Impact of Social Media as a Tool in E-Learning

Introduction

This study is designed to examine the use and impact of social media as a tool in e-learning at Bisha University. As a lecturer at Bisha University, I selected this topic due to the current importance of social media in different aspects of students’ lives, especially in the educational field. It also aims to understand factors toward using social media to support learning. This chapter reviewed some of the numerous works done by scholars and researchers which are directly related to this research work. Therefore, this chapter examined and reviewed the following areas;

• Social Media Definition
• Social Media Categories
• The Use of Social Media
• Importance of Social Media Usage in Education
• The applications of Social Media in education in Bisha University
• Challenges of Using Social Media for educational purposes in Bisha University
• Summary of Literature Review

Technology plays a central role in education today with the incorporation of computers into the classroom and the integration of the Internet into the education system. This means that the educational landscape has changed for good. E-learning enables students to learn in a self-directed way and select their own venue, time, and content, as well as the stages of their study. Social media offers new and appealing possibilities to students to express themselves in a variety of ways and freely participate in various dialogues to obtain diverse knowledges and cultures. Moreover, social media platforms allow users to interact and collaborate with each other as creators of user-generated content, exploiting different tools, interfaces, software, and storage facilities to add value. Social media technologies are simple to use and accessible to people with minimal technical skills; anyone with access to a simple device can operate such means (Adamson, 2012). As educational technology evolves, social media has become more heavily integrated into educational approaches. For instance, it has been adopted by higher education institutions as a tool for supporting professional development education to get the newest knowledge at any time or place. At the same time, also in higher education, social media has been implemented as a tool of continuous and seamless communication between instructor and students as well as between students (Boyatt, 2014).

Learning online has become a part of student life and practices in this era because of the influx of emerging technologies. Electronic learning has become a widespread method for providing education and exchanging knowledge via multimedia, video conferences, the World Wide Web, and wireless networks. It is used to deliver information to postgraduate or undergraduate students and provide richness and complexity to learning and teaching experiences. Meanwhile, social networking sites have become widespread and culturally diverse, regardless of geographical boundaries. Social Media opens up numerous paths for learners to acquire knowledge and share information throughout the world, allowing them to become more active and participatory. The effective implementation of e-learning plays an important role in the educational process today and fosters a positive attitude toward the learning process while helping students to develop the skills they need for the 21st century (Pumper, Yaeger, and Moreno, 2013)

Developments in information technology have imposed new realities on our world in the last two decades. This technological development has welcomed people into a virtual world, leading to social, political, and humanitarian changes throughout the world. Gollins (2007) points out that the educational system has been subject to considerable changes at all levels. These changes relate to perceptions, targets and means. This period of history has also witnessed a great revolution in how governments plan their social and economic development. This, in turn, has led to countries developing different approaches towards education and assisting the learner. It has also led to an increased need for people not only to further their education but also to develop different skills in order to integrate into society. At the same time, we are seeing the emergence of new tools for accessing social media. These have led to the emergence of new ideas in the field of education, learning, and communication. These tools have also led to the creation of a new student society (Tony, 2008).

However, despite social media becoming increasingly more adopted by colleges and schools, there is a big gap between the current generation’s needs and practices, instructors’ attitudes, and the traditional equipment of schools. Kitsantas and Dabbagh (2010) stated that some universities prefer to rely primarily on traditional methods such as the whiteboard and deliver information face-to-face, and, hence, do not capitalize on the pedagogical affordances of social media. Moreover, they argue that technology will only aid a great teacher and not replace them. Social media by itself will not change education. Therefore, responsibility lies with the people who use it, whether instructors or students, but change starts with desire, and social media can provide information which may lead to a desire to change. Thus, learners should be allowed to manage and maintain a learning space that facilitates their learning activities, communicate with their peers and use social media at any time and place (Mcloughlin and Lee, 2010, Selwyn, 2007, Valjataga et al., 2011, and van Harmelen, 2006).

Social Media Definition

There are many definitions of social media. Some of these definitions focus on the cooperation and communication that takes place within certain websites. Others focus on the tools used within these sites. These sites allow users to collaborate, exchange knowledge, communicate with peers, upload and send pictures, write comments, create an expression, and learn the benefits of using social media tools. Social media plays an important role of change in different fields in our life today. People have a different way to interact, communicate, and even the way they think (Weisgerber & Butler, 2010). Social media is a 21st-century term used to broadly define a variety of networked tools or technologies that emphasize the social aspects of the Internet as a way for communication and collaboration among users (Dabbagh, Reo, 2011).

