AOL : Academic Online Learning A Qualitative Study on High School Marians' Use of Facebook and Twitter for Academics

Abstract

The research looks at the benefits of social media to students and the possibility that social media is not always a distraction to teenagers but can also be a huge help to them in many ways. The purpose of the study is to understand the benefits of social media specifically Facebook and Twitter for teenager student's academics using a method of interviewing resulting in a vast knowledge about the positive effects of social media. This study would be a great contribution the benefits of Facebook and Twitter in relation to academics. Our data collection approach will be an unstructured open-ended interview, audio tape the interview, and transcribe the interview. Through this approach we will be able to obtain precise information directly from the interviewees. In choosing for the interviewees, purposive sampling was used to choose the best candidates for the interview and in order to get people that are likely to give their best for the interview. We concluded that social media does not have a strictly negative effect on students. They also gained something positive from using Facebook and Twitter. The ways they benefit through communication is that they can catch up on assignments and lessons they've missed, ask for help from their classmates and teachers, share their ideas with others, and disseminate information. When asked about the effective ways a student can balance the use of Facebook and Twitter as a tool for entertainment and for educational purposes, they answered that the way to balance everything is to have time management, discipline, and learn to prioritise.