Okanagan College Okanagan School of Business Research Paper Davis Dowler BUAD 210 #300339005 Davis.Dowler@myokanagan.bc.ca December 7, 2023 Professor Rishi Bhardwaj OSB Professor, Okanagan College ____________________________________________________________________________ The following paper explores the perceptions, expectations, and usage of social media tools by the students of the OSB. The research uses a qualitative methodology, through interviews and surveys responded to by students of the OSB. The research responds to 5 Research questions (RQ) which are all discussed through the ideas presented in the following interview and survey. The results of this research aim to provide the OSB with a further understanding on the areas regarding the schools social media use, in respect to their students. The research additionally provides insight in which allows the school to make decisions on the way in which they chose to present and interact with their student on social media. 1 Regarding the growing presence of social media globally in day to day life, it is an important aspect for organizations to understand and grasp the role social media plays within their organization. Academic institutions have already turned greatly to utilizing online presence in regards to school work and communication with students, specifically with OSB using Moodle, Outlook, word etc. Furthermore an important concept becomes the use of social media channels within such an organization. Many students already utilize social media to connect with many aspects of their life. The question becomes, would students like to connect with their institution through these social media channels the same way the would with their friends, family, colleagues and favorite business. As social media is adopted as a major component of everyday life it is crucial organizations are able to understand the opportunities and threats that come with the use of social presence within their organization. Apart from the use of social media already as a tool for learning and teaching, it can also be utilized for creating awareness and advertising, as the OSB does through channels like their Instagram, Facebook, and Linkedin. Social media allows educational institutions to provide stakeholders with information of new research programs, changes to policy, events, job vacancies, alumni engagement, and intitunitanl news. Social media gives a perfect platform to highlight news sources, research, teaching staff and campus facilities in an attempt to recruit new students (Mohammed, 2021). However, like anything social media does not come without some limitations such as, privacy concerns, passive behavior of students, and absence of academic language usage. All schools adopt different positions on social media, but the general consensus is that it is useful when it comes to information or organizing, but at the same time is blamed for the lack of attention of students (Wade, n.d.) Social media is an aspect which will inherently need to be adopted in some way by every institution, what is important is the way in which each institution does so in regard to their students and colleagues. 2 The OSB aims to garner a further understanding on the perception and desires of their students on the use of social media within the institution. The OSB wants to understand what their students want in terms of usage of social media software, the use of the school social media, and how students would like to use social media to communicate with classmates, peers and professors. In order to understand the perception of these topics, it is necessary to gather information first hand from the students themselves. Students at OSB will have the most insight of their perceptions when it comes to their schools use of social media. As social media is a global topic, it does not end at just the OSB, it is aswell important to understand the perception of students everywhere on the topic, in order to implement appropriate strategies going forward in a social media adopted world. The following research will aim to provide the OSB with a further understanding on their approach in terms of social media usage. Through interviews with students and further questionnaires provided for new students, this research will provide the OSB with answers regarding their social media inquiries. It will help them to choose what approach to take in respect to social media, their students, and those employed at the school. These sets of research aim to answer the following questions: RQ1: What social media platform do students use and interact with most frequently? RQ2: What aspects of said social media platform are most important in regards to why they are used by students? RQ3: What are potential opportunities that would come from integrating social media into student life within the OSB? RQ4: What threats and challenges arise from integrating social media into student life within the OSB? RQ5: To what extent do students desire to have their school life integrated with their social media lifes? 3 The research will be conducted through a qualitative methodology through an in person interview, and questionnaires. Respondents will be chosen based on the crucial factor of attending OSB, and furthermore, have social media presence, aged 18-25, and those who are current or future students at Okanagan college. The survey will be pre tested by a group of 3 current OSB students, followed by new OSB students in coming years. The survey will be administered through welcome packages from the school, through their MyOkanagan accounts. The initial interview administered to a current OSB student was recorded following a scripted format by the interviewee (See appendix A). The Interview surrounded the basis of understanding the perception of students in regards to the OSB’s social media use, as well as the terms of their current social media use. The respondent was chosen based on OSB enrollment, age, and social media interest. The interview began with questions about the respondent's personal social media usage. The respondent was asked about their current social media use in and outside of the school, and responded “I use social media pretty often, it is probably the thing I do most on my down time” highlighting the majorly increasing prominence of social media in daily life. When asked what social media platform they used the most, and how frequently they used that platform, they responded “Tik Tok” and “around two hours a day.” Tiktok is currently a very prominent social media platform for younger generations, and an untapped platform by the OSB. They described that the desire to use these platforms fell in the ability to “Keep in touch with people who I don't see as often.” When asked about tik tok as their desired platform they responded “that there's a lot of different things on there, a lot of different information.” which highlighted tiktok as a prominent source of information for the respondent, and likely many others of the same demographic. When asked about social media in regards to the respondents education they responded “If i'm not checking my email, or my schools website it is pretty helpful to go online and see things I might have missed.” The following question regarded the respondents' expectations in terms of finding their classmates and professors on social media, and the benefits or concerns they would have with it, “It would be nice to