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Exploring graduate students' perceptions of using social media in education coursework
Dissertation   Open access

Exploring graduate students' perceptions of using social media in education coursework

Kimberly Holiday Udeh
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Drexel University
Mar 2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/2t6t-0r47
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Abstract

Critical pedagogy Academic Achievement Education Information Technology
This study examined social media in graduate coursework and provides insight into how faculty and higher education administrators can strategically incorporate social media into graduate school coursework. Moreover, this study bridges an existing literature gap regarding graduate students' perceptions of social media use and its impact on their learning. Several research studies have linked the use of social media with improved academic performance; however, the role of social media as a pedagogical tool to support learning through academic engagement and collaboration in graduate education coursework needs further exploration. Millennials and post-millennials (ages 18-42) quickly embrace and adopt new technology, and most are either in graduate school or will be in the future. Higher education can use such tools, including social media, to connect more academically with their students, who are frequently on these platforms. Conducted over a one-month period, this cross-sectional study empirically examined the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences that graduate students hold about the pedagogical use of social media to support learning, academic engagement, and academic performance. An online quantitative survey collected data on 1,212 students enrolled in graduate courses in one university's School of Education. The survey results confirmed that social media was a useful pedagogical tool in graduate coursework to support academic performance and collaboration among students. While results partially supported that using social media in graduate coursework improved collaboration among students, it did not fully support improved collaboration between students and their professors. This study included a single discipline at a single institution; future research would benefit from a more robust study that included multiple disciplines or multiple institutions. Keywords: graduate education coursework; social media; pedagogical tool; academic performance; learning

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