Economics courses.5 Understanding which social media sites are most utilized by ... the most popular: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google+.
Title: Engaging Students Using Social Media: The Students’ Perspective Authors1: Abdullah Al-Bahrani2, Darshak Patel3, Brandon Sheridan4 Abstract: Social media access and usage has grown rapidly in the past several years. In academia, social media is a new pedagogical tool that may be used to engage students both inside and outside the economics classroom, and impact their overall success. In this study we examine the students’ view of incorporating social media in the classroom. The survey was administered at three academic institutions. The results are based on a survey administered to students in Principles of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics courses. Students have heavy presence in the order of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. However, based on their preferences, these mediums are ranked as follows: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The results indicate that students are concerned with privacy but are more willing to connect with faculty if the connection is “one-way” and participate if the social media was a voluntary part of class. Therefore Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, or Facebook “like” pages or groups are potentially better mediums for faculty to use in economic classrooms. The survey indicates that students use their social media accounts more frequently than email or Learning Management Systems and, therefore, social media may also be a more effective tool for spontaneous communication for some students. Keyword: Social Media, Networks, Pedagogy, Education, Informal Learning, Teaching of Economics JEL Codes: A22
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We would like to thank Mitch Dufour, Jaimie Hoffman, Nick Ross, and Amy Thomas for their research assistance and invaluable advice on an earlier version of this manuscript. 2 Assistant Professor of Economics at Northern Kentucky University 3 Assistant Professor of Economics at University of Tennessee at Martin 4 Assistant Professor of Economics at North Central College, Corresponding Author
Introduction: Economics educators have recently become interested in the use of social media networks to engage students in and beyond the classroom. While most academic use of social media has been concentrated in Marketing and Management courses thus far, economics instructors have also begun incorporating social media in the classroom as an active learning tool (Al-Bahrani and Patel, 2015; Alpert et al., 2013; Harmon et al. 2013; Kadar, 2012; Kassens, 2014). The introduction of social media in the classroom raises many concerns, one of which is student privacy. The effectiveness of social media as a pedagogical tool may be hindered if students are not receptive to using it as form of communication. In this paper, we examine the students’ view of social media as a potential educational tool by administering a survey to students in Principles of Economics courses.5 Understanding which social media sites are most utilized by students, the frequency of use, and any student concerns will allow instructors considering incorporating social media to do so more effectively. Social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube, among a growing list of others, are an important part of students’ lives and are often accessed multiple times daily (Junco, Merson, and Slater, 2010). The popularity and frequency of social media utilization by students suggests that these networks might facilitate out-of-class engagement when used appropriately, which may ultimately increase academic success (Kuh, 2009). Early evidence suggests that social media use in
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We use Principles of Economics to represent both Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics as independent courses.
academics can increase student engagement, grades, and overall academic success (Lowe and Laffey, 2011; Miners, 2010; Rinaldo et al., 2012). The economics discipline has historically lagged behind in implementing new pedagogical technologies (Watts and Schaur, 2011). Due to social media being a relatively new technology available to economics instructors, there may be some apprehension among instructors who are considering incorporating it into their courses. Alternatively, social media platforms may not foster an effective learning environment. Social media sites are typically used for personal communication, so transitioning to using social media for educational purposes may blur personal and professional boundaries and create privacy issues between the faculty and students. Often, privacy concerns are cited as the reason to avoid incorporating social media in the classroom (Seaman and Tinti-Kane, 2013). Moran, Seaman, and Tinti-Kane (2011) find that faculty view social media as a personal communication tool and that using it for classroom purposes would encroach on their privacy. This paper attempts to identify, from the students’ perspective, the issues surrounding social media use for educational purposes, specifically in economics classrooms. As faculty consider implementing social media, understanding students’ concerns can help create a better connection and allow for a more effective use of such technology. Furthermore, little attention is given to which social media platform is best for academic use. The integration of technology is usually based on the perceived ease of use and the need for the technology in the classroom (Huffman and Huffman, 2012), so using social media sites that students are already familiar with are more likely to be effective and can be transitioned more smoothly into the classroom. Thus, this study also
sheds light on the social media sites that students in principles of economics courses are more likely to use, in addition to the ones that may minimize privacy concerns, and therefore may be better suited for use in the classroom. The findings are based on a survey administered to students enrolled in Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics at three institutions: North Central College (NCC), Northern Kentucky University (NKU), and University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM), during the 2014-2015 academic year. The results identify the social media platforms that students utilize, the frequency of access, and students’ view on social media use in the classroom. For instructors considering incorporating social media, this information is beneficial because it allows them to meet students in a space where students are already active. We find that in Principles of Economics courses, nearly half of students would include a professor/instructor in their social media network. For students with privacy concerns, a connection that minimizes faculty’s access to student information, defined as a “one-way” connection, is preferred. In fact, if the connection were one-way, then the proportion of students willing to include a faculty member in their social media network increases to two-thirds. This represents an opportunity for faculty to extend the confines of the classroom by maintaining a presence on social media. Although social media access does not require mobile devices6, its effectiveness is enhanced with mobile technologies because it increases the likelihood of utilization. Over 95% of students have access to some sort of mobile device that connects to the Internet, meaning that using mobile technology for pedagogical purposes will potentially exclude less than 5% of students. However, most institutions have computer labs available on 6
For our purposes, we define mobile devices as smartphones, tablet devices, and/or laptops.
