Social Media and Education: Perceptions and Need for Support.

Abstract

Social media has become a way of life. Society has become very connected, yet the classroom still remains quite isolated, from other teachers, students, experts, parents, the community, and a host of others who could potentially enhance learning. There are a number of different ways by which schools and teachers could open their classrooms to the rest of the world, and social media constitutes one of those ways. This study sought to examine one of those ways through the implementation of a Facebook Group in a high school social studies course to determine student and instructor perceptions, as well as to better understand how social media could be implemented in the educative process. The results of this study indicate that, there may be a potential for social media use in the teaching and learning process, but only if the innovation is supported throughout its implementation.