Experiences and perspectives of social media in learning and teaching in higher education

A qualitative study conducted at a large UK post-92 university explored the experiences and perceptions of lecturers and their use of social media in learning and teaching contexts in different disciplines across the institution. Discussion between participants in two focus groups revealed a range of complex and interdependent factors that influence the successful use of social media for learning and teaching. The facilitated discussions exposed three different perspectives for consideration: personal (the experiences and attitudes of the lecturer and the student), pedagogy (demanded by the learning context in question) and institutional (dictated, or driven by the institution). Themes that arose were used to cluster and further analyse the data. Based on the intersectionality of perspectives, a series of recommendations are made for consideration by higher education institutions for institutional strategy and support for the applied use of social media in learning and teaching contexts.