The Role of Social Media for Collaborative Learning to Improve Academic Performance of Students and Researchers Al-Rahmi, Othman, and Yusuf This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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several opportunities that heightens enhance student learning through interactivity. On the basis
of the above discussion, the following hypotheses are proposed;
H1: There is a significant relationship between interactivity among student group members and
collaborative learning.
H2: There is a significant relationship between interactivity among student group members and
engagement.
Social Media Use and Interactivity with Supervisors and Lecturers Lecturers and supervisors using social media should be able to play an active role in collaboration
with students. This is because it is their responsibility to promote student’s creativity, assess
activities, and explain misunderstanding arising from the content area and knowledge creation in
order to sustain the learning environment integrity (Frye et al., 2010; Liu, 2011). Some lecturers
as well as supervisors have identified methods to integrate social media in their lectures and
curricula while others are not willing to use it (Fewkes & McCabe, 2012). However, social media
use should be purposeful and it should be employed in circumstances that are suitable for
learning, where researchers and students’ understanding can happen (Liu, 2011). Social media
can be optimally used as an introductory review and collaborative learning tool and not just as an
advertising method for class reminders (Fewkes & McCabe, 2012; Al-Rahmi & Othman, 2013a;
and Al-Rahmi et al., 2014; 2015). Hence, lecturers and supervisors looking to incorporate social
media in their instruction methods should make sure that the certain social media type used is
aligned with the learning outcomes in order to improve academic performance. Chen (2015) has
shown that participants with “Assimilating” and “Diverging” learning styles performed better
than those with “Accommodating” and “Converging” learning styles as social networking sites
such as Facebook, which have become popular, have the potential to function as an educational
tool enabling peer feedback, interaction, and learning in a social context. Lecturers and
supervisors desirous of using social media in their academic courses for the promotion of student
learning have to be prepared to support students in their learning, and to play a significant role in
facilitating a collaborative learning community. To assume that students readily know the way
around social media may negatively impact those who are less familiar with it and who still need
supervision and guidance (Jackson, 2011; Valjataga & Fiedler, 2009; Al-rahmi et al., 2015c). It is
also crucial for educators to acknowledge the potential for distractions and over-stimulation of
some specific social media types (Chen & Bryer, 2012; Patera et al., 2008). Based on the above,
the researcher proposes the following hypotheses;
H3: There is a significant relationship between interactivity with supervisors and collaborative
learning.
H4: There is a significant relationship between interactivity with supervisors and engagement.