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This study aims to explore Twitter posts of Turkish government agencies and the public under a specific hashtag, #NotHolidayButDistanceEducation, specifically related to online distance education during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This study used a thematic analysis on 22,547 original tweets posted by 6,970 users during the first month of online distance education in Turkish K-12 schools. Based on like and retweet counts, the study further explored the extent of stakeholders’ engagement with the observed themes.

The findings showed that government agencies and citizens used Twitter to provide technical and psychological support, appreciate and motivate stakeholders, demonstrate sample distance education activities, share information and offer suggestions about the ongoing online distance education. It was also observed that the hashtag has been used for expressing negative views about online distance education and for political purposes. A positive relationship was found between social media engagement and providing technical support or sharing information for online distance education.

This study highlights the role of social media in providing practical and emotional support to education stakeholders in times of crisis. Thus, governments can use social media to provide evidence-based psychological and physical health support to their citizens during a pandemic. Social media can serve to improve education practices in schools through the interactions between the public and policymakers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study can be considered unique because it demonstrates the civic use of social media for educational crisis management. This study highlights the influence of social media in educational policy and practice development in the contemporary era.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how online adjunct higher education faculty members perceive the role of using social media sites as instructional approaches. A purposeful sampling was used, and adjunct online higher education faculty members were invited to participate. An adjunct faculty member was defined as a person who taught part-time higher education courses; therefore, the faculty member was not hired as a full-time faculty member.

Qualitative researchers explore phenomena examining the lived experiences and participants behaviors; in this study, online adjunct instructors’ perceptions on classroom instructional social media online approaches were examined. Participants in this study were trained to teach higher education online courses and these teachers were the experts on the topic. The design for this study was an exploratory case study in which the participants were online adjunct instructors who taught at online higher education institutions in the Northeast. The case study approach was the most appropriate. The focus was the external events participants’ lives.

Three themes emerged from the analysis of the in-depth interview process. Based on the adjunct online higher education instructors’ perception on the use of social media teaching approaches in the classroom, the themes that emerged were uniformity of purpose vs personal beliefs need for justification importance student engagement and facilitation vs direct instruction. Themes reflected online teaching approaches higher education institutional missions and student learning and engagement outcomes.

In this study, adjuncts’ perceptions expressed and themes found may not be characteristic of other adjunct instructors’ views. In qualitative studies, participants are asked open-ended interview questions, which may have been a limitation for this study. Quantitative questions, such as the impact of using social media as an instructional approach, were not asked. In this study, adjunct online higher education instructors were invited to share their views on the study topic. Additionally, qualitative researchers are limited by the data collection method and the data analysis process. Therefore, researchers who would like to repeat this study on adjunct online higher education teachers’ perspectives may be unable to duplicate the research.

The significance of this study is the need for a renewed global initiative in higher education to promote the use of social media training for online adjunct faculty members. Online higher education faculty members’ reflections on using social media tend to be recorded from a personal rather than a professional point of view.

The implication for online higher education leaders is to review mission statements and reevaluate how the use of social media may impact student learning outcomes, student career readiness and student engagement opportunities.

The need for a renewed global initiative in higher education to promote the use of social media training for online adjunct faculty evolved as the significance of the study. Because inclusion requirements and workshop training for the use of social media in online higher education classrooms vary among higher education institutions, online adjunct faculty social media classroom practices and perceptions widely vary.

Within a connectivist learning model, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the adoption of social media for educational purposes in India, a hitherto unexplored area of research. The basic research thrust is on students’ experiences when social media is incorporated into higher education. This research tries to gather evidence on the effectiveness of this role and its potential future role as a facilitator and enhancer of learning in the Indian system.

The current research draws on the perspectives of the students regarding the adoption of social media for educational purposes. The data collection was done in two separate stages. Stratified random sampling was applied and a structured questionnaire was sent via e-mail. Usable responses were received from 568 respondents. The second stage consisted of an exploratory qualitative study using in-depth interviews and reflections of 250 students from the original sample.

Four clear themes emerged from the responses collected via the structured questionnaire and particularly from the in-depth interviews. These include: widespread usage of social media, definite usage in business education, strengths of social media in business education and the flip side of learning with social media. One thing is certain: social media will continue to play an important role in the Indian education sector. A number of colleges and universities in India are including social media in their pedagogy, but the challenge lies in effectively aligning it with curriculum.

Despite the widespread use of online social media for communication and entertainment, the use in the educational sphere seems to be less. This year-long study tries to gather evidence on all these issues. No doubt social media’s contribution in the classroom depicts a rising interest in technology as a tool to assist learning but it also reinforces a paradigm shift in the way students learn.

With nearly a billion people on mobile phones, the online system certainly has vast potential to create the right kind of learning. As this study has shown at a micro-level, technology-led reach and easy access is bringing about a socio-economic difference in the lives of Indian learners. While this study certainly supports digital learning in India it points out that higher educational institutions are yet to exploit its full advantage for better student engagement.

