The Feasibility and Acceptance of Social Media Interventions in Higher Education Classrooms of Developing Nations with Special Reference to India

Year 2018, Volume: 9 Issue: 3, 284 - 296, 16.07.2018

Mangale Vadivu Vivakaran Neelamalar Maraimalai

https://doi.org/10.30935/cet.444114

Abstract

Computers, during its entry into the academic domain, were forecasted to revolutionize the
entire educational system across the globe. At present, similar expectations
have been encircling the social media technologies. Many researchers claim that
social media, when introduced in higher education environments, tend to enhance
the students’ learning experience by facilitating heightened levels of
instructor-student interactions, peer learner support and learners’ collaboration. Though social media is claimed to take
the higher education learning to the next level, it is crucial to identify the
readiness and proficiency of the instructors who play the main role in
efficiently implementing these technologies in their classrooms. Especially, instructors
belonging to the institutions present in developing nations are less likely to
have proper access to some of the basic facilities (such as power supply or
internet connectivity) required for social media integration. Hence, the
present study aims at identifying the feasibility of introducing social media
aids to the higher education classrooms present in Tamil Nadu – one among the
eight Indian states having the highest number of colleges in the Nation

Keywords

Social media, Higher education, Technology acceptance, Educational interventions, Atttudes toward social media

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