Confronting social media in higher education

Abstract

Social media is becoming more and more pervasive in all aspects of life, including education. As social media application is a comparatively new research field, the discourse on its application in education environments is often contradictory. Thus, literature review is carried out to identify the main trends and issues in the emerging research and theories on social media use in higher education. First, the background of higher education modernization and technological influence is reviewed, paying attention to the effects of social media application in the sphere of higher education. Various forms of social media and transitional media applications, such as course management systems, are discussed concerning their use in educational environments. Also, a note is taken of new emerging educational theories concerning learning based on technological change and social media use. It is noted that the initial enthusiasm about social media application in higher education is changed by sober understanding of social media integration into higher education contexts.