One key characteristic of this generation is that they are very education oriented. Due to the relative freshness of the approach in India and fairly restricted use in the Indian higher education system, empirical studies are limited and the impact of social media on student engagement in the higher education system in India is not known.

Social media sites are one of the vital technological developments of WEB 2.0. This study aims to emphasize on building an empirical model to investigate the impending determinants of users’ intention to use social media sites in higher education. Depending on the existing theories such as the social media acceptance model, e-learning acceptance model, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and existing literature, determinants such as “performance,” “communication functionality” and “self” have been identified to test. Further, the mediation effect of “peer influence” on the relationship has also been tested.

A total of 310 students of different private and public Indian institutions have participated in an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple linear regression analysis are performed and results were analyzed.

The results of this study demonstrated substantial evidence of the impact of performance, communication functionality and self on the intention to use social media in higher education. The mediation of peer influence has also been seen between all the relations.

An empirical model of intention to use social media in higher education is built. The median of peer influence is tested.

This viewpoint paper aims to review the book Educating Educators with Social Media, Charles Wankel (Emerald Group Publishing).

The paper provides an overview of the book, key messages and implications for the future.

Social media is already being used in higher education and its almost ubiquitous use in the social environment means academics and other staff involved in learning activities will need to consider how and when to integrate social media into those activities.

The book provides an excellent starting point for anyone interested in social media and learning to find out what has been done to date, what has been learned, and what is possible in the future.

The value of this book rests with the wide range of social media tools it covers, and the willingness of authors to share their learnings from their experiences with social media.

In a public health crisis where social distancing, or physical distancing while in public spaces, is the new normal, social media offer respite from being alone. Recent statistics show spikes in social media usage worldwide during the Covid-19 pandemic. More than just easing loneliness, such freely available digital tools offer affordances for education in an emergency.

This paper summarizes insights from literature reviews of over a decade of research and recent case studies on the benefits of teaching with social media in K-12 education.

The authors highlight three affordances of social media for fostering active learning, community building and civic participation and describe how social media can be used in conjunction with conventional learning management systems. Furthermore, the authors argue that the unprecedented health crisis that is faced today requires the participation of responsible citizens of all ages; K-12 public education is on the front lines of preparing informed and active citizens and the integration of social media as part of remote education plans can help.

The paper includes instructional guidelines for K-12 teachers and instructional designers in various settings who seek to integrate social media as part of their strategy for teaching students at a distance and facilitating their civic participation.

This paper fulfills an identified need for evidence-based and pragmatic approaches to K-12 online teaching and learning using technologies already widely in use (i.e. social media).

Even though social media are nowadays used in the frame of public governance to ensure citizens’ major participation, enhance e-dialogue and e-democracy consequently, this utilization has not been expanded yet in the field of education, whose key role focuses on the cultivation of active citizenship, as it is promoted through participation. The purpose of this paper is to examine leadership’s views of Greek Secondary and Tertiary Education on the potential use of social media for participatory decision-making processes in order to identify if the e-participation model could be implemented in the Greek education field as in other public domains.

An exploratory research was elaborated, employing a survey design of quantitative method in order to explore Greek educational organizations leadership’s perspectives toward social media usage in participatory decision-making processes.

The research reveals Greek educational leadership’s positive view on the potential effects of social media usage in participatory decision-making processes and highlights anticipated benefits as well as problems to be faced, indicating the foundation for Greek leaders to implement social media in their leadership practices and exploit their affordances as in e-governance shifts.

Bringing the concept of e-participation and crowd sourcing model – key features in e-governance initiatives through social media usage – in education field, Greek educational leadership is informed to consider social media utilization more methodically in the context of participatory decision-making processes, updating simultaneously existing leadership practices.

Up till now, social media usage in participatory decision-making processes in educational settings has hardly received attention.

Social media have been associated with social benefits and enhanced psychological well-being among non-disabled individuals; the purpose of this study is to examine whether social media may have similar benefits for young neurodivergent adults with autism, anxiety, or attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder who may experience communication differences. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this first-of-its kind study explores the nature of social media use and related psychological well-being among neurodivergent college undergraduates.

This qualitative study is part of a larger effort. The authors surveyed undergraduates with and without disabilities at U.S. higher education institutions on their social media use and psychological well-being. A total of 131 students responded, including 24 neurodivergent individuals, the results of which are reported elsewhere. Participants were 18–25 years old, of varied genders and racial/ethnic backgrounds; for neurodivergent adults, questions focused on social challenges. From the survey, a sample of five neurodivergent individuals was drawn for this small-scale, exploratory interview study.

