SOCIAL MEDIA IN EDUCATIONEDTC 5103Lori Johnson

Hypothesis: Younger people think social media is a useful educational tool, while older people think it is a waste of time in the classroom.

Gender

Female Male

Procedure: I distributed paper surveys to 20 people of various ages at a high school football game. All respondents live in Oklahoma. 12 were female; 8 were male.

Questions:

What is your age?How often do you use Social Media (Facebook, Twitter,

Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.)?How many different Social Media sites do you use?

Participants were then asked to evaluate the following statementswith a ranking system:

Social media is an effective tool in the classroom.Students will accomplish more and not waste time if allowed to use

social media in the classroom.Social media is an easy way for teachers to keep students updated on

assignments.Students can more effectively collaborate on assignments using social

media.Social media is not just for fun; but also for education.

How often do you use social media? How many social media sites do you use?0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

Use of Social Media

Under 20 20-39 40-59 60 and over

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5 Social Media in Education

Under 20 20-39 years 40-59 years 60 and over

Analysis: As expected, younger people not only used social media more often and used more sites, but they also were more open to the idea of using social media in the classroom than older people were.