Blurring the Boundaries

Author(s):  
Julie A Delello ◽  
Kouider Mokhtari

This article reports the results of a mixed methods study aimed at exploring faculty and student perceptions regarding the use of social media in the higher education classroom. Two groups of faculty (n = 50) and students (n = 396) voluntarily responded to an online survey consisting of a mix of close and open-ended questions pertaining to their perceptions of social media use inside and outside the classroom. Key findings revealed that among faculty (52%) and students (23%) see social media as a distraction. In addition, contrary to prior research indicating that interpersonal boundaries between faculty and students are shifting as people become more connected via social media, only 17% of students and 29% of faculty reported forming social media friendships outside of the classroom. These findings are discussed in light of extant research on the use of social media along with implications for the role of social media in the higher education classroom.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Foot ◽  
Amanda Leonhard ◽  
Jill Majeski ◽  
Lauren Zahn ◽  
Hsin H. Li ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Ann M. Simpson

Social media use is prevalent throughout the world and is now commonplace in higher education. The devices, support technologies, and social media applications used in higher education are in a constant state of change. Using social media in education creates new and sometimes challenging issues for institutions, instructors, and students. This chapter attempts to address some of the considerations and potential issues that impact our use of social media in the higher education classroom. It examines social media as an educational tool in higher education, possible pedagogies for social media use, potential educational contexts, and privacy concerns raised by social media use in educational environments. This chapter also provides a possible definition for social media and introduces some themes that will be explored in further detail in the following chapters.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 475-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anatoliy Gruzd ◽  
Caroline Haythornthwaite ◽  
Drew Paulin ◽  
Sarah Gilbert ◽  
Marc Esteve del Valle

This research was motivated by an interest in understanding how social media are applied in teaching in higher education. Data were collected using an online questionnaire, completed by 333 instructors in higher education, that asked about general social media use and specific use in teaching. Education and learning theories suggest three potential reasons for instructors to use social media in their teaching: (1) exposing students to practices, (2) extending the range of the learning environment, and (3) promoting learning through social interaction and collaboration. Answers to open-ended questions about how social media were used in teaching, and results of a factor analysis of coded results, revealed six distinct factors that align with these reasons for use: (1) facilitating student engagement, (2) instructor’s organization for teaching, (3) engagement with outside resources, (4) enhancing student attention to content, (5) building communities of practice, and (6) resource discovery. These factors accord with a Uses and Gratifications perspective that depicts adopters as active media users choosing and shaping media use to meet their own needs. Results provide a more comprehensive picture of social media use than found in previous work, encompassing not only the array of media used but also the range of purposes associated with use of social media in contemporary teaching initiatives.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristiina Tammisalo ◽  
Mirkka Danielsbacka ◽  
Emilia Andersson ◽  
Antti O. Tanskanen

Older adults have recently begun to adopt social media in increasing numbers. Even so, little is known about the factors influencing older adults’ social media adoption. Here, we identify factors that predict the use of social media among older adults (aged 68–73) and compare them to those of their adult children (aged 19–56) using population-based data from Finland. As predictors for social media use, we utilized demographic factors as well as characteristics of the respondents’ social lives. In addition, we test whether social media use in older adults is predicted by the social media use of their adult children. The data used in this study uniquely enable the study of this question because actual parent-child dyads are identifiable. In both generations, women and those with higher education were more likely to use social media. Predictors specific to men of the older generation were being divorced and younger, and predictors specific to women of the older generation were having better health and more frequent contact with friends. A higher number of children predicted use in both men and women in the older generation. As for the younger generation, specific predictors for social media use in women were younger age, divorce, higher number of children, and more frequent contact with friends. For men in the younger generation, there were no significant predictors for social media use besides higher education, which predicted social media use in all groups. Finally, social media use in a parent representing the older generation was predicted by the social media use of their adult children. This study provides novel information on the predictors of the use of social media in two family generations.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liese Exelmans ◽  
Holly Scott

