Social Media and Student Outcomes: Teacher, Student and Employer Views. Research Report

Accessing and posting on social media has become a daily habit for many Australians. Social media is used by individuals to keep in touch with friends and family, by groups to inform their members of relevant information, and by organisations to market their services and products. However, is there a role for social media in vocational education and training (VET)? This report looks at how social media is being used within the VET sector as a tool in teaching and learning. The researchers conducted interviews with teachers, students, and employers across three different registered training organisations (RTOs) to determine the types of social media most useful in teaching and learning, how they are being used, and whether the outcomes for students are being improved. Key messages include the following: (1) Given the scope and purpose of this study, it appears that there are currently only a limited number of Australian VET institutions actively using social media in their teaching; (2) The main types of social media currently used in VET are Facebook and YouTube; (3) The use of social media in courses encourages greater engagement in learning in some students and, based on the anecdotal evidence presented, may result in higher completions than in those courses not using social media; (4) In order to present evidence for audits of teaching and assessment that utilises social media, teachers are having to transfer exemplar information from the social media platform to the institute's learning management system rather than presenting it as is, thus double-handling information; (5) Another practical consideration for VET teachers and institutions is that students do not necessarily understand the privacy issues surrounding social media in the classroom context; and (6) Employers found social media prompted them to be more connected to the theory side of the student's learning. The current study reveals that future VET research needs to investigate further the advantages and disadvantages of different types of social media, its impacts across different types of VET students, by delivery mode (for example, traditional delivery versus online and distance learning), and by levels of teacher input and support.