With the immediacy of information and access to populations far beyond our physical reach, social media has forever changed how one learns, interacts, conveys information, and shares personal experiences. Vercic and Vercic (2013) identify a major shift from more traditional forms of media interaction to the social platforms and their impact on information consumption.
Ninety percent of participants utilize social media more than one time per day, with only 50.8% identifying television as important form of communication (Vercic & Vercic, 2013). This finding highlights a shift in the way that information is consumed and how communication is valued in the daily lives of media consumers. The transition to daily interaction using social platforms has allowed for the exponential growth of the more traditional forms of “word of mouth” based communication (Williams, Crittenden, Keo & McCarty, 2012). While much of the literature focuses on the use of social media and the implications on marketing, sales and business development, the media platforms allow for direct person-to-person connections that were not previously possible.
While all generations are accessing digital content at a rate greater than ever before, the focus on instructional uses for social media has been focused on digital natives, or those that do not know a time before ready access to digital media (Wesner & Miller, 2008). Digital natives have highlighted the need for access, information, and speed of communication. They have also begun the transition from the more traditional belief of knowledge derived experts to the collection of personal experiences as a form of knowledge development (Krishen, Berezan, Agarwal & Kachroo, 2016). These interaction and experiential learning opportunities have begun to shift not only how one thinks about learning but also how learning design is being considered across educational programs.
Justis, Riley; McGinnis, Amy; Perkins, Rachel Esterline; and Buschlen, Eric L. (2023) “Curricular and Cocurricular Use of Social Media to Transform Learning Outcomes in Higher Education,” Journal of Contemporary Research in Education: Vol. 8: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/jcre/vol8/iss1/4
