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Using Social Media to Enhance Student Engagement

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Emerging Technologies for Education (SETE 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 10676))

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Abstract

Lack of enthusiasm for learning is a major problem in higher education. We have found in our experience that often students are more interested in passing the course than in engaging deeply with the content. Low student engagement has occupied educators for some time, and a large body of research exists into the possible causes of this problem and how it may be tackled. Here, we report on our own experience with this problem at Pwani University in Kenya. Further, we propose the use of social networking as a means of addressing the problem of student apathy. We postulate that young people’s propensity for social networking can be a distraction on the one hand, but, on the other hand, it can be harnessed to provide strong support for active learning, boost learner participation and improve academic performance. This is a preliminary report, and its intent is to explore possibilities and lay the foundation for future work in enhancing active learning among our students.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pwani University, P.O. Box 195-80108, Kilifi, Kenya

    Audrey J. W. Mbogho

Authors
  1. Audrey J. W. Mbogho
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Correspondence to Audrey J. W. Mbogho .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taichung City, Taiwan

    Tien-Chi Huang

  2. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Rynson Lau

  3. Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

    Yueh-Min Huang

  4. University of Caen Normandie, Caen, France

    Marc Spaniol

  5. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Chun-Hung Yuen

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Mbogho, A.J.W. (2017). Using Social Media to Enhance Student Engagement. In: Huang, TC., Lau, R., Huang, YM., Spaniol, M., Yuen, CH. (eds) Emerging Technologies for Education. SETE 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10676. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71084-6_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71084-6_36

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71083-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71084-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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