campus. Many also offer students the option to temporarily borrow a laptop or tablet device, which can somewhat mitigate the accessibility issue. In order of preference and use, students rank the following social media sites as the most popular: Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Google+. While it is still unclear if social media is an effective tool to use in improving learning outcomes, an important precursor is to increase student-instructor connections on social media. We find that students access social media sites more frequently than their school email or Learning Management Systems (LMS). Using the findings from this research, faculty can incorporate social media in the classroom as an effective pedagogical tool, while maintaining student privacy.
Literature Review The use of social media in academia is documented well in other disciplines (Lowe and Laffey, 2011; Miners, 2010; Rinaldo et al., 2012), but only recently has it received interest in economics education research. Social media is a tool that instructors can use to provide additional active learning opportunities to their students. Kassens (2014) provides insight on how to use Twitter for writing assignments in Principles of Macroeconomics classes, while Al-Bahrani and Patel (2015) provide a guide on using social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to engage students inside and outside of the economics classroom. Kassens (2014) uses graded social media assignments, which are a large portion of the students’ overall grades, while Al-Bahrani and Patel (2015) offer suggestions on how to use three popular social media platforms as a supplement to the traditional lecture. While their methods of incorporating social media
are different, the overall objective is to increase students’ understanding of economics and extend the classroom beyond the physical constraints of the lecture hall. When the Internet was first introduced in economics classrooms in the early 1990s, it was expected that the benefit would be due to the greater interaction and communication between student and instructor (Agarwal and Day, 1998; Manning, 1996). Similarly, social media use has the potential to increase communication between the student and instructor. In Marketing courses, the use of social media has been shown to improve students’ grades, engagement, and evaluations of the faculty (Croxall, 2010; Junco, Heiberger and Loken, 2011; List and Bryant, 2012; Wankle, 2009). To our knowledge, there are very few documented studies examining the effectiveness of social media in the economics classroom. Kadar (2012) finds that in economics classes where Twitter was used, student engagement did increase but the impact on grades was mixed. Pellizzari (2012) reports a positive association of Facebook usage and learning outcomes in math courses. While many potential benefits of social media for educational purposes have been touted, the costs and drawbacks of using social media have not yet received much attention. Kassens (2014) explains that the use of Twitter assignments may not be suitable in large lecture-based classrooms. Student privacy is also mentioned as a concern in Kassens (2014). Social media accounts are usually for individual use and, unlike email, social media accounts share information with the user’s network of followers. In hopes of minimizing privacy concerns, some instructors mandate that students create new profiles for use in their economics classes (Kassens, 2014; Kader, 2012). A disadvantage of this approach is that it requires students to have multiple accounts, which increases the costs
of using social media for the student and may consequently reduce its efficacy. Another way to mitigate students’ privacy concerns is to create a “one-way” connection. Roblyer et al. (2010) find that only 15% of students report that they would view faculty connection on social media as an invasion of privacy. They also find that students are more interested in the use of social media in classrooms than are faculty. Moran, Seaman, and Tinti-Kane (2011) survey faculty and find that they are, indeed, less receptive to social media use than students, with privacy cited as a primary concern. Faculty members that advocate for the use of social media in the classroom argue that students are already utilizing these tools (Davis and Yin, 2013). However, little attention is given to which social media platform is best for educational use. For instructors, introducing new technology in the classroom can be challenging, especially if there is a cost (time, monetary, or otherwise) to doing so (Sheridan, Hoyt and Imazeki, 2014). One way to lower the costs of incorporating any technology into the classroom is by choosing one with which students are already familiar and utilize regularly.
