Is Social Media Affecting Learning in Institutions?

Abstract

The effect of social media on education has become a driving factor in the current globe which connects learning. In most instances, it has become a new platform for learning which is useful in enhancing the students’ engagement and their capabilities in school while it helps them connect and get in touch with each other. It affects learning in school by motivating online learning. Using various social media platforms in schools enables the learners to become motivated and fostered to learn various disciplines (Abbas et al., 2019). For instance, the educational videos available on YouTube, easy access to online books and notes, and video call learning form the main aspects that aid educational development. Additionally, it improves creative elements among the learners while improving their academic performance. The students’ hidden talents could be revealed when they begin taking pictures and applying online editing skills to make them appeal aesthetically (Franchi et al., 2020). Conversely, it causes distraction and impacts health among the students in school. Hence, the instructors should observe and direct the learners on the right content on social media platforms.

Is Social Media Affecting Learning in Institutions?

Introduction

The effect of social media on education has become a driving factor in the current globe which connects learning. The globe is becoming smaller, and the application of technology, such as social media usage and the network, has changed how people get information. However, social media and education can complement each other when they are effectively used. For instance, social media and networks have continually developed new possibilities for education among students while it plays a vital role in the social life of these students. In most instances, it has become a new platform for learning which is useful in enhancing the students’ engagement and capabilities in school. At the same time, it helps them connect and get in touch with each other. Therefore, social media affects learning in school by motivating online learning, improving creative elements, and boosting academic performance. In contrast, it causes distraction and impacts school students’ health.

Social media affects learning in institutions by boosting online learning. Using various social media platforms in schools enables the learners to become motivated and fostered to learn various disciplines (Abbas et al., 2019). For instance, the educational videos available on YouTube, easy access to online books and notes, and video call learning form the main aspects that aid educational development. Nevertheless, distance learning has become one of the most significant ways of learning from reputed firms. One can settle at any location because social media have made these steps possible. Facebook and Instagram have brought individuals closer than how they used to be in the past, and other social media platforms allow instructors and learners to connect outside the environment for formal learning (Franchi et al., 2020). Thus, this enables them to share various ideas, creating peer groups for sharing their opinions concerning whatever is learned in the classroom and discussing activities and contents.

Nevertheless, online learning professionals depend heavily on social media platforms to share supplementary materials for the course. They also promote various learning practices through social media platforms while giving feedback to the learners’ comments. Most educators have found that these platforms aim to present a quick and easy way that connects the learners with the course instructors while they ask various questions, which are beneficial in clearing their doubts (Abbas et al., 2019). Almost every current learner possesses a digital presence today and is similarly familiar with the ins and outs of social media platforms. It means that those who embrace and incorporate the features of social media into learning processes and teaching help positively impact the learners. Franchi et al. (2020) highlight that instructors can give video lectures while having the learners participate in online group discussions. Hence, these processes enable the learners to gain more engaging and interesting knowledge while learning from any place they like.

Social media also affects learning institutions by giving learners a sense of belongingness and community. Connecting with like-minded individuals provides a sense of belongingness and comfort (Ansari & Khan, 2020). For instance, creating a Facebook group is a way of forming a community that allows the learners to know each of their peers while they share their ideas and thoughts. The course facilitator can understand the requirements and answers to any questions the learners could want concerning the course. Nevertheless, the availability of online communities and various study groups gives the essential support the learners require. This ensures that they feel encouraged and motivated in the process. The absence of the face to face contact with peers allows the learners to feel that enthusiasm is lacking (Franchi et al., 2020). Therefore, social media effectively deals with all these limitations by enabling educators to maintain healthy interactions with others and gain a strong support network.

Learners and educators share crucial information and contact other peers through social media. Leveraging social media in the learning institution ensures a quick and easy way to contact several people for online learning. For instance, if one intends to share an update concerning the lesson that is upcoming, one can do this by creating a post via Facebook or an Instagram story concerning it (Abbas et al., 2019). Doing so enables the learners to get feedback within the shortest time possible. Additionally, Facebook and Instagram live to enable educators and instructors to share different content and videos related to education in real time. At the same time, they instantly respond to various questions asked by the learners. The interactions on social media can also aid in making an individual’s approach more student-centric (Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017). Most social media interactions have become more flexible, enabling learners to ask questions while presenting problems to the course instructors. Therefore, the such case allows an individual with the answer to jump in and answer the question.

Social media also affects online learning in various institutions through its flexibility in facilitating education. Social media can easily be accessed on smartphones and tablets, making it convenient for educators to give feedback to the learners’ queries regarding their suitability and wanting to log in to a particular platform. This can be done by setting up a notification where the learners can observe the comments of any learner taking part in the course (Franchi et al., 2020). They can glean useful insights from other individuals’ ideas, improving their overall interaction with their instructors. In some cases, interacting with various platforms such as Facebook group becomes much better than sitting around to be educated by the course instructor on a face-to-face basis. The classroom setting allows a certain amount of time to answer the questions (Abbas et al., 2019). However, asking similar questions on Facebook provides more flexibility, and in most cases, it does not have limits set based on the time required to answer the questions.

