Masters Thesis

Social Media in a Shop Class

The purpose of this study is to explore the question: How would the use of student-generated knowledge-sharing videos, as found on social media sites such as YouTube, in a vocational program affect student engagement? Social media had become more accessible in recent years and today’s students are surrounded by information from social media all hours of the day and night. For this study, thirty-one students, who were enrolled in a Career Technical Education (CTE) program, were surveyed to explore their engagement levels for typical academic work and compare it to the student’s perceptions of engagement levels if creating a knowledge-sharing video for publication on a social-media website such as YouTube was assigned. Student safety is an important concern. Congress enacted the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) for schools who receive E-Rate funding. This act requires schools to take steps to protect students from inappropriate or harmful content. Along with blocking inappropriate and dangerous websites, schools have viewed social media as a distraction and have routinely blocked many of the popular social media sites in the quest to comply with CIPA. By routinely blocking social media, schools have removed a powerful learning tool from teachers and students. Students are denied a way to interact with an increasingly world-wide audience and to see how students in other countries interact with the internet and social media. At its core, engagement is based on motivation which can be separated into extrinsic and intrinsic factors. The education system is based on extrinsic rewards which have been shown to provide little motivation. Strategies that tap into intrinsic motivation are likely to produce higher levels of engagement. This study is an attempt to provide a few strategies involving social-media and other emerging technologies to increase student engagement.

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