Engaging Students Using Social Media : The Students Perspective

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 in 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 results are based on a survey administered to students in Principles of Economics courses. Students are more likely to have active Facebook accounts, but Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram are also popular. The results indicate that students are concerned with privacy but are willing to connect with faculty if the connection is “one-way”. Therefore Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, or Facebook “like” pages are better mediums for faculty to use in economic classrooms. The survey indicates students use social media accounts more frequently than email or Learning Management Services and therefore social media can be a more effective tool for spontaneous communication