Morehead State University
Leveraging Social Media to Support Management Education and Develop Social Media Selfefficacy
Institution
Morehead State University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Johnathan Nelson; Sam Stapleton
Abstract
Social media is increasingly a part of everyday life for many students. This creates an opportunity for instructors to use social media to help students learn, engage in class activities, and collaborate with other students. Additionally, instructors can utilize social media, such as LinkedIn, to help students prepare to enter the workforce and achieve professional advancement. The increasing use of social media in business makes it important for students as current and future employees to be knowledgeable of how to use social media. By teaching students these concepts in the classroom, they are much more likely to enter the workforce with increased selfefficacy for using professional social media and awareness of the benefits and risks that go along with them. Because of the potential benefits of using social media for students, instructors are beginning to incorporate social media into their teaching practice. However, the great number of social media platforms with their inherent strengths and weaknesses can make it difficult to determine exactly how to incorporate social media into management instruction. Thus, research is needed to guide management instructors on how to best incorporate social media into courses. Exploratory data from students in two different management courses—Human Resource Management and Leadership Development—was collected on a two-part social media assignment using LinkedIn. Students were administered a survey before and after this social media based assignment to measure changes in student self-efficacy using social media as well as to collect student feedback on this social media assignment. We tested whether student social media self-efficacy increased during the time in which students completed this assignment; we report these results and student feedback on this assignment. These results can guide efforts to use social media to advance learning in the classroom and prepare students for productive careers in the business world.
Leveraging Social Media to Support Management Education and Develop Social Media Selfefficacy
Social media is increasingly a part of everyday life for many students. This creates an opportunity for instructors to use social media to help students learn, engage in class activities, and collaborate with other students. Additionally, instructors can utilize social media, such as LinkedIn, to help students prepare to enter the workforce and achieve professional advancement. The increasing use of social media in business makes it important for students as current and future employees to be knowledgeable of how to use social media. By teaching students these concepts in the classroom, they are much more likely to enter the workforce with increased selfefficacy for using professional social media and awareness of the benefits and risks that go along with them. Because of the potential benefits of using social media for students, instructors are beginning to incorporate social media into their teaching practice. However, the great number of social media platforms with their inherent strengths and weaknesses can make it difficult to determine exactly how to incorporate social media into management instruction. Thus, research is needed to guide management instructors on how to best incorporate social media into courses. Exploratory data from students in two different management courses—Human Resource Management and Leadership Development—was collected on a two-part social media assignment using LinkedIn. Students were administered a survey before and after this social media based assignment to measure changes in student self-efficacy using social media as well as to collect student feedback on this social media assignment. We tested whether student social media self-efficacy increased during the time in which students completed this assignment; we report these results and student feedback on this assignment. These results can guide efforts to use social media to advance learning in the classroom and prepare students for productive careers in the business world.