Running Head: SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Social Media Use in Higher Education: A Faculty Perspective

Sydney Carnevale, Kelsey Puliafico, Jennifer Unck & Faith Wilkins
Touro University Nevada

Purpose and Research Questions

SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The purpose of this ethnographic qualitative study will be to discover the pros and cons
of the use of social media in education based on the perspective of occupational therapy
educators at Touro University Nevada. The research question being evaluated is: How would
occupational therapy educators describe the influence of social media on high level education?
From this question, further information will be gathered regarding what occupational therapy
educators perceive as the potential benefits and drawbacks of social media use in higher
education.
Literature Review
The pervasive influence of social media on society has infiltrated the educational
landscape on both the student and faculty level. The rapid evolution in societal perceptions and
uses of the internet has shown in the last decade, attitudes toward technology tend to change over
time (Roblyer, M. D., McDaniel, M., Webb, M., Herman, J., & Witty, J. V., 2010, pp. 138).
Based on the results of their research study comparing college faculty and student usage of social
networking sites (SNSs), the students were found to be more open to utilize sites like Facebook
to support their educational experience. Although social media is commonplace within the
classroom, there are significant differences between how educators and students utilize this
resource. Levels of awareness are similar however ability to efficiently utilize social media is
highly dependent on experience and comfort levels. While many educators have a strong
awareness of social media, their ability to use social media effectively will differ (Moran, M.,
Seaman, J., & Tinti-Kane, H., 2011). Educators have become more intune with the surge of
technology in the classroom, however there may still be some resistance as social media can be a
major source of distraction for students (Rodriguez, J., 2011).

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Social media provides a way for professors to offer an alternative means of providing
resources to their students. By engaging in social media, the educators can relay information in a
way that may be more appealing to the population they are teaching. Despite differing opinions
on the use of social media in education between students and faculty there is reason to believe
that the social and interactive nature of SNSs presents the intriguing possibility that by
enhancing social interactions with and among students through the use of SNS such as Facebook,
instructors can increase the overall quality of engagement in a given instructional setting and,
thus, create a more effective learning environment (Roblyer, M. D.,et. al, 2010, pp. 137).
Utilizing SNS in the classroom setting could be a way for college faculty to connect with their
students on a more personal level.
Social media also has an influence on academic institutions as a whole. New policies
need to be developed to more clearly define expectations, ethical issues, and appropriate use of
social media within education (Kind, T., Genrich, G., Sodhi, A., & Chretien, K. C., 2010).
Policies need to be developed specifically for medical schools training future medical
professionals in order to uphold the laws of patient confidentiality. The separation of professional
and personal lives are potentially compromised as social media becomes more readily used in
daily interaction.
Methodology & Participants
This study utilized an ethnographic qualitative research design to determine the opinions
of faculty members regarding the use of social media. Participants for the study were recruited
via email and faculty-student researcher interviews were conducted over a period of three weeks.
All members of the Touro University Nevada Occupational Therapy faculty agreed to be
interviewed for the study. Seven occupational therapy faculty were recruited to participate in the

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study. All participants completed the entire interview. There was no randomization utilize in this
study as control and treatment groups were not assigned. Of the seven occupational therapy
faculty that participated in the research study, one was male and six were female. There was also
a wide range in ages between the faculty members as well as the number of years they had been
in practice. There was also a variety of years passed since the matriculation of their last degree.
Participants were presented with a set of interview questions that were formulated by the
research team prior to conducting the interviews. However, once the research team began
conducting the interviews a few of those questions were omitted, and the list of questions was
reduced from nine questions to six. All of the written questions were not asked as professors
often expanded upon their answers, in turn answering other questions.
The researchers roles included: identifying the definition of social media at the
beginning of each interview. Two of the researchers will be conducting a semi-structured
interview, consisting of both open & closed- ended questions while other other two researchers
transcribe the interviews. The interviewing researchers will facilitate the interview, clarify any
questions regarding interview questions, and follow up with further questions if necessary.
Results - Thematic Analysis
Common themes quickly emerged from the interviews across participants. Ideas
regarding distractibility, accuracy, and its use as a secondary resource quickly rose to the
forefront. Many of the professors spoke to their comfort using social media and how their
inexperience with some modes of technology influenced their use of the resource in their
classroom. While some professors felt very comfortable with social media and their ability to
troubleshoot, others found that their technological prowess was not enough to effectively use
some social media sites. One faculty stated, I have been on a steep learning curve. I now know

