Integrating Social Media in Higher Education: A 6-Month Sabbatical Project

The internet age, with its thriving online social networks, offers new tools that have the potential to help our current generation of college/university students to learn more effectively.  

Research has shown that undergraduate students use the internet and social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, etc.) at higher rates than the general population (e.g., Junco 2014). As the popularity of social media platforms continues to grow, it becomes clear that if used effectively, these internet-based tools may have the ability to increase student engagement, improve learning and promote collaboration in the classroom (Junco et al. 2012).

Learning, retention, and attainment in university are consistently associated with students’ being actively engaged with college faculty and staff, with other students, and with the subject matter they are studying.  

Research has demonstrated that engaging students in the learning process increase their attention and focus, motivates them to practice higher-level critical thinking skills, and promotes meaningful learning experiences (Bertram and Katti 2013; Junco 2014).  Unfortunately, engaging students to learn is one of the most challenging things we do as university/college instructors. Several studies have suggested that the use of social media and other internet-related tools in the classroom may be an excellent avenue to engage students and promote learning because students are already engaged in social media (e.g., Buddle 2012; Bertram and Katti 2013; Junco 2014).

Regrettably, the successful integration of these tools in the classroom is not simple.  Some studies have shown that simply creating Facebook pages or sending messages via twitter may not be sufficient or helpful. Over the last two years, I have started to explore the different ways that social media and other internet-based tools could be integrated in undergraduate biology courses.  Although this type of exploration requires time, I have been able to experiment with the use of various social media platforms in some of my undergraduate courses at the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada.  For example, students have been allowed to use social media platforms for course projects, to create websites, Facebook pages and even blogs (Google blogger) for community-based and curiosity-based projects.

Although I have been able to experiment a little bit with several social media platforms, there is still a lot to learn, practice and try when it comes to the integration of social media in courses.  

For example, I have not been able yet to design or create an efficient way to evaluate student’s participation.  Although I have collected some data via surveys (using Google Drive) and written comments, I have not been able to conduct a proper evaluation of the outcomes of my experiments with social media in the classroom.

Having said this, I have noticed that the integration of social media in my courses has increased collaborative learning and interest on the material discussed in class (please see responses of a class survey in the last section of this proposal).  I also find that the use of social media for specific course activities has forced students to take a greater responsibility for their learning experience.  Overall, these last two years have really convinced me that the integration of social media in the classroom has the potential of promoting student engagement, learning and discovery.

My 6-month sabbatical project... 

I should say that I really believe that the integration of social media and other internet-based tools can help us, instructors or teachers, engage students in the process of learning. Therefore, I decided that my project for my 6-month sabbatical leave will be an investigation of the use of social media in higher education. 

I've completed my sabbatical leave in December 2015. Over the last 6 months, I've improved my knowledge regarding effective teaching, social media in education as well as other teaching methods and approaches. 

I will share with you my findings and learning experience in other posts!