Use of Social Media in Teaching High School Students: A Case of United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The use of social media platforms by the education sector has grown significantly in the past decade. The advancement in information and technology has prompted the integration of social media use in education. Social media use has revolutionized the learning processes from what was traditionally teacher-centered to the current student-centered approach. People between 16 and 24 years of age are considered among the active users of social media; hence, by incorporating an important part of their lives in school activities, learning may become more amusing and improve performance. Despite the United Arab Emirates being considered the technological hub of the Middle East, it has made minimal steps toward integrating social media in the learning system for high school students. This article explores the type of social media used by students and teachers in the Emirati high school system and examines the favorable social media tools used in learning in high schools by teachers and students and responds to questions like the purposes of using social media in learning and does social media use in learning affect student and teacher satisfaction and attitude? Further, it asks what the impacts of using social media on learning are. Finally, it discusses the challenges students and teachers come across when using social media for learning.