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Advancing the study of social media in the communication classroom

Advances in technology are hardly new to the communication classroom. In many ways, the introduction of social media technologies presents itself as a paradox for communication studies. On the one hand, these are technologies that showcase the very core of human communication—allowing users to have nearly unfettered access to each other’s thoughts, feelings, and actions, and creating a digital landscape in which all of us can essentially learn from all of us. On the other hand, the same technologies often function as “weapons of mass distraction” precisely because of this unfettered access—friends and loved ones are often more interesting than the course lessons in front of us on any given day. The impetus of this special issue was to offer a focal point for these debates within the field of communication studies, buttressed with empirical data and focused on the specific question: what role might social media play in the communication classroom? Over two dozen articles were submitted that probed this question from a number of different angles: a mix of full manuscripts, research reports, and teaching activities. Among the common threads of the six articles accepted for publication is that they show a purposeful and directed use of social media towards discrete educational goals—to enhance communication and collaboration with peers (in the same classroom, as well as from around the globe) and to create sustainable digital and physical communities (through service learning and professional community). These studies demonstrated that social media technologies can be powerful tools for the communication classroom, but only to the extent that they are understood by all shareholders (learners, teachers, and other stakeholders). Notably, the articles presented in this special issue consider scenarios in which social media is corralled and focused towards educational goals, by proxy suggesting that their great (communicative) power requires a measure of responsible and literate implementation. We hope in this special issue the research presented serves as a catalyst for exploring more data driven research in social media pedagogy. Notably, the use of social media in the classroom should move beyond a more basic tactical perspective (teaching how to use the programs) to empirically supported integration of these tools across relevant aspects of the curriculum. Finally, as social media are constantly evolving, more research will be needed if we are to successfully leverage these tools to advance knowledge of communication, both in and out of class.