SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

Research on Visual and Media Literacy:

Social Media in the Classroom
Sarah Eidson
University of West Georgia
MEDT 7490
Summer 2016

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

Article 1
In the article, Value of Social Media In Todays Classroom, written by Barbara E. Hagler,
the use of social media in the classroom is discussed. Some of the platforms for electronic
communication which are considered to be social media include the following: Facebook,
Twitter, Myspace, LinkedIn, SlideShare, and Flickr. Blogs, wikis, video, and podcasts are also
considered to be forms of social media that may be used in the classroom (Hagler, 2013, p 14).
This debate is heard constantly in todays educational world. While there are positive, in the
middle, and negative viewpoints of classroom use, this article takes a look at the educational
benefits of using social media.
The methodology of the article included looking at research from the years 2009-2012.
This time frame was put into place because of the emergence of social media during those years.
Information was found with a literature review of journals as well as websites (Hagler, 2013, p
15). There were no participants Hager divides the information found into different categories:
value of social media to businesses, reasons educators should teach the use of social media,
negatives of social media, social media forms and platforms, and social media policy.
Collaboration, engagement, and opportunity were three of the main reasons listed for positive
uses of social media in the classroom. While collaboration and engagement are the most talked
about reasons for using technology, this article addressed the word opportunity. Opportunity can
occur as students are searching for a job. Learning employability can occur through the use of
social media. Also, businesses are searching for students and/or people to run their companies
social media accounts.
This article provided great information about the social media forms and platforms. Each
social media was defined and how it could be used in the classroom. However, the article did not
address any participants about their use of social media. There was no case study or study group
used to share the positives of social media in the classroom. To improve this study, the author

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

should conduct a study of a high school classroom that is using different forms of social media.
Interviewing teachers and students who use social media daily in the classroom would provide
both positives and negatives of use. The author should have also refrained from sharing the
negatives of social media. In the introduction and purpose section of the article, negatives were
addressed, but then clarified that positive outlooks would be the focus of the article. Positive
sand negatives of social media use should be two separate studies. Also, the social media policy
section of the article is weak. There are no real applicable uses for teachers to take away from
this article. While this article provided some enlightening information, there is much needed
work to be done in the actual research.

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

Article 2
In the article, The Relationship Between Elementary School Teachers Technology
Readiness And Intention To Use Social Media Platforms For Classroom Management, written by
Shu-Fen Lin, Chu-Liang Lin, and De-Chih Lee , an investigation of teachers use of Facebook
for classroom management purposes is conducted. The study looks at teacher readiness to use
social media in the classroom. The study found that Facebook was the most used social media in
and outside of the classroom. The study categorized teacher readiness to use social media in the
classroom as: optimistic, innovative, discomfort, and insecurity.
Participants included full time-teachers of elementary schools in Taoyuan County,
Taiwan. A questionnaire was given to 562 teachers, and 478 responses were received. There were
366 female responses and 112 male responses. Compared to those who regularly use other
platforms, teachers who use Facebook regularly showed greater optimism, innovativeness, and
intention to use Facebook for classroom management (Lin, 2015, p 59). Male teachers scored
higher for innovativeness than female teachers; teachers with 15 years of experience scored
significantly higher for optimism and innovativeness when compared to teachers with longer
experience. (Lin, 2015, p 60).
The research conducted in this article was much different than the previous article
reviewed. Actual participants were used to learn about teacher readiness in terms of social media
use in the classroom. The study conducted a questionnaire among teachers at an elementary
school. The article did not include the questions used in the questionnaire. It would have added
to the validity of the article. Understanding what questions that were used would also allow the
reader to reflect on their own practices with social media. The article mentions that the next
study conducted would be junior high schools and high school teachers. This was also my
suggestion for improvement for the article.

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

Article 3
In the article, A Social Media Practicum: An Action-Learning Approach To Social Media
Marketing and Analytics, written by Catherine T. Atwong, a social media practicum is created
and assessed. Digital marketing requires more technical skills each year. Through the use of
social media marketing principles can be applied. Marketing educators have been creating
effective learning experiences to enhance students social media competency, such as individual
or group assignments in networking on LinkedIn (Peterson & Dover, 2014), communicating on
Twitter (Rinaldo, Tapp, & Laverie, 2011), marketing on YouTube (Payne, Campbell, Bal, &
Piercy, 2011), applying social engagement strategy (Bacile, 2013), and managing personal brand
on social media (Edmiston, 2014). In marketing research, Veeck and Hoger (2014) introduce
students to collecting data via social media and monitoring tools. (Atwong, 2015, p27)
The participants are marketing students at the California State University Fullerton.
Students are asked to promote CSUF through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. During
year one of the practicum, 140 marketing students participated. Students work in small teams to
define the task, determine the goal and strategies, and implement their plan to create results
(Atwong, 2015, p27). Students must identify a target market, social media guidelines, a calendar,
time log, and a record that tracks the results of the performance indicators. (Atwong, 2015, p 27).
Students have reflective activities that allow them to record their learning/feelings/attitudes
toward the work they are doing at CSUF. The results of the practicum are shown through the
social media pages created and maintained by the students. This project based practicum allowed
students to learn about social media, reflect, and learn how to implement marketing principles.
This research provided very little information on the results of the practicum. Student
perception surveys were given with results shown in percentages. There is no discussion of
whether this practicum allowed students grades to improve, student engagement, or job
opportunities. This article needs improvement in the results of the practicum as well as

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

information regarding what the students move on to after experiencing the practicum. This article
provided a great way for teachers to let students experience social media by applying marketing
principles. As this is something I teach in my own classroom, I could incorporate some of the
tasks discussed in the article.

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

Reflection
This assignment allowed me to look at the research available about the use of social
media in the classroom. While it is easy to try social media in my personal classroom, having
research based theories as to why it is useful or beneficial to students, provides me with an
opportunity to defend my viewpoint as well as share with other teachers. While researching, I
found several articles that dealt with Web 2.0 tools as well as social media. These articles were
not research based, but were informative. In reviewing the article, Technology Swarms for
Digital Learners, I learned about the six different roles for today's digital learner. One example,
the Socializer, would be considered students who are using tools to promote creativity and
collaboration. According to Lamb and Johnson, students need to "explore tools for building a
social learning network including journaling, dynamic sticky walls, back channeling, social
networks, working in the cloud, and live conferencing" (Lamb and Johnson, 2012, p. 69). Tools
such as Canva, Edmodo, and Google Drive would allow students to work as a Socializer to better
understand how to work in a social environment.

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM

References
Atwong, C. T. (2015). A SOCIAL MEDIA PRACTICUM: AN ACTION-LEARNING
APPROACH TO SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND ANALYTICS. Marketing
Education Review, 25(1), 27. doi:10.1080/10528008.2015.999578
Hagler, B. E. (2013). VALUE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN TODAY'S CLASSROOM. Journal For
Research In Business Education, 55(1), 14-23.
Lamb, A., & Johnson, L. (2012). Technology Swarms for Digital Learners. Teacher
Librarian, 39(5), 67-72.
Shu-Fen, L., Chu-Liang, L., & De-Chih, L. (2015). THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS' TECHNOLOGY READINESS AND
INTENTION TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS FOR CLASSROOM
MANAGEMENT. International Journal Of Organizational Innovation, 8(1), 48-63.