The Experience of International Student Using Social Media during Classes

Abstract

<p>The purpose of the study is to explore the use of social media by international students during<br />classes and discern the pros and cons of their use of social media. An explanatory sequential<br />mixed methods design is used to give evidence about the research problem starting with a<br />quantitative method (questionnaire) and then a qualitative method (semi-structured<br />interviews). The study shows that 64.4% of international students used social media during<br />classes while 35.6% did not. In terms level of satisfaction, the study result shows that males<br />and females were not significant different in this regard. Additionally, most of the participants<br />57.4% used social media for 1-10 minutes, while 27.7% used them for 11 to 30 minutes of<br />class time. Some international students used social media for coping with the weakness of<br />their knowledge during class time, whereas the majority of them indicated that they used<br />social media for surviving the transition of relocating form their own countries to United<br />State as sojourners by stating that they used social media to stay connected with and informed<br />about their family, friends, and country news and events. The use of social media during<br />classes should be integrated with the learning environment, especially regarding the<br />motivation of use, which can potentially provide success in overcoming most reasons for<br />frustration and home sickness.</p>