Providing an Ethical Framework for Smart Learning: A Study of Students’ Use of Social Media

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a series of surveys conducted in 2018–2019 with Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and Masters in Human Resource Management (MSHR) students and with undergraduate business law students concerning their perceptions of academic integrity in the smart classroom. The surveys also sought to capture students’ assessments of the efficacy of instructors’ use of smart technology, specifically social media, to enhance e-learning. One hundred and eighty-eight graduate and 26 undergraduate students participated in the study. Independent samples t-tests were conducted on select questions based on enrollment status, gender, and age. There were statistically significant differences on responses to two of the three questions on academic integrity based on enrollment status and on age. Results were inconclusive with regard to the second question with respect to the impact that social media has on students’ learning, due to students’ limited exposure to smart technology as an instructional tool. Students’ perceptions of the value of social media for e-learning were similar to findings in researchers’ earlier study of instructors’ use of social media to enhance learning. Where social media had been incorporated in the course, the students, as well as the instructors, chose Google Docs and YouTube as the most effective for learning.