This paper reports descriptive statistics from survey results to contextualize analysis of students’ social media use (e.g. purposes, practices, benefits and harms). Students used mainly Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to promote well-being primarily through engaging positive relationships and positive emotions. Students reported several benefits of using social media to develop their disability identity and few harms.

Understanding the impact of social media use on undergraduates with disabilities could help us not only improve services as teachers, counselors and other helping professionals who support young adults to leverage their everyday technologies-in-use but also address digital equity issues.

Knowledge acquisition is a pivotal concern for the students and many sources help them to obtain knowledge. In this paper, the authors theoretically examine three engagements such as social media, peer and academic engagement by the theoretical foundation of engagement theory which tells that students interact and collaborate, sharing information for the acquisition of knowledge that enhances their academic performance. But due to the abundance of information, knowledge and resources available to students for the acquisition of knowledge, it becomes difficult for them to comprehend the most relevant information. In this vein, this study examined the impact of information overload on the relationship between social media, peer and academic engagement and knowledge acquisition of students.

The proposed model and structural relationships were validated using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique through AMOS, version 24.0. To empirically test the hypothesized model, data are collected from the universities of the Sahiwal region (Sahiwal, Okara, Pakpattan) using structured questionnaires.

The findings revealed that social media engagement and academic engagement are positively associated with knowledge acquisition, whereas peer engagement is negatively associated with knowledge acquisition. Moreover, the results of the study further suggested that information overload dampens the positive relationship between social media, peer and academic engagement and knowledge acquisition, which causes negative consequences on students' knowledge acquisition and learning outcomes.

Researchers can use this study as the literature as many of the previous studies focused on the positive side of social networking sites and technologies for knowledge purposes, but this study extends the research and focused on the other side of the picture which has been ignored earlier by researchers. The authors theoretically explained the adverse effects of information overload on students' academic progress caused by social media and the abundance of irrelevant information these advanced technologies offer daily. The current research focused on identifying the critical role of social media, peer and academic institutions providing a lot of information to students which caused stress, anxiety and other psychological issues in them. So, this study adds to the literature by highlighting the adverse effects of unnecessary information provided by multiple resources to students.

Educationalists can adopt this study as a tool in academic institutions for promoting learning and to actively engage students in collaborative learning activities. As the findings of the study confirm that information overload is caused by the imbalanced use of information technology (IT) and social media sites, so teachers can help students in developing creativity and maintaining the balance between using technology and innovation in their studies pattern. Universities and institutions can play a vital role by exploring further opportunities for students and by making such policies that can help students in their learning progress. For this purpose, the authors developed a model based on the literature and theories that could change the academic system of Pakistan and enhance students’ practical knowledge by motivating students in taking part in learning activities by making the higher education system of Pakistan more engaging.

The authors are presenting simulation games-based learning as an alternate approach to learning and teaching that can positively influence students' engagement with learning activities in Pakistan. By adopting this model, the education system of Pakistan could improve as it can lead to better academic performance of students, which ultimately leads to a better education system. Thus, games if correctly designed and implemented in the education system of Pakistan, it can make a great difference in students' value of learning experience. The enjoyment, interactive and realistic nature of the simulation games appears to produce this value, and students tend to engage more toward these types of games rather than traditional learning methods. Simulation games provide students with an opportunity to engage in both hard (financial management, strategy making, decision-making) and soft skills (negotiation, collaboration) in business by challenging their thinking and decision-making power in a safe learning environment.

The phenomena of overload have become increasingly viable due to abundance of resources providing unnecessary information to students as they can get information from peers, teachers, social media platforms, blogs, wikis and many other platforms, which ultimately exhaust their capacity and leading them toward poor academic performance and other negative consequences (Yu, 2019; Bosch, 2016). This study focuses on students of higher education in Pakistan (Sahiwal region) and discusses the major challenges and opportunities that they had to face with the advancement of technology and the current social state of the knowledge in society.

As higher education moves to formats that are not face-to-face classes in the wake of a global pandemic, educators need research-based guidelines to inform instructional planning and implementation. This study aims to provide recommendations for teaching with social media, as a complement and enhancement to traditional online teaching approaches.

The study draws on reviews of the research literature and the authors’ own experiences in studying and integrating social media into remote teaching and learning in university settings.

Learning environments that blend asynchronous online elements, where students can go at their own pace, on their own time, have some choice over their learning and are regularly and meaningfully engaging with other students, their teacher and the subject matter are most successful for student learning. Social media, with its affordances for personal profiling, relationship-building, content creation and socializing, when thoughtfully integrated into an online education plan, can help students and teachers stay connected while apart, enhance students’ engagement and make remote learning seem less remote.

The paper includes instructional guidelines for instructors and instructional designers in various post-secondary settings who seek to integrate social media as part of their strategy for remote higher education.

This study fulfills an identified need for pragmatic approaches to online higher education using social media.