Understanding Roles of Social Media in Academic Engagement and Satisfaction for Graduate Students

Research indicates positive effects of social media on academia and education. However its main populations have been faculty, teachers, high school or college students, and its primary context has been a course or classroom. We realized that there exists a lack of studies on how Ph.D. (broadly graduate) students use social media for academic purposes and how its use is associated with academic motivation, engagement, and satisfaction, which are salient factors for the success of their graduate degrees and life. Based on the survey responses from 91 current Ph.D. students, our study results highlight that (1) students mainly use social media for broadcasting and keeping up with up-to-date academic and research information; yet, making connections and developing professional networks is one of the primary reasons, and (2) social media use is positively associated with their academic engagement and satisfaction. We discuss implications and future work of our study.

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