Socialinių tinklų naudojimas švietime: teorinės įžvalgos

Abstract

New challenges and opportunities emerge as social media sites are more and more widely used in the modern-day knowledge society. Scientists worldwide, including Lithuania, analyse the use of social media in the processes of communication, cooperation, socialisation, information sharing, etc. The focus, however, has recently been shifting towards adapting and using social networking sites in education. Thus, the aim of this article is to present the opportunities for the use of social media sites in education. The article applies the methodological principles of qualitative research. The main methods of the research presented in the article – meta-analysis of the findings of published research studies and qualitative content analysis – helped to identify the main opportunities for the use of social media for educational purposes, as well as some possible threats. The article presents the results of the research carried out from August to September 2017. The findings suggest that the main focus of scientific research into the use of social networking sites in the process of education is on the analysis of adult education. Social media facilitate students’ active cooperation in the network, thus creating knowledge, and allowing for a change in the students’ social status. Social networking sites are not identical with traditional educational tools. The role of social media as a pedagogical tool is increasing. Social networking sites create opportunities for engaged learning through interactive features, which in turn facilitates interactive relationships, communication, community, and cooperation, and creates educational spaces. Social media create a necessity to rethink the processes of teaching and learning. This is a relatively new and developing process that requires, apart from having certain competences, accepting and adequately understanding responsibility (ethical, legal). Social networking sites are removing the boundaries between professional and social space that are clear in traditional education. They are destroying the line between public and private.