Using Social Media Technologies to Enhance Online Learning

Linda Weiser Friedman, Ph.D. Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, CUNY

Hershey H. Friedman, Ph.D. School of Business Brooklyn College, CUNY

ABSTRACT

Models of distance education have evolved over decades, just in time to collide with modern

pedagogies in which communication, interaction, student engagement, and active learning are of

critical importance. The number of college students taking online classes continues to grow.

Today, nearly 30% of college students are taking at least one online class. The social media

technologies encompass a wide variety of Web-based technologies such as blogs, wikis, online

social networking, and virtual worlds. This paper examines the relevant published literature,

looking at online learning activities through the prism of the defining characteristics of today’s

new communication technologies.

Keywords: Social media, Online learning, Higher education, MOOCS, Hybrid courses, Gaming,
Online Student Satisfaction

Introduction

The world is changing very rapidly. Libraries have morphed from structures filled with books to

repositories of information. Information and knowledge come in many forms including DVDs,

eBooks, and YouTube videos. The role of a newspaper has changed thanks to the Internet and

its social media. By the time readers see a newspaper, much of the news is old. Everyone knows

about the latest crisis, and has seen photographs on the web and read the story.
To make matters even more complicated, technology has converged so that, for example, a

telephone has become everything from a computer to a camera. Telephone manufacturers who

insisted that their job was to manufacture “pure” telephones – a telecommunication device for

transmitting speech- and nothing more, are obsolete. People use their computers to watch

television, listen to radio, find apartments to rent, and even find a spouse.

Tedlow (2010) describes what happens to companies who look away and go into denial when

paradigms shift. This is a good way to miss opportunities or even become obsolete. Some

famous examples of denial are Henry Ford’s obsession with only offering an inexpensive, black,

no-frills Model T Ford. A&P, which at one time was one of the largest retailers in the U.S.,

missed a huge opportunity to grow by not recognizing that television was making manufacturers’

brands more important than store brands. This sort of myopia is no less true in education, and

perhaps more true in the slow-moving terrain of higher education.

Even the disciplines of today are changing rapidly because of information access, collaboration

technology, and convergence, among other factors. There are many more specialties today than

in the past and there is much more "boundary crossing and interdisciplinary activity" (Klein,

1996: 42). Klein (1996: 191) asserts: "Almost all significant growth in research in recent

decades, the committee [National Research Council] concluded, has occurred at the

'interdisciplinary borderlands' between established fields." It is unrealistic to believe that an

educator with expertise in only a single discipline will be able to provide the necessary

knowledge to solve problems that will arise in one or two decades. The amount of knowledge

continues to increase exponentially.

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A report written by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce concluded

that “not all bachelor’s degrees are the same” and “while going to college is undoubtedly a wise

decision, what you take while you’re there matters a lot, too” (Bruni, 2012). Colleges are going

to have to invest in higher education but the money is no longer there. The stimulus money

which began in 2009 and was sent to state and local governments after the Great Recession of

2008 helped save about 400,000 education jobs. However, the spigot has been turned off and at

least 100,000 individuals in the field of education have lost their jobs in the last few years. The

White House claims that the true number is more like 250,000 jobs (Editorial, 2012). This is

one of the big problems facing education: a shortage of money.

Many colleges are turning to online education as a way to expand offerings at a reasonable cost.

Institutions across the country have increased their offerings of online and hybrid programs and

classes. Carey (2012) feels that MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) will change the future

of higher education. MIT, Harvard, and Berkeley are offering free MOOCs via edX, a not-for-

profit venture (check it out at: https://www.edx.org/). One famous MOOC on artificial

intelligence was offered by Sebastian Thrun, a renowned robotics expert at Stanford. More than

100,000 enrolled in this free course (admittedly, not everyone completed the course). Needless

to say, the marginal cost of adding a student to a class of 100,000 is virtually zero. Carey (2012)

feels that it is only a matter of time before accredited colleges start accepting transfer credits for

MOOCs. It is difficult to justify accepting courses taught by nameless professors at unknown

colleges and yet reject MOOCs taught by world experts from stellar universities. Certainly,

ensuring integrity will be an issue for a MOOC as it is for any online course. This can be solved

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by having students pay to take secure exams at special facilities. Indeed, students taking

MOOCs at edX, can pay to take proctored exams at one of 450 Pearson’s VUE testing centers

located in more than 110 countries.

