Overcoming hurdles to social media in education

Key Takeaways According to a recent study, 100 percent of colleges and universities surveyed use social media, but instructors use it far less for teaching than they do for personal or professional reasons. Of those who use social media for instruction, most use video in the classroom and many use blogs and wikis. Concerns about cheating and privacy top the list of barriers to adoption, though these concerns — like many of the others cited — are decreasing as time passes and social media becomes more prevalent. _________Social media has made its way into higher education. A 2010-2011 study of social media adoption by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth analyzed the most recent trending of social media use among four-year accredited institutions in the U.S. and found that 100 percent of the colleges and universities studied are using it.Many higher-education professionals are using social media for marketing and communication, but faculty are also adopting it in the teaching and learning process. This is particularly true in online and blended instruction, as more educators see value in leveraging Web 2.0 technologies with their students. This article discusses higher ed lecturers\u27 concerns about social media and how those concerns might be mitigated for some of the more common social network sites