How Social Media Is Being Used In Education

By Katie Lepi on October 29, 2013

Recently,  the Babson Survey Research Group and Pearson conducted a survey of nearly 8,000 faculty members in higher education to find out more about how faculty are using social media. While we often post infographics showing trends or results from specific studies here at Edudemic, I found the results of this survey particularly interesting – perhaps because they were so different from what I expected.
While it seems that most faculty have adopted some social media use in their personal life, fewer have done so professionally. And their feelings about using social media professionally (in and out of the classroom) seem to be pretty mixed. Keep reading to learn more (and you can access a larger pdf of the infographic by clicking here).

Social Media in Higher Education

While there is no question that students in higher education are pretty well versed in many technologies and social media platforms. But what do their professors think?

• The level of personal use of social media among faculty (70.3 percent) mirrors that of the general population
• 55 percent of faculty use social media in a professional context (any aspect of their profession outside of teaching), up from 44.7 percent last year
• Only 41 percent of faculty use social media in the classroom, but this use continues to experience steady year-to-year growth
• Faculty are sophisticated consumers of social media. They match different sites to their varying personal, professional, and teaching needs
• Concerns remain about privacy, maintaining the class as a private space for free and open discussion, and the integrity of student submissions
• Most faculty agree that “the interactive nature of online and mobile technologies create better learning environments” and that digital communication has increased communication with students
• Faculty believe that online and mobile technologies can be distracting, and that they have resulted in longer working hours and more stress