A recent report from Moody’s Investor Services predicts that “MOOC’s could improve the

financial prospects of leading universities while posing financial challenges to lesser-known

institutions and for for-profit colleges” (Azevedo, 2012). In fact, elite universities could

eventually use MOOCs to sell courses to other colleges. This is an easy way for colleges to save

money. Why offer numerous sections of popular required courses such as macroeconomics

when the same course can be offered as a MOOC? The course could be enhanced with teaching

assistants for students who need extra help. Many prestigious colleges have joined Coursera to

offer free online classes. The motto of Coursera is “Take the World's Best Courses, Online, For

Free.”

One might argue and say students are not interested in taking fully online courses. This is

incorrect. In fact, according to the Sloan Consortium study conducted in 2010, nearly 30% of

college students were taking online courses (Allen and Seaman, 2010). According to the Babson

Survey Research Group 2011 study, approximately 31% of college students were taking at least

one online course (Allen & Seaman, 2011). Growth may be slowing somewhat but the number

of students taking online courses continues to increase.

Models of online learning have evolved quite a bit from the correspondence courses that became

popular in the 19th century, just in time to collide with 21st century pedagogies in which

communication, interaction, student engagement, active learning, and assessment are of critical

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importance. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevant published literature, looking at

online learning activities through the prism of the defining characteristics of today’s new

communication technologies.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES

The so-called social media technologies – often referred to as Web 2.0 –encompass a wide

variety of web-related communication technologies such as blogs, wikis, online social

networking, virtual worlds and other social media forms. Much has been said about the unique

character of the social media technologies, the features that unite these seemingly disparate

technologies under a single umbrella. These characteristics of social media can be summarized

by the 5 C’s (Friedman and Friedman 2008): communication, collaboration, community,

creativity, and convergence.

COMMUNICATION. By and large, social media technologies are concerned with

communication between and among human beings. This communication may be uni- bi- or

multi-directional, collaborative, networked, or viral. Blogs may be viewed as an alternative or

complement to publishing, but they may also be alternatives to personal webpages. Bloggers

don't only engage in one-way posting. Many cite each other’s work a great deal and post

comments and ripostes on each other’s blogs, and this results in "conversational blogging"

(Efimova and de Moor 2005). Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter enable

communication among groups of people, large and small. The rapid speed of communication

over networked Web 2.0 technology platforms is probably best evidenced by videos that go

“viral.”

COLLABORATION. New media technologies enable collaboration over the Internet. Blogs in

general have limited collaboration, although a single blog may be shared among a group of

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bloggers and sometimes a blog may be used for group work. Wikis are today’s collaboration

tool. These are also scalable, in that private wikis for small groups of people work just as well as

the largest collaborative product we have ever seen – Wikipedia. Some authors have examined

how wikis are used (Tapscott and Williams 2006; Sunstein 2006), both at work and in other

arenas of life. Social media also encourages collaboration with virtual conferencing on, say,

SecondLife.

COMMUNITY. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, SecondLife, Webkinz, Del.icio.us, and

other Web-enabled social media forms serve to make the world a smaller place. Groups of

people, large and small, are better able to interact more regularly, stay in touch, and accomplish

various goals, because of these technologies. Social media technologies fostering community are

democratic and inclusive. Today’s technology may be the great equalizer, producing a leveling

of the playing field (Johnson 2007). Many of the web technologies we may not previously have

associated with social media now have a social networking component, for example eBay,

YouTube, and HowStuffWorks. In addition, these technologies may be used as a platform for

creating a learning organization (Andrus 2005).

CREATIVITY. Does simple digitization turn old media into new media? Is digital media that

different from non-digital (analog) media? For one thing, digitization makes editing extremely

easy. Therefore, it also promotes creativity, since we are not burdened by the limits of the

medium we are working with. Remember making changes to a large document using a

typewriter? The size of the page severely limited any changes we were willing to make. With

digitization and the right software our editing capabilities are limited only by our capacity for

thinking. Today, consumers of digital media do not simply, read, listen, view, or play it. The

also edit, mod, and create mashups. This post purchase behavior means that a product is not

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necessarily "finished" when it goes into production. Social media technologies enable user-

generated content, and we have much more active audience members who create, edit, post and

contribute content.

