Social Media as Educational Technology Among Marketing Educators

Introduction

According to Tuten and Marks (2012), the empirical research study seeks to investigate and analyze how marketing educators can boost educational technologies by using social media platforms. From the quantitative research study carried out among students, educators, and institutions, it is evident that most participants in the survey supported the use of social media in education. Moreover, the authors have used a lot of supportive evidence from other authors in regards to the importance of social media among marketing educators and educational technologies. In other words, the research findings indicate that social media platforms can indeed boost the level of and quality of content delivered to learners.

Main body

An additional strength of the article is that Tuten and Marks (2012) have sought to explore the primary research question by tackling various emerging questions. For instance, the authors have theoretically researched the various types of social media portals that are being used by educators especially outside their academic cycles. Secondly, the research study has also investigated how faculty members and individual students use social media based on their perceived skills. Another vital research question tackled in the study entails the likely barriers that may be experienced in the use of social media in education. It is pertinent to mention that these are terse questions that a research study of this nature ought to answer conclusively in order to come up with a complete finding. We cannot also forget to underscore that the statistical evidence presented in this research study is clear proof of the authenticity presented in the article. The authors have not merely presented theoretical facts to the audience. A lot of quantitative evidence has been used to back up every assertion.

The possible limitations of this study have also been documented towards the end of the article. A social Technograhics Scale was used to measure how individuals use social media. According to the authors, the latter is a variable that is normally scaled (Tuten & Marks, 2012). Using such type of scale limits a participant from freely sharing personal experience with social media. Although the authors identified it as a limitation in the empirical study, it posed one of the greatest weaknesses in the statistical results obtained. Moreover, using this type of scale is highly likely to magnify the error margin because of the restricted responses.

Tuten and Marks (2012) are also emphatic that the use of social media as a learning tool is outright effective. This can be seen from the results tabulated in the research study. Even though such a claim may be true to some extent, the research study should have explored the various stages that the faculty, marketing educators, and students should follow so as to realize the benefits of social media. The researchers did not include the three waves typology as a research variable in the study. This typology would have assisted in mapping out the success level of using the social media platform in education. In most cases, most social media users attain only the first and second waves when using this platform for educational matters. Learning can only be enhanced through the third level of the waves typology.

Conclusion

Therefore, the results presented in the study may not be authoritative enough in convincing the audience that social media is effective in educational technology. The following questions may be used for future research in this subject area.

1. Is there a need to adopt social media in educational technology?
2. Are social media tools being used by marketing educators?
3. How can the three waves typology be effectively used to enhance social media use in educational technology?

Reference

Tuten, T. & Marks, M. (2012). The adoption of social media as educational technology among marketing educators. Marketing Education review 22(3), 201-214.