The effect of social media use on academic achievement of education 4.0 era students

Norlaile Salleh Hudin

Abstract

Education 4.0 turns the internet into the core of the digital learning process which enabled students to learn anytime and anywhere. It makes teaching and learning process become more flexible and student-oriented. However, studies about social media usage for learning among high academic achievers in the higher education level are still scant, thus academicians have limited understanding on how social media can help increase students' academic performance. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the role of social media in the learning process of high academic achievers. A qualitative approach was employed by interviewing 10 final year high academic achievers from pure science and social science programs in a Malaysia public university and data was analyzed by using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that social media was effective as supporting sources to increase students' understanding towards a lesson. However, majority of the participants agreed that social media contents particularly motivational quotes and posts about peers' academic achievement increased their motivation to study and obtain high academic achievement. The implication of this study is that universities could optimize their social media usage by highlighting individual students' achievement through good narration and photos that could develop innate motivation to learn among students.

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