CONVERGENCE. The past decades have witnessed a convergence of technology more fantastic

than fiction. This is primarily due to widespread digitization and to the Internet, which itself can

be seen as digitization plus telephony. Some of the results of this trend are: companies that

produce printers are now in the camera business; long distance telephone calls use a broadband

Internet connection; photographs are transmitted via e-mail using a cellular telephone; several

companies are competing for video-on-demand; computer manufacturers are in the music

business; and many more. Adaptation is the key to survival in the Internet age.

There are many different forms of convergence in the social media phenomenon. Convergence of

technology, encompasses both hardware and software, for example, computer technology and

entertainment produced technologies like Tivo and the infotainment industry. We have seen

Convergence of media attributable to technology - e.g., a newspaper must have an online

presence and probably a news blog. Convergence of consumption, seen in consumers –

especially students – who may be using several media simultaneously, e.g., computer, internet,

music, newspapers, telephone, camera, etc., and in consumers who produce digital mash-ups

using several forms of media. Hynes (2003) asks: Does technology convergence drive consumer

convergence or vice versa? Finally, one of the hallmarks of the social media is convergence of

roles. Today there is a blurring of the lines separating users, developers, distributers, producers,

consumers, etc., with individuals taking on multiple roles comfortably.

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CHANGES IN ACADEME

Almost every state is working with a challenging fiscal environment thanks to the recent Great

Recession. State budgets are quite austere and it is very doubtful that there will be money in

most of them for additional buildings for universities. The Texas A &M University system is

using a spreadsheet to evaluate the gains and losses from every single faculty member. This is

calculated by determining the revenues generated by a faculty member (number of students,

grants, etc.) and deducting the expenses (faculty salary, costs of labs, etc.). This is also being

done by department (Simon and Banchero, 2010). The balance sheet is showing that some

faculty members netted the university close to $280,000 for the 2009 fiscal year while others

cost the college about $45,000. Some departments generate gains of more than $5 million while

others cost the college more than $1.4 million.

One metric determines amount of earnings per student taught; some professors (i.e., nontenured

lecturers) teach large classes and earn about $100 per student while others (full professors

teaching small seminar classes) earn more than $10,000 per student (Simon and Banchero,

2010). Like it or not, this is these performance metrics are being used by more and more colleges

as public officials are demanding more productivity and accountability and are examining

educational statistics such as graduation rates, retention rates, number of students that pass

professional licensing exams (e.g., CPA), median starting salaries of graduates, average student

loan debt, and other such measures. Some states are insisting that these measures should be

posted online so that the taxpayer should have a good idea as to the value of a college degree

(Simon and Banchero 2010).

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It is apparent that academe will have to learn to be more productive. Education can learn from

what retailers have done. Many retailers have moved from a brick-and-mortar approach to a

click-and-mortar approach. This means fewer buildings but an expanded presence on the

Internet. Consumers can make purchases at stores and online. Thus, for example, Wal-Mart sells

products at many stores but also does a brisk business online. The publishing industry has also

made changes to its business model. E-books may not totally replace paper books but companies

that want to survive must offer both. College textbook publishers currently offer both types of

books as well as a great deal of material using the web. Textbooks often come with a homework

manager that enables students to do homework online and get immediate feedback. Banks have

buildings but also provide service at thousands of ATMs throughout the world.

Academics who define themselves solely as individuals who teach traditional classes in a face-

to-face (FTF) format are being very myopic. Academics are in the knowledge “business” whose

job it is to provide information, mediate learning, and, more importantly, to enhance students’

ability to think and learn for themselves. The goal is to provide students with the tools and

desire for lifelong learning, not only to impart information. The Chinese proverb – “Give a man a

fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” – is

especially true when it comes to education. The true job of an educator is to provide students

with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and the ability to acquire it.

