominent tools that are used for savouring of time, however, it could also be used for productive activities. Organisations are equipping its service for productive means and the education industry is aiming at the same. Hence, the aim of the paper was to identify the role that social media plays as an educational productivity tool in universities. The discussed objective has been attained through primary quantitative data and secondary data as well. Furthermore, the paper also aimed to identify the examples of the universities who are utilising the social media to enhance their productivity and it was identified that most of the universities are adopting its services. Another one of the most prominent objectives of the paper was to identify the most effective social media tool to act as an educational productivity tool. The identification revealed that Twitter would be the most suitable tool because of its huge database of subject matter experts. Furthermore, social media-based learning environment was also contrasted with the traditional learning where it emerged as victorious. Hence, the discussed report could be emphasised to state that social media is capable of playing a major role as an educational productivity tool, however, to leverage the technology adequately proper attention should be provided to the challenges posed by it.
Objective 1: To identify the impact that social media have as an educational productivity tool in universities.
It has been identified that social media tools are productive in nature when adopted as an educational tool. However, certain minor errors have been identified which are associated with the perception of the students and can be mitigated by adopting certain measures. Furthermore, certain benefits of the social media as an educational productivity tool has been identified. Those benefits include development of online community, simplification of knowledge sharing process, students earn exposure and credibility along with multiple others. The challenges that had been identified include perception of privacy threat, potential misuse of social media. However, it should be noted that social media monitoring tools and training the students in social media use could mitigate the threat.
Objective 2: Identification of the real world implications of the social media tools as part of the educational productivity tool in universities.
It has been identified that different universities around the world are using the social media tools as an educational productivity tool. Australian universities are leading in the field of social media use that includes University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, South Wales University and many more. The universities are using the platform for knowledge sharing and proactive communication.
Objective 3: To identify the most suitable social media tool as an educational productivity tool.
It has been identified that social media platforms are vital as an educational tool however, the most suitable tool of all the social media has also been identified. The identified tool is Twitter. The selection of tool is based upon the fact that though Facebook has the largest base of users offering high network connectivity and media sharing sites are capable of offering ease for knowledge sharing but, twitter have a strong base of influential person such as the celebrities and scientists. The students avail the opportunity to communicate and get inspired from their role models which along with the hashtag trends is the most important reason for the selection. Furthermore, twitter is the second most used social media platforms and also provides the opportunity for media sharing making it equally productive as other social media tools.
Objective 4: To identify whether or not social media-based learning is dominant over the traditional mode of education.
Social media learning has been identified as the dominant over traditional mode of learning because it encourages the student to learn by investing their effort. The effort in discussion refers to the queries that arise in the student’s mind and how they surf the social media to find answers which provides them with opportunity to identify new knowledge and even field of interest. Furthermore, social media platforms are always ready for providing assistance which is not possible for traditional means and hence, providing it edge over the traditional learning. Other benefits such as the knowledge sharing, interacting with role-models, developing credentials and others are also offered by the social media tools.
Hence, in conclusion it would be justified to state that the findings of the paper are in sync with the objectives of the paper.
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