The benefit of social networking for learning among high school student in China

Weibo, WeChat and other social media platforms have become an integral part of everyday life for Chinese students. A significant benefit of social networking sites is that they serve as a modern-day communication channel that can be used for a variety of purposes. Using social networking sites, Ng (2021) reports that Hong Kong high school students can connect more effectively and efficiently with their classmates, instructors, and other stakeholders in the learning and teaching process. It’s crucial for students and teachers to communicate effectively. It will be difficult to teach and learn effectively without strong communication (Kio, 2016). Students may connect with one another, as well as their friends, coworkers, classmates, family, and professors, over the internet. With this, a rebuttal of effective communication is offered on the lines of how social networking sites create distractions due to the various channels that enable waste of time. However, this counter argument cannot overweigh the benefit that social networking encourages pupils to become active learners rather than mere consumers. According to Lai (2019), every high school student will have at least one social networking account in China by 2025. As a consequence, social networking has become an important part of education.

The ability to study online and participate in electronic social networking are two of the most significant benefits of social networking services. As social networking is promoted on practically every major e-learning website, including school-approved sites, traditional education is falling into oblivion (Yan et al., 2021). High school students in China may take lessons online via e-learning websites and improve their knowledge using social media platforms like Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Zhihu, and the Little Red Book. However, a counter argument emerges that certain information sources on social networking sites are unconfirmed, which may lead to disinformation and deceit, must be highlighted as a major concern and a counter argument. Yet, even with this con, Pagán et al. (2021) point that one of the most significant advantages is the ability to investigate a wide range of topics during the learning process, thanks to the wealth of readily available information sources.

It is possible to increase student engagement by using social networking sites and applications. Throughout China, social networking has piqued the attention of millions of individuals, and the trend is only expected to continue. A similar strategy might be utilized to attract high school students’ attention to educational opportunities available at their respective institutions (Habibi et al., 2018). Weibo, WeChat, Douyin, Zhihu, and the Little Red Book are examples of social media platforms where students and teachers may share knowledge and ideas. The most significant downside is that social networking sites may be used to disseminate bullying and hate propaganda (Hou, 2015). These may have lasting consequences to young learners and could lead to physical harm. Nonetheless, online bullying is a part of social networking as much as there exist bullies in real life.

The ability to collaborate is another key benefit of social networking (Erfani & Abedin, 2018). High school students in China, according to a survey by Wang et al. (2018) may create partnerships to work together to achieve comparable goals in both academics and social life. Students may use social networking sites to obtain and share information from both within and outside the classroom. They also have the ability to create learning materials that are tailored to their own needs. Cooperation and learning may suffer if learners are exposed to inappropriate material (Zhang, Wang, & Huang, 2019; Ha et al., 2018), due to a lack of basic content screening mechanisms (Memon et al., 2018). Collaboration may turn into concern if proper information is not availed to high school students.

References

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