One of the most important tools in education is homework. However, students are spending less

time doing homework. Educators have to find ways to make homework more interesting and

relevant to today’s students. There is evidence that the homework American students do has

little impact on test scores. It is not how much time students spend on homework that enhances
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learning; it is the quality of the homework assignments. Meaningless homework assignments, so-

called busywork, will have no value in the educational process (Paul, 2011). We believe that the

social media tools can be used to make homework fun and useful.

Some academics insist that the only way students can learn is via a traditional, face-to-face

classroom. This might be justifiable if studies demonstrated that traditional learning was

superior to online learning. The evidence, however, does not support this view. Means et al.

(2009) did a meta-analysis of more than 1,000 studies published from 1996 to 2008 comparing

online with traditional classroom teaching. What they found was that online learning does offer

many advantages over traditional classroom learning. In fact, students who take courses that are

either completely or partially online will perform better than students taking traditional, face-to-

face courses. Interestingly, hybrid courses that combine classroom learning with online learning

seem to be the best of all delivery methods. Means et al. (2009) conclude:

Despite what appears to be strong support for online learning applications, the

studies in this meta-analysis do not demonstrate that online learning is superior as

a medium. In many of the studies showing an advantage for online learning, the

online and classroom conditions differed in terms of time spent, curriculum and

pedagogy. It was the combination of elements in the treatment conditions (which

was likely to have included additional learning time and materials as well as

additional opportunities for collaboration) that produced the observed learning

advantages. At the same time, one should note that online learning is much more

conducive to the expansion of learning time than is face-to-face instruction.

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Diana G. Oblinger, president of Educause, made the following statement in response to the

above study: "Online education provides additional opportunities. It gives people greater

opportunity for flexibility, for experiential learning, for illustrating things in multiple ways such

as visualization." She emphasized that the study makes it quite obvious that colleges have to

make sure to use online education and not insist on only offering courses using traditional, face-

to-face instruction (Jaschik 2009).

Interestingly, a recent study found that when students were asked to rate their college-level

learning experiences, those they considered the most valuable all took place outside of the

traditional classroom: internships, study-abroad programs, senior thesis or other faculty-

mentored research projects, and capstone projects (Young, 2011).

Educators today are trying to determine the goals of education. The Internet has changed the

rules, and skills that were important in the past may not be so important today. For example, is

the ability to calculate a standard deviation or square root important in the computer era? Some

of the goals of education are providing students with the following abilities and skills: problem

solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration (ability to work with others), navigating

the Internet and finding accurate and useful information, and making ethical judgments. An

overarching goal is to provide students with a passion for learning. In the Internet Age,

knowledge acquired in the freshman year in college may be obsolete by the senior year

(Friedman and Friedman, 2011). As we shall see the social media tools can enhance all of the

above skills.

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SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE LEARNING

The best of online learning, much like the best of FTF learning, requires active engagement on

the part of the student. Rather than being passive recipients of transmitted knowledge, students

are active participants in the learning process; they are engaged. Students – not only the

instructor – help to create the learning environment. Teaching is all about communication. Not

one-way communication – boring lectures – but many-to-many communication – a learning

environment. Ideally, we would like students to learn as much from each other as they do from

us. We manage the learning activities and facilitate learning.

Liu et al. (2009) found the most commonly used social media technologies in higher education,

as studied in the literature, were: blogs, podcasts, social networking, and virtual environments.

Hovorka and Rees (2009) studied the use of a number of social media technologies in

information systems courses. Introducing social media into courses may not only help make

them more interesting and even fun, but at the same time teach students can learn valuable and

pervasive workplace skills: communication, collaboration, community, convergence, and

creativity.

Here we use each of these characteristics of social media – the so-called 5 Cs – in an online

learning context. These characteristics serve as a convenient prism through which to examine

the social media technologies and their application to online learning.

COMMUNICATION. Williams and Jacobs (2004) consider blogs and academic discourse to be

“natural allies.” Online learning is still communication – on a technology platform.

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Communication technologies can include “old” technologies such as email, lectures notes in pdf

files, or even an online discussion forum. It can also include communication on the new Web

2.0 technologies, using social media, e.g., student blogs; a class wiki project; a twitter discussion;

online social networking; video presentations on YouTube; or even a virtual world like

SecondLife.

