Social Media and Education ― Now the Dust Has Settled

Social media are now established as an important aspect of contemporary education. We live in times where social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Snapchat are mainstream educational tools; where most new educational technologies claim to have a ‘social’ element; and it increasingly makes no sense to distinguish between learning ‘online’ and ‘offline’. It studies users' experiences and views of social media; addresses questions of equality and diversity concerning who is doing what with social media; examines how the use of social media applications sits alongside pre-existing cultures and structures of schooling; and brings to light the unintended and unexpected results of social media in education. Altogether, this collection of writing provides a nuanced and interesting discussion of the realities of social media use across different aspects of education.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Learning, Media and Technology.

Eve Stirling is a Senior Lecturer in Design at Sheffield Institute of Art at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Her research interests include the use of social media within society and she is interested in the proliferation of digital spaces within our everyday lives. She uses practice based and visual research methods to explore the everyday lives of her participants.

Neil Selwyn is a Professor in the Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia. His research and teaching focuses on the place of digital media in everyday life, and the sociology of technology (non)use in educational settings. Recent books include: Is Technology Good For Education? (2016) and Everyday Schooling in the Digital Age (Routledge, 2018).