Beyond the Screen: Exploring Students' Views on Social Media's Impact in Education

Demeke, Wegene

Abstract

This study delved into the intricate relationship between social media usage and academic outcomes among university students from diverse fields: en-gineering and art studies, health and social care studies, and business studies. The study employed a two-pronged methodological approach, encompassing a survey questionnaire and focus group discussions. The survey data, reported in a sepa-rate publication, provided quantitative insights into students' social media usage patterns, preferences, and perceived impacts on academic performance. The fo-cus group discussions, conducted across three university campuses, facilitated a more in-depth exploration of students' experiences, motivations, and the nuances of their social media usage behaviors.

The study's findings highlighted the complex interplay between social media and academic outcomes. While excessive social media engagement could negatively impact academic performance, social media could also be harnessed for collabo-ration, knowledge sharing, and peer-to-peer learning. Students' preferences for specific social media platforms were influenced by the purpose of use and the desire to maintain a sense of autonomy. The study concluded that educators should adopt strategies to help students manage their social media usage effec-tively, maximizing its potential benefits while minimizing distractions and nega-tive impacts on academic performance.

Citation

Demeke, W. (2024, March). Beyond the Screen: Exploring Students' Views on Social Media's Impact in Education. Presented at 12nd World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies, Lodz, Poland

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: 12nd World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies
• Start Date: Mar 26, 2024
• End Date: Mar 28, 2024
• Acceptance Date: Jan 4, 2024
• Online Publication Date: May 13, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 4, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: May 14, 2025
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 988
• Pages: 184-196
• Series Title: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems
• Series ISSN: 2367-3370
• Book Title: Good Practices and New Perspectives in Information Systems and Technologies; WorldCIST 2024, Volume 4
• ISBN: 978-3-031-60223-8
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-60224-5_20
• Keywords: Social media, academic outcome, University students
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3445416