University students use of social media in China and the UK: an exploration into the role of social media in learning

Luo, Xinyu (2023) University students use of social media in China and the UK: an exploration into the role of social media in learning. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This project seeks to explore the role of social media in learning for university students in China and the UK. Given the prevalence of social media in the lives of many young people around the world, there is a pressing need to understand what this means for the ways in which they approach and experience learning. However, there is also a need to understand the nuanced ways in which social media are experienced and embedded in different contexts, and how these contexts and educational landscapes in turn impact how students approach and utilise social media for learning purposes. This project involves two notably different contexts in terms of both social media and higher education: China and the UK. Through this examination of two separate contexts, this project presents considerations for educational practitioners and researchers interested in understanding the ways social media are impacting learning in higher education setting.

Data were collected through questionnaires and focus groups at two higher education institutions, one in China and one in the UK. The findings confirm that social media was consistently a part of many students’ daily lives in both countries despite the differences in social media landscape. Though a limited presence in formal learning currently in both contexts, social media was present in these students’ informal and non-formal learning, and they were shaped by the specific contexts of their formal learning environments. Hence, this thesis proposes that social media plays the role of connecting formal, informal and non-formal learning and blending them as a continuum.

Whilst there is a growing body of research around the application and potential of social media in education, this project contributes to the research by examining the current uses of social media in the lives of the students the role of social media in their learning.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	16 Dec 2025 13:43
Last Modified:	16 Dec 2025 13:43
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101418
DOI:

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