The Use of Social Media By Faculty and Field Instructors in Social Work Education

Objectives: A popular form of technology, social media has transformed how individuals communicate, relate and interact, and participate in a wide range of activities. Social media provides a ubiquitous, virtual milieu where communications are fast-paced, simultaneous and multi-directional. It can serve as an extension of a classroom, except that this virtual classroom has undefined boundaries. However, there is limited discourse on social media use in social work education. Given the gap in current research, this study aims to 1) document the use of social media by faculty members and field instructors in class or in field education settings, and 2) understand the benefits and limitations of social media use in social work education.

Methods: We employed a cross-sectional survey design. Using faculty listservs and publicly available faculty email addresses, we invited Canadian faculty members and field instructors to participate in an online survey. Data were collected between from April and October 2016. A total 275 (98 faculty members and 177 field instructors) completed an online survey that consisted of close- and open-ended questions. The close-ended questions asked participants to indicate their use of 13 types of social media in classroom or as part of course assignments (faculty members), as part of practicum teaching (field instructors). Open-ended questions askd participants to describe the uses and limitations of using social media in social work education. We used descriptive statistics to analyze close-ended questions, and thematic analysis to analyze the qualitative responses. 

Results: Youtube is the most commonly used social media by participants. The majority of faculty members (93.2%) have used Youtube as part of their lecture or class activity and 30.4% reported having integrated Youtube as part of the course assignments. All the other forms of social media have either never been used or used limitedly. As for field instructors, close of 90% have used Youtube to inform their teaching, and 18.1% have used Youtube in the field instruction such as during the supervision meetings. Similar to the use pattern of faculty members, field instructors made nil or very limited use of other forms of social media (less than 5%) in field education. Thematic analysis of the qualitative responses shows the benefits of social media use in social work education includes it enhances teaching and helps engage students, facilitates knowledge translation and mobilization, increases accessibility and immediacy, and facilitates networking opportunities. However, educators also highlighted concerns including privacy and confidentiality, boundary issues, unreliable information, a lack of time, training, and relevant policy, and a lack of interest from students or from faculty members/practitioners.

Conclusion: Study findings suggest that despite its increasing popularity in many client populations, educators use social media limitedly in classroom or in field placement. As social media has the potential to assist people in need, it is critical for educators to prepare students to practice in the digital environment with a strong understanding of the uses and implications of social media in practice. Future studies need to further understand how social work can be integrated in social work education.