Social media-enabled learning and the curriculum in Australian higher education: A literature review

Abstract

This study is centred on the impact of social media-enabled learning on the curriculum within higher education in Australia and focuses on curriculum in relation to distance education. The impact on curriculum design of the trend for rapid uptake of social media, but with less active contribution of user generated content, is discussed, as are the implications for higher education of other central ethical issues in relation to the protection of identity and development of trust in utilizing social media sites in higher education. The review explores the applicability of six curriculum models within a social media-enriched learning environment: curriculum as product, curriculum as a body of knowledge for transmission, curriculum as process curriculum, as praxis, curriculum as knowledge creation and community as curriculum. The importance of open and flexible design methodologies emerges; the conclusion being that social media-enabled learning moves higher education beyond a focus on content provision into a dynamic communal process of sense-making and knowledge.