RESEARCH PAPER TEMPLATE

North American University

Education Department
M.Ed. in EDLE & CUIN
EDUC 5324: INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY INTO EDUCATION
Name: Derya Unver

Date:9/19/2015

What are the Educational uses of Facebook or other social media (e.g. twitter) (K12 or higher education)

1. LITERATURE REVIEW:
What does the literature/research say about this issue/topic? By using NAU
Library or Online Search engines, conduct a literature review.

You need to include 5 different sources (book, journal article, web article
etc.) in your review. Try to use current sources as much as possible.

You need to summarize and synthesize your sources by discussing a

common theme or issue.

You don't need to critique your sources

You don't need to evaluate your sources (if the sources are trustworthy,
weather the author has a bias or not)

You need to provide background information such as history and

definitions

Literature Review
The first recognizable social network site launched in 1997.
SixDegrees.com allowed users to create profiles, list their Friends and,
beginning in 1998, surf the Friends lists. From 1997 to 2001, a number of
community tools began supporting various combinations of profiles and
publicly articulated Friends. Social media has become a growing
phenomenon with many and varied definitions in public and academic
uses.
Twitter is a social networking site that offers micro blogging services to
interact via Twitter posts, also called tweets, on Smartphones, laptops,
iPods, and any devices with Internet access. Twitter is a free service that is
part microblogging platform and part social network, which allows users to
send and receive short, 140 character messages. Twitter includes several
features for sharing information such as a timeline (chronological display
of messages) and other settings, either private or public. In the past few
years, professional learning communities have incorporated social media
as pedagogical tools inside and outside the classroom for higher education
students. Twitter, as an emerging social media, has been narrowly used in
college classrooms across disciplines. . In recent years, educators have
been interested in how this online tool could be used in, examining how it
could be used in the classroom. A PLN is an informal learning network of

people you connect with for the specific purpose of learning, based on
reciprocity and a level of trust that each party is actively seeking value
added information for the other. In other words, there is a tacit
understanding among participants that the reason they are connecting is
for the purpose of active learning. While a PLN involves negotiating social
relationships for the purpose of learning.
Additionally, the open nature of Twitter means these learning networks are
now no longer confined to closed and private spaces, but are open and
public. This increases opportunities for collaboration, connections, and
learning opportunities. Using Twitter, educators can access the collective
knowledge of their peers, engage in discussions, debates, conversations,
and participate in collaborative projects whenever and wherever they like.
This active participation requires a high degree of transparency, selfmotivation, and a willingness among participants to experiment with new
ways of learning within a technology-mediated network. From Facebook to
Twitter and blogs, social media tools are an integral and important part of
society, and these tools are here to stay. Social media is about
collaborating, networking, sharing and generating knowledge and content,
and all of these features are of great value in the context of higher
education. Todays Universities have well-developed social media
strategies, and use a suite of social media tools for various purposes
including internal and external communications, recruitment, sharing
research findings, and highlighting exciting student initiatives.

2. REFLECTION:

What is your personal opinion on this issue? Do you agree with the
research? If you agree or disagree, please explain why?
Provide examples/experiences regarding this issue from school
perspective or If you are not working in a school, from your profession. Be
specific with your examples. You can mention software/hardware names,
specific methods that you plan to use, etc.
How would you implement this research in your career? (At least 1
paragraph)

Reflection:
I think Twitter, Facebook and other social media are very significant for higher
education and for future education because Social media is a unique public
environment that has its own culture and expectations. Traditional costumer
service and public relations may not be enough. Social media is one of the best
way to entertain yourself. Researcher have discovered that trends in the way that
we perform every major action on Facebook -liking, posting, sharing and,
commenting. On the Facebook social network, teachers can build pages for their
classes that they can use for communicating class announcements, class
activities and assignment deadlines, etc. Another option is employing tools like
the Edmodo site, often referred to as the Facebook for schools. My husband is
teaching science and he uses Edmodo for science projects, and all other
assignments to assign students. It is a very easy tool to use because my husband
can create an account and send students updates about classroom activities and

homework and also he can answer their questions and he can give instant
feedbacks their projects and the other works. Teachers need to use Facebook,
twitter and other social media tools for teaching and better education. Certainly
you have used on-line sites to connect with others in order to share ideas or
information. After my research I notice that there are different popular social
media sites like Facebook , YouTube and ,twitter, Edmodo ; however, there are
many other tools that you may choose to use in obtaining or sharing information
that can help my develop my career. I would love to use Edmodo for teaching like
my husband. It is very useful tool for teaching and for my future class. Social
media allows students to have access to a wealth of resources for learning. Social
media may be used differently while teaching than in a traditional classroom
setting. It is hard to determine the facts about whether social media helps
students build intellectual growth when used in the classroom. Social media is
one of the emerging online spaces for social and educational participation and it
needs future inquiry for other possibilities. Quick Internet searches will yield
many similar statements, and support the idea of using social media tools in
teaching and learning. However, if one of the goals of teaching and learning is to
support and improve student engagement, we should continue to explore the
ways that social media tools may help accomplish this goal. These tools can help
to create an important learning community, facilitate active learning, and improve
communication among and between students and the instructor.

3. REFERENCES:

Cite at least 5 References in APA.

You may use http://www.citationmachine.net/apa/cite-a-journal for citing
your sources in APA style.

References:
Antlfinger, C. (2014, January 24). Twitter gaining acceptance as a classroom
tool.
How Teachers Can Use Social Media in the Classroom. February 21 2014
Seaman, J & H. Tinti-Kane. 2013. Social Media for Teaching and Learning. Pearson
Learning Solutions
Lin, M. F., Hoffman, E. S., Borengasser, C. (2013). Is social media too social for
class? A case study of Twitter use. TechTrends, 57(2), 39-48.
Foon Hew, K. & W.S. Cheung. 2013. Use of Web 2.0 technologies in K-12 and higher
Education.
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. Social Network Sites: Definition, History,
and Scholarship 2006.