The article "Social Networking in Undergraduate Education," explored the use of Facebook as an educational tool for Undergraduate classes at an unnamed university. The findings of the study, lead mostly by attitude surveys following the programs, were that students generally agreed that when used for classes, Facebook helped to build a sense of community within a learning environment, enhanced the learning process, made classes more interesting, fostered student engagement, enhanced class discussions, and a majority of students reported that they preferred Facebook discussions over the Blackboard discussions.
I have not had any opportunities to use social media in college classes, nor have I had a conversation with someone who has had the opportunity to use social media as a tool in a college-level class. I do, however, have many teaching peers who utilize Facebook and twitter to reach out to their high school classes. They post homework, answer questions, and make general announcements on these pages. Students seem to utilize these communications to connect with teachers and classmates in a positive manor. I had been contemplating creating a twitter account and field hockey Facebook page for some time before this class, and now that I have them, I see how they can really be used as a tool to reach my students and student athletes. My students are frequently on their devices, so I think that there are some strong reasons to consider using social media as a tool in education.