Using social media to enhance student engagement and quality
Abstract
The educational benefits, which accrue from the enhancement in student engagement, are well documented in the literature. Some of the benefits identified include increased student interest in course content, enhanced academic performance and enhanced student critical thinking skills. This study demonstrates a significant advantage in using social media platforms in student engagement with the course material and lecturers offering the material. Typically, student engagement has been and mainly is achieved as on-campus contact mode or contact at sites of delivery and even online, using platforms created and managed by universities such as Blackboard. In this study, a comparative review of the academic performance of two groups of students enrolled for a similar subject offered at a University of Technology is performed to analyze the effects of using social media as a method to engage students on performance outside the normal communication time. The assumption is that this method of student engagement would enrich the student experience and alter how course content is articulated, presented and absorbed, in essence allowing the student to feel enabled and included in the engagement paradigm. Feedback provided in the engagement with peers and the lecturer leads to clarity and improvement in the quality of the course overall.
Downloads
References
Bouchnik, D. and M. Deshen. 2014. WhatsApp goes to school: Mobile instant messaging between teachers and students. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research 13(1): 217‒231.
Coleman, E. and E. O’Connor. 2019. The role of WhatsApp® in medical education: A scoping review and instructional design model. BMC Medical Education 19(1): 279.
Ghasemi, A. and S. Zahediasl. 2012. Normality tests for statistical analysis: A guide for non-statisticians. International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism 10(1): 486.
Hu, S. and G. D. Kuh. 2001. Being (dis)engaged in educationally purposeful activities: The influences of student and institutional characteristics. Research in Higher Education 43(5): 555‒575.
Kearns, L. R. and B. A. Frey. 2010. Web 2.0 technologies and backchannel communication in an online learning community. TechTrends 54(4): 41‒51.
Kuh, G. D., J. Kinzie, J. A. Buckley, B. K. Bridges and J. C. ve Hayek. 2007. Piecing together the student success puzzle: Research, propositions, and recommendations. ASHE Higher Education Report 32(5).
Lim See Yin, J., S. Agostinho, B. Harper and J. F. Chicharo. 2014. The engagement of social media technologies by undergraduate informatics students for academic purpose in Malaysia. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 12(3): 177‒194.
Mandernach, B. J. 2015. Assessment of student engagement in higher education: A synthesis of literature and assessment tools. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research 12(2).
McLoughlin, C. and M. Lee. 2007. Social software and participatory learning: Pedagogical choices with technology affordances in the Web 2.0 era. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning, ed. R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, S-K. A. Soong and C. Cheers, 664‒675. Centre for Educational Development, Nanyang Technological University.
O’Keeffe, M. B. 2016. Exploring higher education professionals’ use of Twitter for learning. Doctoral dissertation, UCL (University College London).
Rambe, P. and A. Bere. 2013. Using mobile instant messaging to leverage learner participation and transform pedagogy at a South African University of Technology. British Journal of Educational Technology 44(4): 544‒561.
Rutherford, C. 2010. Using online social media to support preservice student engagement. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching 6(4): 703‒711.
Stone, S. and A. Logan. 2018. Exploring students’ use of the social networking site WhatsApp to foster connectedness in the online learning experience. Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning Ireland 3(1): 42‒55.
Taylor, L. and J. Parsons, 2011. Improving student engagement. Current Issues in Education 14(1).
Trowler, V. 2010. Student engagement literature review. The Higher Education Academy 11(1): 1‒15.
Zepke, N. and L. Leach. 2010. Improving student engagement: Ten proposals for action. Active Learning in Higher Education 11(3): 167‒177.
This journal is an open access journal, and the authors and journal should be properly acknowledged, when works are cited.
Authors, copyright holders, may use the publishers version for teaching purposes, in books, theses, dissertations, conferences and conference papers.
A copy of the authors' publishers version may also be hosted on the following websites:
- Non-commercial personal homepage or blog.
- Institutional webpage.
- Authors Institutional Repository.
The following notice should accompany such a posting on the website: This is an electronic version of an article published in SAJHE, Volume XXX, number XXX, pages XXX “XXX", DOI. Authors should also supply a hyperlink to the original paper or indicate where the original paper (http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/SAJHE) may be found.
Authors publishers version, affiliated with the Stellenbosch University will be automatically deposited in the University Institutional Repository SUNScholar.
Articles as a whole, may not be re-published with another journal.
The following license applies:
Attribution CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
