The impacts on learning via social media: A study on post-secondary students in Hong Kong

Abstract

Social media are the forms of electronic interaction or communication that enable people to create or share ideas in virtual communities or online networks. By using mobile devices and web-based technologies, people can easily get access to these highly interactive platforms. This paper explores the potential uses of social media for university teaching and learning activities. It also aims to find out how social media is applied at universities in Hong Kong, and their benefits or pitfalls when compared to other applications. Facebook and YouTube will be deeply discussed in this paper. A research was conducted with undergraduates from different universities in Hong Kong by using an online survey, in order to know how satisfactory of the undergraduates are feeling when applying social media for academic purposes. Results show that students might make uses of the sharing, discussing and searching functions from the social media. However, at the same time, students would be rather easily distracted by the entertaining and social functions from the social media. Further evaluation of our survey information will be included in detail, supported by findings and theories from different literatures.