Creative element improvement is also how social media influences online learning in various institutions. Social media helps boost creative skills among educators by enabling them to learn and execute a similar thing by conducting it by themselves (Franchi et al., 2020). The students’ hidden talents could be revealed when they begin taking pictures and applying online editing skills to make them appeal aesthetically. Several learners usually have interesting hobbies and sometimes post them online using videos and photographers. Doing so enables them to realize their potential for making such hobbies their feature careers. Social media also enables learners to be creative by breaking their routines (Ansari & Khan, 2020). Most learners have their daily routine, which can easily stifle their creativity; thus, there is a need to break out of it occasionally. Thus, whatever people post on social media is always enough to spark their idea, whether for an article or a caption.

Social media affects learning in institutions by boosting the academic performance of the learners in the school. Increased academic performance results from increased knowledge of the learners through the gathering of information and data needed for the coursework (Nisar et al., 2019). When the learners are given some projects in their learning institutions, they can use various social media channels to collect information. This information is necessary for them to solve the task given in the school. The student’s academic performance is improved through social media when their communication skills are enhanced, and knowledge is exchanged among other learners in other institutions (Abbas et al., 2019). Several students usually have the confidence to improve their learning outcomes by showing greater accomplishment and greater productivity with lower workloads in research when they incorporate social media into their learning. Therefore, incorporating various social media platforms into traditional blogging is likely to improve academic outcomes among students positively.

Social media platforms are essential for offering venues where students exchange ideas with the public. When they meet on these platforms, they will likely exchange information through various discussion groups (Ansari & Khan, 2020). They also build relationships through networking on social media. In the current generation, social media and education platforms are linked inextricably because they are known for working as central debate spaces where feedback among students and teachers can easily be obtained. It means that these platforms have become valuable tools for enhancing learning behavior among students by allowing them to organize their content and share information related to academic issues (Saykili, 2019). They can also communicate and coordinate while building social links with other individuals depending on collaborative efforts (Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017). Thus, these interactions through communication and discussion allow the learners to get new information, boosting their academic performance.

Social media also affects learning in the institution by attracting new student campaigns. Saykili (2019) argues that when an individual strategy is up and running, the time for doing a little reflection usually begins. For instance, educators who need to increase enrolment may need to create various campaigns to attract new learners (Ansari & Khan, 2020). They can consider running such campaigns to raise awareness of their programs before it begins their operations. Nevertheless, social media is beneficial in building community. For instance, instructors capable of leading a virtual class could use an online community (Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017). The community has taken several forms, and private Facebook pages have been known for forming greater platforms for class discussions. Additionally, public hashtags are known for amplifying important content. Instructors mainly focused on student engagement could naturally use Facebook groups (Abbas et al., 2019). Hence, social media platforms are essential for building communities and attracting new student campaigns.

Conversely, social media affects learning in institutions by causing distractions and impacting learners’ health. The various social media platforms are an important factor that causes distress and obstacle to the student’s mind. Most students who consume more content from social media tend to lose concentration on what they are expected to study (Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017). Such a take usually leads to the wastage of more time without obtaining anything significant from it. Most learners cannot usually submit their assignment in the time frame that the instructor has specified since they take more time to concentrate on social media platforms. Nevertheless, taking more time on social media platforms affects the learners’ physical and mental health (Ansari & Khan, 2020). Most of these learners do not take their meals on time and fail to rest after continuously deciding to be on their phones and laptops. Thus, these gadgets can have long-term effects on their eyes, making them slow and unambitious in studying or going out to meet new individuals.

Conclusion

In conclusion, social media affects learning in school by motivating online learning, improving creative elements, and boosting academic performance. Using various social media platforms in schools enables learners to become motivated and fostered to learn various disciplines. For instance, the educational videos available on YouTube, easy access to online books and notes, and video call learning are the main aspects that aid education development. Notably, social media helps boost creative skills among educators by enabling them to learn and execute a similar thing by conducting it by themselves. The students’ hidden talents could be revealed when they begin taking pictures and applying online editing skills to make them appeal aesthetically. In contrast, it causes distraction and impacts school students’ health. The various social media platforms cause distress and an obstacle to the student’s mind. Most students consuming more content from social media tend to lose concentration on what they are expected to study. Therefore, the instructors and parents should observe and direct the learners on the right content to consume on social media platforms to benefit their learning and avoid distractions.

 

 

 

 

References

Abbas, J., Aman, J., Nurunnabi, M., & Bano, S. (2019). The impact of social media on learning behaviour for sustainable education: Evidence of students from selected universities in Pakistan. Sustainability, 11(6), 1683. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11061683

Ansari, J. A., & Khan, N. A. (2020). Exploring the role of social media in collaborative learning, the new learning domain. Smart Learning Environments, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-020-00118-7

Franchi, E., Poggi, A., & Tomaiuolo, M. (2020). Social media for online collaboration in firms and Organizations. Information Diffusion Management and Knowledge Sharing, 473–489. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-0417-8.ch023

Mnkandla, E., & Minnaar, A. (2017). The use of social media in e-learning: A meta-synthesis. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(5). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i5.3014

Nisar, T. M., Prabhakar, G., & Strakova, L. (2019). Social media information benefits, knowledge management and Smart Organizations. Journal of Business Research, 94, 264–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.005

Saykili, A. (2019). Higher education in the digital age: The impact of Digital Connective Technologies. Journal of Educational Technology and Online Learning, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.31681/jetol.516971