The effect of social networks on education and academic learning: an interventional study

Background and Purpose: Undoubtedly, social networks are being used extensively and are the most important communicative tool among students, especially at higher levels of education. We aimed to investigate the effect of social networks on education and academic learning. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 32 nursing students who were taking the cancer nursing course at Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences during 2015. The students were randomly and equally divided into two groups. The students in the case group established a group in Viber social network and shared the academic materials related to the presented course in addition to receiving information in the classroom. At the end of the semester, they were evaluated through a test and a questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS-18 software using t-test and Kolmogrov-Smirnov test. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The findings showed that 20 (93.8%) students suggested the use of social networks for better understanding of the course materials and 27 (81.8%) students believed that social networks were useful. We found a statistically significant difference between the case (15.79±2.13) and control (13.84±2.02) groups in terms of the mean score of cancer nursing (P=0.013). Conclusions: The results revealed that the academic achievement scores in the case group were significantly higher than those of the control group. Hence, they can be recommended as a teaching tool taking into account different aspects of social networks. Keywords: Social network, Education, Academic learning