The Feasibility and Acceptance of Social Media Interventions in Higher Education Classrooms of Developing Nations with Special Reference to India

Oct 15, 2026

Computers entering academia were expected to transform education globally, and similar hopes now surround social media technologies. Researchers argue that social media can improve higher education learning through stronger instructor–student interaction, peer support, and learner collaboration. This study emphasizes that effective classroom implementation depends on instructors’ readiness and proficiency, which may be limited in developing countries due to weak infrastructure. The research targets feasibility in Tamil Nadu, India.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

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Abstract

Introduction

Social Media in Higher Education

The Feasibility and Acceptance of Social Media Interventions in Higher Education Classrooms of Developing Nations with Special Reference to India Mangala Vadivu Vivakaran & Neelamalar Maraimalai Anna University, India Submitted: 06.04.2018 Accepted: 12.06.2018 Published: 16.07.2018 Abstract Computers, during its entry into the academic domain, were forecasted to revolutionize the entire educational system across the globe. At present, similar expectations have been encircling the social media technologies. Many researchers claim that social media, when introduced in higher education environments, tend to enhance the students’learning experience by facilitating heightened levels of instructor-student interactions, peer learner support and learners’ collaboration. Though social media is claimed to take the higher education learning to the next level, it is crucial to identify the readiness and proficiency of the instructors who play the main role in efficiently implementing these technologies in their classrooms. Especially, instructors belonging to the institutions present in developing nations are less likely to have proper access to some of the basic facilities (such as power supply or internet connectivity) required for social media integration. Hence, the present study aims at identifying the feasibility of introducing social media aids to the higher education classrooms present in Tamil Nadu – one among the eight Indian states having the highest number of colleges in the Nation. Keywords: Social media; Higher Education; Technology acceptance; Educational interventions; Attitudes toward social media Introduction There has been an exponential increase in the popularity of online technologies with the advent of ‘web 2.0’-also known as the social web – during the last decade. According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), the social web is an umbrella term that signifies a wide range of social media applications (such as the social networking sites, wikis, media sharing sites, forum, to mention a few) that mainly concentrates on the relationships between its users and facilitates the creation and exchange of User Generated Content (UGC) . Communication, interaction, collaboration and sharing of digital contents are some of the central traits of these social technologies. The social web is also associated with terms such as ‘dynamic’,‘people-centric’ and ‘democratic’ due to its unique traits and it is claimed to renovate the teaching and learning practices across the globe, making it learner-centric and more collaborative in nature (Brown, 2012) . As a matter of fact, the use of social media technologies for educational purposes has been considered as one of the core changes that have been recorded in the academic sphere in the digital era (Means, 2010; Sanchez et al., 2014; De Wever, Hämäläinen, Voet, & Gielen, 2015) . This change eventually gave rise to educational social media platforms (such as ResearchGate, SlideShare, Google Scholar etc. ) that provided dedicated service to the academic community fostering educational resources sharing and collaboration at a global level (Van Noorden, 2014) . The use of social media technologies for educational purposes have been predominantly associated with optimistic results (Barczyk & Duncan, 2013; Gao, Luo and Zhang, 2012; Kitsantaset al, 2016; Parise, 2015) such as increased student satisfaction and participation, heightened collaboration among the learners and enhanced academic outputs, to mention a few. With a majority of the studies that have documented the educational applications of the social web mainly focus on higher educational institutions present in the developed nations, it is hard to predict its effect on institutions present in developing nations like India. Developing and underdeveloped countries tend to have a diverse digital profile and uneven distribution of digital resources–digital divide-affecting the overall access and digital connectivity of it

FAQs

Why does the study focus on instructors’ readiness for social media in higher education?

The implementation of social media depends on instructors’ proficiency and readiness to use these technologies effectively in their classrooms.

What challenges in developing nations motivate this research?

Developing nations, including institutions in India, may lack basic facilities such as stable power supply and internet connectivity needed for social media integration.

What does the study aim to analyze regarding social media use in India’s higher education?

It examines the competency level of India’s higher education system in supporting social media aids and the faculty members’ attitudes toward using such interventions in classrooms.

Oct 15, 2026

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