The promise and pitfalls of social media use in higher education

Julie Willems, Iain Doherty, Henk Huijser, Chie Adachi, Francesca Bussey, Trish McClusky, Marcus O’Donnell

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperOtherpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Social media is pervasive in all aspects of modern life, including health, education, parenting, entertainment personal relationships and current affairs. In Higher Education however, social media is becoming a site of tension between those pursuing connected and innovative educational practice on one hand and an increasingly constrained policy environment reacting to reputational damage resulting from subversive and risky online behaviour by students and staff on the other. Social media has polarised academics, many of whom dismiss it as time-wasting and trivialising academic work and others who embrace it as an open and evolving form of scholarship and academic practice. Students engage with it for learning despite the expected norms of traditional academic practice. This symposium will highlight and explore key issues dominating current debates around the use and misuse of social media in Higher Education drawing on the wisdom of the crowd to find solutions to such challenges.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationConference Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference of Innovation, Practice and Research in the Use of Educational Technologies in Tertiary Education
Place of PublicationTugun, Qld
PublisherAustralasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
Pages654-655
Number of pages2
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
EventAnnual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education 2016 - University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Duration: 27 Nov 201630 Nov 2016
Conference number: 33rd
http://2016conference.ascilite.org/ (Conference website)
http://2016conference.ascilite.org/wp-content/uploads/ASCILITE-2016-full-proceedings-Updated-1512.pdf (Conference Proceedings)

Conference

ConferenceAnnual Conference of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education 2016
Abbreviated titleASCILITE 2016
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityAdelaide
Period27/11/1630/11/16
Other33rd International Conference of Innovation, Practice and Research in the Use of Educational Technologies in Tertiary Education
Internet address

Keywords

  • Digital
  • Higher education
  • Identity
  • Learning
  • Policy
  • Research
  • Social media
  • Teaching

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