keep up with classmates or professors, and get news quicker.” Concerns being, “Not really concerned, but I don't know 4 how comfortable it would be to have professors seeing my social media and seeing what i'm doing all the time.” This response comes as a general concern within any social media topics, making it an important aspect to be considered by the OSB regarding their own social media use. The respondent was then asked if they thought future students would expect to find their professors and classmates on social, and if they thought that the schools social media use would influence prospective students “I don't think they would expect it because it's not really done too much by schools, but some people might think it pretty cool to see the fun things that are happening on campus” “I know when I joined school I did go on their social media to see what kind of things to look forward to, so I think it might.” The respondents final regards highlighted “I think it would be a pretty beneficiary to have a school social media, maybe an instagram or facebook just to keep up with the current events, I think that would be a positive thing for schools to do.” The interview highlighted some important factors regarding the increase of social media use worldwide, and the necessary adaptation that must happen within schools. Like anything, the use of social media in schools comes with drawbacks such as privacy concerns as the respondent highlighted. Overall adaptation is crucial, but must be done carefully and with respect to current and future students. The following research was administered through a pretest of the OSB Social media use survey (See appendix C). The questions were in regard to the initial RQ’s 1-5 stated above. Each question is designed to answer those research objectives. It highlights similar questions the initial interview conducted, but is designed to be offered to new OSB students in coming years. The pretest was completed by three respondents, who attend OSB. The initial questions ask for their name, program and year at OSB, an important factor in understanding variations in data. Respondents are asked about their current social media use, all of which responded as active users describing Tik Tok, Instagram and snapchat as their most used platforms, all using at least once a day. They were asked about why they use these platforms and responded that it allowed them to connect with others and receive information. In regards to their opinions on school use of social media, all stated that they would like to have their school involved in social media, and thought it would be academically positive. They noted it would benefit their ability to 5 receive information quickly and connect with their classmates and professors on a more personal level. Each respondent had similar results of the survey, the only question which lacked response was #10 which asked if the students had any additional comments. This area could be one for improvement as there is little prompt, that said it is not a crucial question as the other parts of the survey answer all RQ’s, it is more of an area for students to share thoughts outside of the surveys prompts. The data through the initial interview and surveying process highlighted that each respondent of the sample uses social media as an everyday aspect of their lives. In the same way school is an everyday aspect of their lives. All respondents thought positively of their school integrating social media into academic life. The only concern being that of privacy for students. Each student noted social media as a crucial way to receive information, and thought that that school is no exception. The OSB has an opportunity to reach students in a way they haven't before, given students are already online a lot of the day, adding the OSB to their social media feed would be an easy integration. Using the prominent social media platforms outlined by students, the OSB and its professors would be able to reach students in a much quicker and more effective manner. Given the concern for privacy, it would be important for the OSB to integrate in a way that would be respectful to students. This could be done in a way of having a clearly outlined protocol for student and professor interaction on social media, which would give students a piece of mind when it comes to seeing their school and professors online. Utilizing the students as a way to learn about social media is also a crucial aspect, allowing students to run different social media channels would allow for a first hand view into what students are looking for when they are on social media. With social media as a growing part of day to day life it is inevitable that the OSB integrates itself into student life online, in any instance it is important their guidelines and expectations are followed in order to maintain a positive relationship between the OSB and students online. 6 Appendix A OSB social media presence interview script ____________________________________________________________________________ Introduction: Hello! Thank you for your time today, this interview aims to provide the OSB with a further understanding on the perception of students regarding the schools use of social media. The purpose of this interview especially regards student input on current social media use, and desired social media use of your school. 1. To start off, I'd like to ask how would you describe your overall social media experience both in and outside of school? 2. Which of those social media platforms do you use more frequently? - Probes: how often do you use these platforms? Do you use each platform for specific purposes? 3. What features of these social media platforms are most important to you? - Probes: are there specific functionalities or aspects that make these platforms preferable? 4. Within these social media platforms do you see any educational benefits within your school? - Probes: Can you provide examples of instances where social media has positively impacted your educational experience? 5. Do you want or expect to connect with your professors and classmates through social media? - Probes: in what way would this contribute to your academic experience? 6. What benefits do you think would come from interacting with professors and classmates online? 7. Do you have any concerns regarding interaction with professors and classmates on social media? 8. Do you think that new students would expect to find their professors and classmates on social media? - Probes: how do you think the school's social media presence might influence prospective students? Conclude: Thank you for your input, do you have any further questions or comments? The information you provide will be very helpful for the purpose of this study, thank you again for your time. 7 Appendix B 8 Appendix C R RO1 RO1 9 R RO2 ‘ RO3 RO3 R04 10 RO5 11 References Mohammed, P. (2021, January 12). (PDF) A STUDY ON CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN HIGHER EDUCATION. ResearchGate. Retrieved December 6, 2023, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348307108_A_STUDY_ON_CHALLENGES_OF_SO CIAL_MEDIA_IN_HIGHER_EDUCATION Wade, L. (n.d.). How Social Media is Reshaping Today's Education System - Center for Social Impact Communication. Center for Social Impact Communication. Retrieved December 6, 2023, from https://csic.georgetown.edu/magazine/social-media-reshaping-todays-education-system/
