Learning by Going Social: Do We Really Learn from Social Media?

Abstract

With the ever increasing ubiquity of smart phones and mobile devices, social networking has become a trend that has captured attention and interest of one and all. Young people, middle aged, and older generations are all engaged to certain extent in some sort of social networking over the web. While there are both pros and cons attached to the use of social networks, the usage of social media interestingly has always shown an upward trend in popularity and consumption. Are there real benefits in getting connected to people using social networks? Or does the use of web based social media actually isolate people and diminish the necessity of meeting face to face? Do we really learn from using social media? Does the use of social networks enhance collaboration and promote motivation and collective intelligence and learning?

 

This research based discussion evaluates social media as an emerging educational and performance improvement tool from the perspective of social cognitive theory and social constructivist theories. We discuss some existing research that used social media as a teaching learning tool. We end this discussion with a decision making framework matrix for educators contemplating using social media within their course pedagogy.