Social media in education: assessing the benefits of integration

Within recent years, the Internet has evolved into one of the most commonly used innovations by members of today’s society, and Social media is one aspect of the Internet that has also become a prominent staple among Internet users. This research explores social media’s progressing role in education and student learning. Current generations of students are demonstrating decreased engagement, participation, and interest towards the different areas of content being presented to them. Research identifies traditional teaching methods as a central cause to the negative learning aspects being portrayed by the students. This is in part due to the fact that traditional methods no longer emphasize active learning and stimulation. By being brought up in a fast paced environment, students need to be stimulated in order to truly process the content. Social media is able to maintain the attention of students and keep them stimulated. Students’ daily routines hold a considerable amount of time for social media usage; therefore, the research project indicates that further integration into the classroom could rekindle the participation, engagement, and interest once held by students. The research examines the integration that has taken place within schools currently, and assesses the advantages of use towards student learning. (Author abstract)Drylie, D. (2013). Social media in education: assessing the benefits of integration. Retrieved from http://academicarchive.snhu.ed