COLLABORATION. Learning how to communicate and work with others should also be a goal

of education (Robinson, 2008). The three skills students must have in order to succeed in the

knowledge economy are: “the ability to do critical thinking and problem solving; the ability to

communicate effectively; and the ability to collaborate” (Friedman, 2010). Social media tools

can be used to teach students how to collaborate and work with others. Many schools have lists

describing the goals of general education. These lists include critical thinking, mathematical

reasoning, ability to communicate, understanding the importance of cultural diversity, ability to

make ethical judgments, appreciation of the fine arts, encouragement of lifelong learning, and

more. Few lists include the ability to work productively with others. Collaboration is of great

importance in almost every enterprise. Very few occupations allow individuals to work alone

without input from others.

CREATIVITY. Pink (2006: 3) observes that "the defining skills of the previous era -'left-brain'

capabilities that powered the Information Age -- are necessary but no longer sufficient." The

skills that are valuable today, in the Conceptual Age, include such factors as creativity, empathy,

happiness, and meaning. Video games may not be a waste of time in the Conceptual Age.

Studies are finding that playing video games may sharpen the skills of physicians involved in

12
laparoscopic surgery and help in decision making (Pink: 2006: 193). Even the military uses

games and virtual worlds to train soldiers. One DARWARS computer game, AMBUSH!, is

used to instruct soldiers on the appropriate course of action when their convoy is being

ambushed on a dangerous roads in Iraq or Afghanistan (Boyd, 2006). Video games are being

developed as training tools for firefighters to teach them how to handle hazardous materials that

might appear in New York City subways (Boyd, 2006). Gee (2003) feels that "when kids play

video games they can experience a much more powerful form of learning than when they're in

the classroom. Learning isn't about memorizing isolated facts. It's about connecting them and

manipulating them."

Robinson (2005) believes that the current system of education is antiquated as it was designed

with a production line mentality. Essentially, it was created in the 19th Century to meet the needs

of large industries as we moved away from agriculture. Industrialism back then needed workers

who were literate and creativity was not that important. Before that there was no public

education since the prevailing belief was that the common man could not learn very much. A

classic education was for the gentleman. This changed with the Age of Enlightenment and the

Industrial Revolution. According to Robinson, companies today believe the most important

challenge is "finding people who could make good decisions in times of uncertainty, who can

adapt to new opportunities and respond creatively to change" (Robinson, 2005). He observes that

in 1997, only 74 companies of the original Standard & Poor list of top 500 corporations

(published in 1957) were still around (Robinson, 2005).

The enemy of creativity, according to Robinson, is standardization. Education today focuses on

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standardized exams and standardized curriculum. The corporate world needs people who

understand divergent thinking, seeing multiple answers to a problem. Schools today rely heavily

on standardized tests which teach students that problems have one answer. Courses that utilize

social media force students to be self-starters and have the potential to encourage them to be

creative. They also teach them about networking as they will have to find ways to connect to

fellow students to work on collaborative projects just as they will in the career world.

Courses that are offered fully or partially online and use social media can enhance creativity

since they can use numerous teaching tools that include animations, videos, wikis, blogs, web

links, webinars, and virtual labs. Brown (2000) observed that the Web has created a "new kind of

information fabric in which learning, working, and playing co-mingle." He adds that the Web is

also "two-way, push and pull." The old method of lecturing passive students is a "push"

approach that does not work for many students. Brown (2000) asserts that young people today

are always "multiprocessing" and conducting several tasks simultaneously. Many can be

working on the computer, talking on their cell phones, and listening to music, all at the same

time! The goal of education today, according to Brown, is to teach students information

navigation, i.e., how to find useful information on the Internet.

COMMUNITY. It is very difficult to be creative in this day and age if one works alone. Indeed,

the ability to communicate has little value if one does not possess the ability to be part of a team.

Many young people are quite comfortable with using communities such as Facebook for social

purposes. How important are communities for learning? Online communities have an important

effect on interaction. The kind of interaction that occurs in a face-to-face class is different from

14
the interaction that occurs in a fully online class.