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how to post things on Facebook, but I am not so good at deleting posts. As far as LinkedIn--I
cant figure it out, and Twitter--Ive never tried. But, YouTube is a no brainer. School-based
applications, such as Blackboard, were given more stock than user-generated social media. This
difference may be due to training sessions that were provided for the school based applications,
thus increasing confidence in their ability to navigate technology. One faculty member
interviewed exclaimed, Blackboard has a lot of capabilities; more than we even know. But, I
often use blackboard to directly upload links to YouTube. Most faculty members shared a
common level of comfort with using social media in their personal lives, however, some
indicated there is still room for improvement when incorporating it into the classroom. One
faculty member stated,Technology Im completely comfortable, but use in academia not so
much. You have to make sure its very appropriate.
Overall, there was a general feeling of support for social media use and its ability to
provide students with an alternative learning experience. However, many of the professors
expressed their reservations with the accuracy of the information. While many of them use sites
such as Youtube to find helpful videos, they mentioned that they had to sift through a multitude
of videos before they found something that would be applicable for class. One interviewee said,
After spending hours on YouTube, I found appropriate teaching videos. Sometimes you have to
go through a lot of garbage to find the good stuff. Not only is inaccuracy of major obstacle for
professors, but the amount of time they dedicate to finding sources influences their willingness to
use social media in their classroom. Although there is a significant amount of effort that goes into
finding the perfect source, there are some things that are made so much clearer through video.
One faculty member declared, YouTube videos enhance learning. Because there are so many
different learning styles--you have to bring in different ways for people to learn.

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Many of the professors mentioned that there is potential for social media to hinder
student learning, especially within a higher education landscape. The idea of distractibility was
common among professors and they shared their concern regarding students ability to selfregulate their social media use. One professor spoke to her concern for her own daughter and
how social media use will influence her ability to engage in her studies. She stated, For high
school and middle school its all about social media. I have serious concerns about selfmonitoring social media use. It can be extremely detrimental. Do student have the ability to selfregulate? I think not. Although social media can enrich the learning environment, it provides
access to unending entertainment. The professors mentioned that they could not compete with
the internet and it is up to the students to recognize that professors provide meaningful
contributions as well. One professor stated, What you dont get with use of social media is the
actual experiences from educators perspectives. Ultimately, social media cannot take the place
of clinical experience and information coming from outside sources will need to be regulated.
Despite the overwhelming prevalence of social media in education, there is a surprising
lack of policy to regulate its use. There is a significant amount of obscurity regarding the ethical
use of social media. Often times, unethical usage is unintentional. One professor spoke about a
student who received disciplinary action because of her transference of material from one social
media source to another. Many of the professors did not use social media during their time at
school (as it was not created yet) and they explained that they see an over-reliance on technology
by todays students. One professor went on to explain that she felt as though she learned more
when there was less technology involved in her education. She stated, I feel like I learned more
in the older days because I was required to go out and find it. She also suggested that because
the internets search options make information so readily available, individuals attention spans

