Role of Social Networking Sites in Enhancing Teaching Environment

Role of Social Networking Sites in Enhancing Teaching Environment

Singanamalla Vijayakumar (VIT University, India), Vaishali Ravindra Thakare (VIT University, India), Amudha J (VIT University, India), S. Bharath Bhushan (VIT University, India) and V. Santhi (VIT University, India)
Copyright: © 2017 |Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-2483-0.ch011

Abstract

In recent days, most of the academic institutions across the world understand the usefulness of social networks for teaching and learning. In general, information is being transferred across the world for multiple purposes in different aspects through social media networks. In academic environment to enhance the teaching and learning processes social media networks are used to greater extent. Researchers and academicians are making use of social media tools, specifically Facebook, Blogs, Google groups, SkyDrive and Twitter for teaching and research. Further, the academic performance of students has been tested statistically by teachers using Social Networking Sites (SNS). The study has been carried out to understand the role of SNS in teaching environment which reveals that students are accessing various social media tools for information sharing and personal interaction. Finally, it has been observed from the analysis that there is increasing demand for the role of SNS in future education perspective. In this chapter the role of SNS in teaching environment is carried out elaborated and presented.
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1. Introduction

The social media networks take important role in general communication among people including teachers and students for academic purposes. In general, social media networks communication could be established for improving the academic activities such as teaching, learning, research and to carry out academic analysis to arrive at results. In this digital era, modern technologies with the use of social networking media are becoming important in our day to day life. This modern way of information sharing through social networks create a greater impacts in improving the performance of among academic people especially among youths. The performance improvement and knowledge skill developed using social networks is outlined in (Bureš, V., et al. 2016)’s work.

1.1. Overview

Recently, the virtual communication media is dominating most of the activities in students’ day to day life – from play to leisure, school life, creating relations with family members, education with social activities. Indeed, media become so powerful that they can shape and influence the individual’s attitudes, beliefs, values, and lifestyles. The communication media landscape for today’s students includes print, radio, television, video games, computers, and the on-line technology of e-mail and various Internet applications. The various studies found that top leisure activities for teen students after school/college remain to be traditional media that is, watching TV and listening to the radio. However, there is an emerging prominence of technology-related activities like use of cell phones and Internet, indicating greater interest and participation in the technocentric life. New priorities among teen students, therefore, are hinged on the popularity of technology and connectivity.

The significant advancement in the field of electronic devices and networking has made the internet as an integral part of the students and teachers life. It has not only become as the largest information resource but as a rapid means of communication. It has a direct and dramatic impact on the academic life as students/teachers access internet for information retrieval, information sharing, entertainment, giving assignments online, posting queries in blogs over internet, discussions groups on SNS, etc. The most recent development is the social networking sites which have infiltrated, virtually every domain, including education. This evolution of social networking sites in education has transformed the teaching learning environment (Swara Kamal M. D., et al.2016). In universities both teachers and students use social networking sites to develop their teaching, personal learning and training through collaborative learning and production of knowledge.

1.2. Social Networking Sites (SNS)

SNSs are applications, is used to support a common space moving the borders of cultural norms for distribution benefits, collaborations, resource sharing, communications and interactions in a different way. Those are all activities of SNSs to be supporting on both the real and virtual social worlds, as they include offline and online interactions. This enhanced influence of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Ning, Xing, WhatsApp and etc have brought significant changes and replaced the conventional face-to-face learning and blackboard system. Such type of explosion of social network media and with their possibilities of networking brought modern techniques of teaching and learning environment (Quinn, D., et al. 2012).

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