Instructional Strategies for Group and Independent Learning: Social Media for Business Education

Electronic channels of communication and social networking are effective tools in the process of teaching and learning and have increasingly improved the quality of students’ learning outcomes in higher education in recent years. The process encourages students’ active engagement, collaboration, and participation in class activities and group work and provides a flow of information dissemination in a sophisticated method that yields measurable results. Faculty can monitor collaborative and independent activities of their students and can also provide timely feedback. Studies identified some issues associated with social networking and students’ learning ability, but argue that performance assessment and learning outcomes can be adequately managed because of social media tools. This paper concludes that electronic technology enhances group learning activities, enables students to engage in ongoing communication with one another in the learning process. Effective use of social networking tools in the learning environment by faculty can sustain the quality of instructions and skills-development in business education.