This study expands knowledge on the effects of technology use on sleep by (1) focusing onsocial media use in an adult sample, (2) investigating the difference between overall andnighttime-specific social media use with regards to sleep, and (3) exploring a vulnerabilityperspective. For the latter, the moderating roles of gender, age, and habitual social mediachecking behavior were examined. A representative quota sample of 584 adults (18-96 yearsold) participated in an online survey. Results indicated that 2 out of 3 adults used socialmedia, and that use both shortly before and in bed was prevalent. Only nighttime use wasassociated with poorer sleep quality. Age and habitual checking behavior moderated thisassociation, identifying younger adults and those with strong checking habits as possiblevulnerable groups for poor sleep. The findings are interpreted in light of existing research onmedia habits and problematic (social) media use.


Author(s):  
Catherine Lang ◽  
Narelle Lemon

New ways of utilizing technology in the online space are challenging how academics and students communicate, participate, and publish in modern universities, and thereby influence knowledge production, exchange, and transfer. Social media provides a suite of tools that are powerful additions to the pedagogy of academics and demonstrate that “the medium is the message” (McLuhan, 1960). These tools provide opportunity for public global dialogue, continuous discussions in the online space beyond the four walls of a physical classroom, and greater interactions between individuals and collective groups. In this chapter, the authors present several cases of social media use from the perspective of being researchers and teachers in higher education. Through strategic and precise use of social media, academics can create strong, connected, virtual communities to enhance knowledge production, exchange, and transfer within higher education. The cases demonstrate the ability to create and curate content while engaging with global connections to enhance and disrupt traditional ways of working in academia.


SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402094920
Author(s):  
Théo Girardin ◽  
Romain Roult ◽  
Olivier Sirost ◽  
Charly Machemehl

This systematic review was based on the work of Arksey and O’Malley and presents the current research on social media use in North American basketball. Thirty-five articles were reviewed to (a) identify authors, concepts, research methods, and the results that have provided greater insight into the role of social media in sports; and (b) describe both the strategies underlying social media use according to user profiles and the new relationship that is emerging between social media and the world of sports. The review reveals the multifaceted nature of the issues that have emerged with the increasing use of social media in sports, and this is discussed within the framework of the model proposed by Jenkins.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Boursier ◽  
Francesca Gioia ◽  
Alessandro Musetti ◽  
Adriano Schimmenti

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prompted people to face a distressing and unexpected situation. Uncertainty and social distancing changed people's behaviors, impacting on their feelings, daily habits, and social relationships, which are core elements in human well-being. In particular, restrictions due to the quarantine increased feelings of loneliness and anxiety. Within this context, the use of digital technologies has been recommended to relieve stress and anxiety and to decrease loneliness, even though the overall effects of social media consumption during pandemics still need to be carefully addressed. In this regard, social media use evidence risk and opportunities. In fact, according to a compensatory model of Internet-related activities, the online environment may be used to alleviate negative feelings caused by distressing life circumstances, despite potentially leading to negative outcomes. The present study examined whether individuals who were experiencing high levels of loneliness during the forced isolation for COVID-19 pandemic were more prone to feel anxious, and whether their sense of loneliness prompted excessive social media use. Moreover, the potentially mediating effect of excessive social media use in the relationship between perceived loneliness and anxiety was tested. A sample of 715 adults (71.5% women) aged between 18 and 72 years old took part in an online survey during the period of lockdown in Italy. The survey included self-report measures to assess perceived sense of loneliness, excessive use of social media, and anxiety. Participants reported that they spent more hours/day on social media during the pandemic than before the pandemic. We found evidence that perceived feelings of loneliness predicted both excessive social media use and anxiety, with excessive social media use also increasing anxiety levels. These findings suggest that isolation probably reinforced the individuals' sense of loneliness, strengthening the need to be part of virtual communities. However, the facilitated and prolonged access to social media during the COVID-19 pandemic risked to further increase anxiety, generating a vicious cycle that in some cases may require clinical attention.


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