Higher Education and Social Media: An Empirical Evidence from Jordan and Malaysia

Abstract

In the last decade, social media seeks the attention of many researchers. As prior studies argued, that social media has dynamic capabilities to interact and accessibility among students. Social media is one of those factors, who has the ability to play an essential role in a dynamic learning environment. The uniqueness of social media opens new horizons for students to enhance their experiences in the field of higher education. It has been observed that the adaptation of social media is a phenomenon among students of higher education. In this study, the researcher examines the relationship between lecturer and students through social media. This study took a convenience sample data from undergraduate students of Malaysia and Jordan. The main objective of this study is to explore the motivation of students to words social media for educational purposes. Secondly, this study also investigates the perception of social media as a communication tool for lecturers and students. Moreover, the researcher highlighted the attitude differences among Malaysian and Jordanian students. The study found that respondents are the frequent user of SM, and the most popular media is Facebook among them. Results show that students are reluctant to use SM for educational communication. However, if lecturers took this initiative and engaged students on SM for educational purposes, then students’ attitude was more optimistic. Additionally, students consider SM as a powerful tool that has the potential to strengthen the level of communication between students and the lecturer.