Challenges of Using Social Media as a Teaching Tool in Secondary Schools

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant shift towards the use of social media platforms to support teaching with educators being responsible for integrating social media into their pedagogical practices. Yet its use has many challenges. This research aimed to describe the challenges secondary school teachers shared about using social media as a teaching tool. This descriptive multiple case study followed an interpretive, inductive, and qualitative approach. Four secondary schools were selected as cases and teachers who used social media as a teaching tool were interviewed. Multiple challenges are described that impact teachers and students. Many are due to the features of social media, and some are due to school infrastructure and policies. Practically this research can help teachers have a better understanding of these challenges before using social media for their own teaching. Policies, curricula, applications, and pedagogies can also be adapted and changed based on the finding of this research.