Social Media in Higher Education - Essay Example

SOCIAL MEDIA IN HIGHER EDUCATION By (Name) Code+ course name Professor’s name University name City, State Date In product promotional and information sharing, social media has played a major role, as both an internet based tool for information sharing and also as a platform for discussion among different consumers. The impacts of the social media are undeniable since it has enhanced expansion of the marketing niches of many products and service. The social presence, coupled with cognitive capabilities as well as the teaching elements of the social media has been the compounding pool of resources which have made it a strong tool that automatically affect the consumer behavior. The principles of good teaching encompass the use of the three aspects of mentioned above through the use of the social media in higher learning. In this case, the presence of the social media is a step higher for the learners in targeting and using their ability to project their internal and personally created knowledge into a community of inquiry, and in the end making great things out of them as real people. As part of communication, social media triggers the cognitive aspects of an individual, to the extent of the individual in a particular configuration of inquiry construct meaningful understanding of a specific subject of contention. Higher education therefore presents the platform of design, facilitation, as well as the direction of cognitive processes of learners (Garrison, & Arbaugh, 2007 p. 157-165). Higher education also enhances cognitive purpose of realizing outcomes of the worthwhile educational learning and realization of meaningful educational purpose. Social media is backed with technologies with great potentialities of enhancing learning and teaching at the same time especially when they are fully utilized and incorporated into the learning processes and curriculum, as well as their suited environment (Rich, & Miah, 2013). The whole learning environment depends therefore on the selected technologies and their integration into the learning and teaching processes. These processes have great impacts to the way students learn and how they are taught. Notably, it occurs that the goal of intertwining social media technologies, like Wikipedia, face-book, twitter, and search engines etc, is the employment of the correct use of the current and emerging technologies in an effectively and efficient ways so that students experience diversity. More than that, global interconnections among people and other students, participations in certain projects and debates, collaborative communication and sharing of educative and life ideas, generation of creative opportunities, as well as provision of higher educative platform, are all the great positive impacts of the social media to higher education (Garrison, & Arbaugh, 2007 p. 157-165). With the global advancements in technology, social media has been one of the platforms for offering the room to exploit these technologies. The experience and the learning environment in the institutions of higher learning for instance, give the determination to use, learn, and actualize these advancing technologies (Garrison, & Arbaugh, 2007 p. 157-165). One of the emerging technologies, through the social media is the computer conferencing, which engages student to student interactions. It also allows for student to teacher interactions, thereby eliminating the effects of distances, but encourages and support highly interactive models of teaching and learning. These social processes of learning through the social media serve as complementary communicative ideals for the realization of positive impacts of University education. Consumer Behavior and Decision Making Process In analyzing the behavior of a consumer as well as the process of the same consumer in making a decision to purchase or consume a product or a service, it is realizable that it is a step by step process which begins from the cognitive perspective of the consumer. Consumer behaviors are influenced by a number of factors, factors which determines the decision making process. The rationale of learning consumer behavior is attached to these factors which may alter or encourage an individual to decide on buying a product or service. The process of consumer behavior in making a decision follows the following steps; Recognition of a need of a product or service: The realization of a need of a product or a service is the beginning of the decision process, whereby the consumer has unsatisfied need and is filled with a burning desire to satisfy the need. This desire is triggered through either external or internal stimuli, for instance, after getting a job, a student after graduation may have a burning desire to purchase a car. More than that, advertisements and awareness of the new technologies through the social media enhance the product experience. The second stage, which is very important for this study, is the product information search stage. This is where available relevant information on the product or service is back-traced by the consumer, through asking, inquiry, web search among others. The process continues further to next levels, product evaluation, product choice and purchases, post purchase and product evaluation, and finally disposal of the product. The consumer behavior and the process of decision making gives a clue of how important social media is very important to the consumer as he/she makes a decision the second stage of the process, mentioned above, interconnects with the social media in higher education in myriad ways. Through information search on a product or service, the growing reliance on the social media in making a purchase decisions become the clinical aspect of this study. The following factors of the social media are very critical in facilitating consumer decision making process: According to curriculum design in higher education and social media technologies, learners are take through a comprehensive learning support and teaching process that enables them achieve some graduate capabilities. One of these capabilities is their empowered information search methods of a product or services. In the same way, faced with difficulties in the process of making decision on a product, an individual employs or exploit his or her cognitive experience in the social media to make a decision. The incorporation of new technologies into the curriculum in higher education therefore generate unique and important challenges to learning and teaching system, but equip learners with social interactive expertise which are very crucial later in the consumption life of an individual. In the institutions of higher learning, the social media technologies provide a platform for the assessment and feedback of students’ work. As students become more strategic, assessment increasingly motivates their learning and determines how they will spend their time. Emerging social media technologies in higher learning also provide opportunities to reconsider assessment and feedback strategies; to increase efficiency and openness in learning and teaching; to improve the quality of students’ learning through assessment experiences; and to explore new ways and means of assessment. In the same way, marketers use these social media’s emerging technologies to integrate the consumers’ feedback and assessments of the products tastes an preference to tailor make these products according to the market trends (Rich, & Miah, 2013). This is a very important section of the consumer decisions process, since through the feedback and assessments of other consumers, with the help of social media, the marketers and therefore the producers are able to design or tailor-make products and services to suit the tastes and preferences of the consumer needs. The guiding principles for the evaluation of social media in higher learning in the consumer decisions making process are based on the proficiencies and the effectiveness of the manipulation of the new technologies in the social media to the advantage of the administration (Rich, & Miah, 2013). Just as the administrations of the institutions of higher learning relies on the proficiencies of the staff and the technical skills in employment of the new technologies of the social media to make key decisions, consumers and therefore marketers relies on their effectiveness and efficiency in the use of social media tools such as internet, to make reliable decision based on the reliable product information for the case of the consumer, and create perfect strategies for the case of marketers and producers of goods and services. The social media technology enhances the quality of education through a systematic and regular evaluation of technologies in learning and teaching process suitable for future planning. The process of decision making as a consumer behavior involves products consumption, the key components that influence this behavior are herein explained by the use of social media that allows students, consumers, organizations, marketers, as eel as producers to communicate, create and share new ideas through the digital environment. Conclusion Social media is a growing phenomenon for public, marketing, and academic use. The global advancements in technology has seen the social media materials develop from the traditional media like magazines, news, radio, as well as televisions, to information seeking in the internet through different websites. The social media contents and the emerging technologies have boosted student-teacher relationship as well as student –student relationship, trough virtual social interactions and creation of learning platforms. This has broadened the technological appeal and promotion of social-economical transitions. The use of twitter and facebook, initiated in the institutions of higher learning (Rich, & Miah, 2013), now has become one of the greatest marketing platforms for firms all over the world. Many consumers are currently relying on the available information on the social media to making key purchase decisions. By asking friends in their social sites of interaction in facebooks, twitters, etc, they are able o get reliable information to effect their decisions. Marketers and producers on the other hand take advantage of the growing social media reliance to advertise, seek information and feedbacks, design and tailor-make products, and to finally maximize their sales. In the close context, it is very important to realize that one of the greatest contributions of higher learning is creation and development of new technologies, like the social media tools, that turns out to be crucial to the society in their daily endeavors. References Garrison, D. R., & Arbaugh, J. B. 2007. Researching the community of inquiry framework: Review, issues and future directions. The Internet and Higher Education, 10(3), 157-172. http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/mar/13/twitter-transform-learning-higher-education Rich, E., & Miah, A. 2013. Twitter for new space for learning, teaching and thinking? The Guardian. Retrieved from The Guardian Higher Education. Read More