Also, Tammets (2014) defines social media as Internet sites in which a group of individuals share the same concerns and activities, and build consensus and friendships with other people with the same orientation. Furthermore, Nomar (2012) defined social media as “a collection of websites that enables people or individuals to communicate on a number of topics in a virtual community that lets them present themselves and share interests as well as publish images and videos.  These tools also allow members of the community to enter other forms of communication such as receiving comments from other users, creating personal files or web pages, establishing friends and relations lists, forming groups, and conducting real time chats.

Besides offering a series of tools for communication, Bartiee (2006) defines social media as a set of applications that strengthen relations within a group. These networks increase the level of social cooperation, the exchange of information, and the integration of information in a web environment. Similarly, Boyd (2008) defines them as networks that provide a full social life approximating real life in a limited system. These networks contain a single list of user names and allow many beneficiaries to participate in communication.

Ellison (2007) indicates that the web of social networks is a collection of websites that emerged alongside the second generation of the Web (2.0). These networks allow individuals to communicate within a community in groups; whether in universities, schools, or companies. Communication within these groups takes place through the Internet by the sending of messages or sharing of access to personal files to allow individuals to learn each other’s news. Individuals may decide whether to allow the further publication of this news.

Parks (2010) points out that the term “social networks” relates to an old concept. People knew of this concept before the advent of the Internet, or indeed any other means of electronic communication. By nature, man is a social creature. People loves cooperating with others and sharing common interests. Internet groups contain a common factor that unites all the members of the group. This joint thing may include scientific concerns, research, business, financial exchanges, friendship, intimate relations, or identity (Armstrong and Franki, 2008).

Valenzuela et al (2009) describes social media communication as a learning environment based on the second generation of the web. In this environment, for effective communication, the author often incorporates one or more other sites. Moreover, Kaplan & Haenlein (2011) and Kietzmannn (2012) define social media as a set of internet-based applications built on the technological foundations of Web 2.0 that involves several online platforms where learners can create, participant, exchange their perspectives and experiences, and modify user-generated content.

It is clear from reading the previous definitions that they all agree upon a certain group of characteristics which make it suitable for educational purposes. This group of characteristics could be summarized in the researcher’s definition: “social media can be an electronic educational environment which allows students to create and be exposed to educational content in total freedom. The activities of students on the network are non-specific to time or place. Social media communication can help users in self-learning through writing and interaction with others”.

EXAMPLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND NETWORKING SITES

 Introduction

Social media or social networking sites can be defined as one of the online platforms which are used to build the social relations with the people sharing similar personal or career activities. Now a day’s social media has become very familiar and a topic of interest among the youngsters. Social media or social networking sites has made the world smaller as it has made a very easy platform to stay connected with the family, friends, relative living near or far. We can find that mostly youth are engaged in the social networking sites, but this doesn’t mean that the elder people don’t use it. Social media and networking site have their own importance. For some, it might just be the platform to stay connected with the family, friends, relatives, and so on., for some, it might be the platform to learn new things, for some, it might be the platform to entertain themselves while for some it might be the platform for the promotion of business.

Social media and networking sites have become very popular among the youth. According to the argue of Boyd (2003) internet messaging, blogs, search engines, social libraries, social guides, wikis, social bookmarking, are included in the example of social media and social web2.0 version. These are used to interact and use in daily life to make work little easier and faster.

According to McLaughlin and lee (2007), some of the popular emerging media websites and software includes very popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster which has been helping to create an online identity with a range of multimedia element by customizing their profiles. These social networking sites help to interact with their existing contacts and create a good social relationship with others. There are many other social networking sites which are made for the entertainment purpose like YouTube, flicker, which help users to watch and share videos and photos.

Dabbagh and Reo (2011b) and Dabbagh and kinstates (2012) explains that the social media also includes other various resource sharing tools which help the user to carry out their work in easy and efficient manner. The resource sharing tools include blogging, WordPress, twitter, social bookmarking, etc. YouTube and flicker are media sharing tool which enables users to involve in social tagging. There are some web-based office tools such as Google apps which help in sharing, editing the documents and these tools are very useful for official use.

The social media technologies fully facilitate social factor, and they are truly deepened on the user’s participation and production. Content communities (YouTube), virtual game worlds (World of Warcraft), social networking sites (Facebook) collaborate produced project (Wikipedia), virtual social worlds (second life), blogs and microblogs(twitter) are the six classifications of social media propounded by Kaplan and Haenlin in their business horizon article (2010). (See Examples of social media Table 1)

Examples of Social Media Technologies