Bernard et al. (2009) performed a meta-analysis on the distant education literature and examined

three types of interaction treatments (ITs): student-student (SS), student-teacher (ST), and

student-content (SC). Student-student interaction may be built into distance education courses

through the use of group projects. Student-teacher interactions are easy in hybrid courses where

there are some face-to-face meetings and a bit more difficult in fully online courses. Even with

fully online courses, student-teacher interactions can occur via the use of email, phone calls,

discussion boards, chats, and videoconferencing. Student-content interactions can be effected by

having students read online material, collect information, or watch a video. Bernard et al. (2009)

conclude that all three types of interactions are important and should be an important part of

fully online courses since they enhance student learning as well as satisfaction. Web 2.0

technologies are making it less costly and much easier for students to collaborate and have the

student-student interaction. The research in the field is supporting the idea that three kinds of

interaction are very important in learning (Wanstreet 2006; Swan 2002). Battalio (2007),

however, concludes that not all students have the same learning styles. Some students may

prefer learning in a traditional, face-to-face environment; others may thrive in fully online

courses. Younger students, who do not have family obligations and are comfortable with social

networks, may benefit greatly from online learning communities. Older students that work and

have family obligations may not be satisfied with courses that utilize online learning

communities.

CONVERGENCE. In academia, as in other arenas, adaptation is the key to survival.

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When we use social media technologies to mediate learning in traditional and online courses, we

increase our arsenal for knowledge creation exponentially. Indeed, the hybrid course – a blend

of face-to-face and online learning – may be the ultimate mashup.

CONCLUSION

There was a time when laughter was seen as a problem in the workplace. People on the assembly

line at Ford Motor Company during the 1930s and 1940s were fired for laughing or smiling

while working. Ford's philosophy was: "When we are at work, we ought to be at work. When we

are at play, we ought to be at play. There is no use in trying to mix the two." Today, many firms

want employees to be happy at work since they feel it increases productivity and profits. The

mission statement of Southwest Airlines says it all: "People rarely succeed at anything unless

they are having fun doing it." (Pink, 2006: 186-187; Collinson, 2002).

A large number of students quit college and fail to graduate not because of economic factors, but

because they find college uninteresting. These students need to be motivated (Carnes, 2011).

No one has studied whether full-time online learning works for poor children but it is being used

as an alternative to “violent in-school experience.” An educational company called K12 Inc. is

offering online learning for K-12 children. Time will tell whether it works but there are 250,000

cyberschool children now (Collins, 2011). It is difficult for college professors to shun online

when thousands of disadvantaged, young children are being taught that way.

Arum and Roksa (2011) claim that a significant number of college students barely improve their

skills in the vital areas of critical thinking, writing, and problem solving/critical reasoning.

Indeed, after four years, 36% had made no significant gains in those three areas. The average

16
amount of time spent studying by college students is now less than half of what it was in the

1960s. Anne Neal, president of ACTA (American Council of Trustees and Alumni) says:

“College tuitions have risen more than 440% over the last 25 years – and for what? The students

who say that college has not prepared them for the real world are largely right” (McGurn, 2011).

Clearly, we have to transform education and make learning fun and relevant to the real world in

which we live. We live in the Internet Age and young people spend huge amounts of time with

social media. The best way to bring courses to life and make them more exciting, energetic, and

enjoyable is by using social media. Selingo (2012) feels that “despite resistance to the idea from

academics,” the evidence is there that online education has the ability to lower costs and improve

the quality of education. William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland,

believes that, in the future, the typical college class will be a “hybrid of in-person and online

elements.” He also notes that this type of hybrid approach reduces costs by roughly 25% (Pèrez-

Pena, 2012).

Educators who refuse to adapt and continue to insist that the only way to learn is via “chalk and

talk” methods will find themselves hopelessly obsolete. Besides the changes that have taken

place in libraries and in journalism, one only has to think of what is currently happening to the

film industry where the traditional way of showing films -- in movie theaters -- is disappearing.

Professors who wish to increase their value to their institutions must embrace technology and use

all kinds of tools to impart knowledge.

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