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have become much shorter. People will stop searching for an answer to their question if control
F doesnt immediately bring up what they are searching for.
Transcription and Coding of Data
Confirmability was addressed through having two interviewers present in all interviews
to maintain consistency between participants. Two transcribers were also present to record the
interviews. The faculty members were presented with the same questions regarding their use of
social media and member checks were performed in order to have the individual repeat
statements back for clarification or further explanation. After each faculty member was
interviewed, the transcripts were circulated amongst all researchers in order to create lists of
common themes. Each researcher determined what themes they believed emerged from the
transcripts. Then the researchers created a common list of themes based on similar conclusions
made. Axial coding was then used to determine what themes could be further broken down into
meaningful sub-themes.
Implications for Practice
This study helped to determine some of the pros and cons of the use of social media in
higher education as delineated by OT educators at Touro University Nevada. More research
needs to be done in order to provide evidence regarding the efficacy of social media resources in
the classroom. Increased evidence may encourage faculty to utilize social media more freely and
increase their engagement with their students. Although there are significant and clear benefits of
using social media in the classroom, there are common concerns regarding the distractibility,
accuracy and superficiality of social media in education. Social media can provide students with
more resources than ever before, but technology can be seen as a double edged sword. Further
research can help describe the landscape of social media more accurately and provide guidelines

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for better policy to regulate its use. Ultimately, this study has provided insight into faculty
opinion of social media and how they seek to balance student engagement and traditional
teaching techniques.
Limitations
Some of the limitations include the use of a small, homogenous sample size consisting
only of Touro University Nevada Occupational Therapy faculty. The sample used will limit the
generalizability of the results. Another limitation of this study is that all students within the
occupational therapy program are required to utilize laptops during class, thus increasing the
likelihood that instructors will utilize social media within their classroom. The interviews were
conducted by students of the professors that were interviewed and one of the faculty members is
the instructor of the research course. As well as, one interview only had one interviewer opposed
to the planned two interviewers per session. These biases could skew results and influence
overall validity. A third limitation was regarding the wording of an interview question. The
question needed clarification for interviewees and further explanation was needed to explain the
meaning of blurred lines between personal and professional lives. The interviewers had to
rephrase this question during multiple interviews and the question was reworded between
participants.
Recommendations for Further Research
There are a number of recommendations that could be made to aid in increasing the
generalizability of the results. The sample size should be increased to include faculty from other
health care programs across a wider range of universities. Another recommendation to further
research is to focus on one specific theme, then probing deeper into the evidence behind it. A
comparison of student opinions of social media use may provide interesting data regarding

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generational and professional differences between students and professors. Further research can
be done to see what the commonalities and differences are and how that impacts engagement in
the classroom.

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References
Chou, W. Y. S., Hunt, Y. M., Beckjord, E. B., Moser, R. P., & Hesse, B. W. (2009). Social media
use in the United States: Implications for health communication. Journal of Medical
Internet Research, 11(4).
Moran, M., Seaman, J., & Tinti-Kane, H. (2011). Teaching, learning, and sharing: How today's
higher education faculty use social media. Babson Survey Research Group.
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535130.pdf
Roblyer, M. D., McDaniel, M., Webb, M., Herman, J., & Witty, J. V. (2010). Findings on
Facebook in higher education: A comparison of college faculty and student uses and
perceptions of social networking sites. The Internet and Higher Education, 13(3), 134140.
Rodriguez, J. (2011). Social Media Use in Higher Education: Key Areas to Consider for
Educators. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 7(4), 539-550.
Kind, T., Genrich, G., Sodhi, A., & Chretien, K. C. (2010). Social media policies at US medical
schools. Medical Education Online, 15(10).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2941429/

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APPENDIX
Primary Interview Questions:

What is your opinion of using social media in education? Specifically your classroom?
How comfortable do you feel using social media?
How accessible is social media for you to use?
Have you always used social media in your classroom or is this a new strategy for teaching?
How well do you understand how to use social media?
Are you able to troubleshoot if necessary?
Do you think social media supports or hinders student learning?
What specific aspects of social media hinder student performance?
What specific aspects of social media support student performance?
What impact do the blurred lines of personal and professional profiles impact your willingness to

use social media?

How has social media changed education since you were getting your bachelor or masters
degree in occupational therapy?
Secondary Interview Questions:
How often do you use social media in your classroom?
What impact do the blurred lines of personal and professional profiles impact your willingness to
use social media?
Do you think that the influence of social media will continue to become more influential in
education?
What are your thoughts on long-distance learning opportunities via technology?
How do you think the progression of social media in the classroom will provide students with the
opportunity to connect globally with other students and research?
How do you think that will shape a students professional career?