Learning through social media: students' perception

Abstract

Research in the tertiary education has shown numerous studies conducted on the contribution and perception of social media in learning. However, studies that emphasis on school students' perception on the same topic found to be scarce. Therefore, with gender differences in perspective, this exploratory study seeks to identify the most used social media among school students, to unravel their perceptions towards the use of social media in learning as well as students' involvement with the teachers and schools' online social circle. Purposive sampling was employed for this study. Questionnaires were randomly distributed to respondents chosen from schools in north and center of Peninsular Malaysia. Results found that Facebook is the most popular social media followed by Whatsapp and Instagram. Regardless of gender, students correspond with the idea of social media usage in learning. About 57% of the students withhold to be within their teachers' online social circle but able to reach a consensus in terms of the school page. Albeit the positive affirmative viewpoint, an appropriate planning is crucial to ensure the outcome is parallel with the preference of the students and also applicable in the real setting of teaching and learning.