Social Media as an Educational Tool

Abstract

With the high percentage of young people on social networks, where students feel at home, social media is no longer a trend, but part of everyday life and each year it becomes a greater part of education. It’s a way that students, teachers, administrators, and community members interact and exchange information with each other. Their experiences with technology, compared to those of teachers and administrators who possibly remember when the Internet came to fruition, are drastically different. This provides a very different understanding of the twenty-first century student as a digital native. Specifically, this study examined how schools and educators use social media, and whether being connected presents a better way to educate the twenty-first century learner. It investigated the level of parent and community engagement using social media and the students’ perceptions of social media use in their education. Limited research exists on how teachers and schools actually use social media to enhance education and communication with school stakeholders, i.e., teachers, parents, students, and administrators. This empirical study attempts to fill this research gap and make some useful recommendations in the light of statistical findings.