Social Media in Education: A Case Study Regarding Higher Education Students’ Viewpoints

Abstract

The digital prevalence on everyday life caused by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has drastically impacted the whole world. The educational domain was no exception and has been affected by this rapid shift to online and virtual learning environments. Social media are widely used as a means to share ideas and opinions, acquire knowledge, get informed about news, communicate and collaborate. Moreover, social media are in line with several learning theories. Therefore, their integration in educational settings has the potential to yield several benefits. The aim of the study is to examine this digital shift by analyzing and comprehending higher education students’ experiences and viewpoints regarding the use of social media in education. In total 130 students participated in this study. Based on the results, the majority of students viewed the integration of social media in education positively and regarded it as a means that promotes and enhances communication, group work, collaboration as well as knowledge and ideas sharing with both fellow students and educators. Moreover, students considered social media to be an invaluable teaching tool that when used in a student-centered manner can increase their productivity, engagement, motivation and academic performance as well as improve the teaching and learning process. Finally, social media was assessed as essential for today’s life and as a promising tool that will be more widely used in educational settings in the near future.