The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception of acceptable use of social media among teachers, students, and parents. In doing so the researcher touched on generational factors, communication, instructional practice with social networking and the perceptions of what was acceptable among these 3 groups within a middle school setting.
This qualitative study examined how students, parents, and teachers perceived the use of social networking. 30 subjects were randomly chosen and interviewed: 10 students, 10 parents and 10 teachers. There were 4 emerging themes: (a) types of social networking preferred and the reason, (b) relationships and acceptable usage, (c) uncertainty of safety of social networking, and (d) the positives in being able to communicate. Research suggests that the generations that were interviewed lean toward different types of communication. The Baby Boomers prefer to communicate via email, telephones, and face-to-face. Generation Xers use email but also include Instant Messaging and mobile phones. Generation Y prefers to text prefers to text or use cell phones as does Generation Z which has yet to be identified and uses these forms as well as all forms of social networking (Entrepreneur Magazine, 2009)
Through interviewing and coding the researcher found that each subgroup identified that communication was essential to survival. What differed was the type of communication and the safety involved in that type. It was also found that the research on this subject is limited but is growing with advances. The research has changed to include more positives on this subject. With this, the implication for further study in this area is definite. Recommendations for further study include but are not limited to: looking at a study like this in a larger area, opening the subject group to different demographics, looking into how this will affect school systems in the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-3970 |
| Date | 01 December 2015 |
| Creators | Raper, Lisa L |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Lisa L. Raper |
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