Social Interactions Using Social Media in Open and Flexible Distance Learning System

This paper discusses the status and use of social media in India with an attempt to throw light on the need to use social media in Open and Flexible Distance Learning (OFDL) systems in the country. Education and training systems are affected by several emerging trends in the current Knowledge Society. One major trend is the use of social media which are a collection of online platforms and tools that people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself, for online conversations and interactions between groups of people. Social media is interaction driven and user controlled around user-generated content. Among the most popular social media tools are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. But there are hundreds—even thousands—of Web-based tools for consumption, curation, conversation, collaboration and creation. Today’s younger generation – people born in the early eighties or later – have grown up surrounded by different digital technologies that have shaped the way in which they live, think, learn and interact. This seems to be true in all countries including developing countries like India. The paper discusses whether social interaction using social media tools could be used in instructional environments of OFDL to increase interactions, to bridge learner isolation, and to assist in the process of cognitive development of the learners.

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