A meta-synthesis on the usability of social media blends in e-learning

Distance education has by nature always depended on technology as a vehicle for various media used to facilitate learning. Today as technology has taken centre stage in our lives especially Internet-based technology, distance education continues to grow in its use of state-ofthe-art tools and hence the need to effectively adopt these online tools for online education remains inevitable. This study presents an evaluation of the usability of social media blends in elearning environments. Comprehensive guidelines for improving the usability of social media blends are proposed in order to facilitate learner networks where knowledge can be created that is based on the leaners’ experiences and their peer connections. In this meta-analysis study literature was searched to identify qualitative research articles that discuss social media blends most commonly used in e-learning. The search was done on South African and international academic databases which included SAe-Publications, EbscoHost, ProQuest and Google Scholar, among others. The metadata analysis was conducted following the online collaborative learning theory as a conceptual framework and the findings agreed with previous studies that the use of social media blends still lacks important empirical data. This study recommends a set of phases in designing curriculum for social media use in e-learning. The proposed guidelines should be useful to instructional designers interested in using modern learning theories in e-learning. Since African qualitative research could not be found, further work in this field could involve qualitative studies on the use of e-learning in African institutions. KEY TERMS: Distance education, open distance learning, social media blends, e-learning, online learning, qualitative research, connectivism, constructivism, meta-synthesis, online collaborative learning