Method An online questionnaire was given to a sample of 500 undergraduate students enrolled in Principles of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics courses at two regional state universities – Northern Kentucky University (NKU) and the University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM) – located in the southern United States and a comprehensive liberal arts college – North Central College (NCC) – located in the Midwest United States, in the 2014-2015 academic year. The survey was administered during the week following the last drop/add day. Each instructor required the survey as part of the class
requirements.7 To meet Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements, it was made clear to students that opting out of the survey would not negatively impact their grade. Students received credit simply for completing the survey, which could consists of opting in and filling out the entire survey or opting out and answering zero questions. NKU is a public liberal arts undergraduate institution that also features graduate programs located southeast of Cincinnati, Ohio attracting large number of students from the states of Kentucky and Ohio. NKU operates on a semester schedule and has approximately 12,794 undergraduate students enrolled. At NKU, the survey was administered in a total of five courses: two sections of Principles of Microeconomics in the Fall 2014 semester and two sections of Principles of Macroeconomics and one section of Principles of Microeconomics course in the Spring 2015 semester. NCC is a private, comprehensive liberal arts college located in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois. It is comprised primarily of approximately 2,800 undergraduate students, but also offers a select few Master’s programs (approximately 300 students). The academic calendar for NCC consists of three 10-week terms. Each term is similar to the traditional semester in terms of how many hours students spend in class, but students usually take 3-4 courses per term whereas students at traditional semester-based schools may take 4-5 courses, on average. At NCC, the survey was administered to two sections of Principles of Macroeconomics during the winter term that took place from January 4th, 2015 to March 16th, 2015. UTM is one of the five campuses of the University of Tennessee system offering undergraduate and graduate programs. It is a public four-year institution located in a rural 7
The survey was added as a part of their assignments for the class. It represented 2% of the overall grade for NKU, 1% of the overall grade for UTM and 0.65% of the overall grade for NCC.
town west of Tennessee. There are approximately 7,000 undergraduate students currently enrolled. UTM is known for its large experimental farm and attracts many first generation students from surrounding small towns. UTM utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. At UTM, the survey was administered in a total of four courses: two sections of Principles of Microeconomics in the Fall 2014 semester and two sections of Principles of Macroeconomics in the Spring 2015 semester.
Data and Results The objective of this survey is to better understand students’ perceptions and usage of various social media platforms. In addition to collecting standard data about major, gender, and education, we also ask questions about frequency of social media access, platform preference, and views on faculty-student connections via social media. Given the increased interest in using social media to connect with students, it is imperative to identify the platform that best suits students and the type of connection with which they are comfortable. While we understand that student preferences of social media may change over time, we believe that this survey demonstrates students’ eagerness to participate in social media and identifies an opportunity for faculty to take advantage of this space to expose students to economics. Understanding these issues can help increase the effectiveness of social media use in the classroom.
Demographics Of the 500 students asked to complete the survey, 446 did so, for an overall participation rate of 89.2%. The participation rate by institution was 88%, 91%, and
88.5% for NKU, UTM, and NCC, respectively. There were 40 non-respondents, 11 students chose to opt out and 3 students started the survey but never completed it. Table 1 contains student-level descriptive statistics. The final sample contains 446 students who completed the survey, out of which 40% are female, 59% are male and 2 students indicated other gender. More than 70% of students report majoring in some area of business, while the remaining students described themselves as non-business majors. The sample is classified as 9% freshmen, 48% sophomores, 33% juniors and 10% seniors. The average student’s age is 22.1 years. The sample is 77% white, 9% Black, 3% Asian, 3% Hispanic, and 7% other race. Approximately 24% transferred from other institutions, 76% are from within the respective institution’s state, and 29% live on campus. On average, students take 0.54 remedial credits their first semester. On average, students attempt a little more than 14 credit hours per semester/term, the average college GPA is 3.02, and the average high school GPA is 3.425. Students enrolling in principlelevel economics courses have completed approximately 50 credit hours and work an average of nearly 25 hours per week. We find several similarities and differences amongst students at the three institutions.8 There isn’t much difference in the average ages between the three institutions (range from 21.3 to 22.4). We find that there are more women in the UTM sample (43.6%) compared to NKU (37.4%) and NCC (37.7%). The majority of the students at all 3 institutions are white (more than two-thirds). While black students 8
We tested the differences between the means of the characteristics with each institution and with the overall average as well. There were some statistically significant (5% level) differences for some covariates. These t-stats are available upon request. By survey institutions with different student bodies, we hope to gain insight from a diversity of attitudes and perceptions from different students and different institutions.
