Pedagogical Applications of Social Media in Business Education

Abstract

There has been wide academic and research interest in the application of social media modalities, as pedagogical tools, in higher education. Recent research indicates that business-related topics are a major focus of study on this emerging educational issue. Yet a systematic review of outcome studies regarding instructional Web 2.0 adaptations in business education has not appeared. To chart, the contemporary landscape of scholarly research in this area, the current study (a) identified, based on a keyword search in the ProQuest database, the key empirically based studies on the business education-social media nexus and (b) summarized the major findings of a subset of these studies ( n = 11) with a focus on views of business students and faculty. The main social media tools used in instruction were Facebook, blogs, Twitter, and YouTube. Although a majority of studies reported positive attitudes by students regarding academic applications of Web 2.0 technologies, faculty views were more tepid and reserved. Transgression of “socializing” during academic interactivity, privacy issues, and data overload were the major drawbacks noted by students. Faculty were most concerned about the vast breadth of social media modalities and the lack of training support in emerging interactive-mobile technology. Future research needs to address the views of business school administrators on educational adaptation of Web 2.0 tools.