Date of Conferral

2-17-2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Amy Adcock

Abstract

Secondary school principals are seeking to meet students where they are by integrating social media into school curricula to enhance student learning. However, little has been published about principals’ perceptions of the value of social media as an instructional tool or the advising processes they employ to facilitate the adoption of social media as an instructional application. The problem this study addressed was principals’ perceptions of social media as an instructional application and how those perceptions influence decisions to advise for the adoption of social media for instructional purposes. Guided by Rogers’s diffusion of innovations theory and Davis’s technology acceptance model, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to gain an understanding of how school principals perceive social media as an instructional application and how those perceptions influence decisions to advise for the adoption of social media for instructional purposes. Twelve secondary school principals participated in semistructured interviews. Thematic analysis using open and axial coding was conducted. The results revealed principals perceived social media as a tool for increasing student achievement, enhancing teacher professional development, and improving network security to safeguard student confidentiality. Principals also recognized classrooms with internet as distractors and limited internet infrastructures as barriers to the adoption of social media. The results may offer insight to principals on how social media might better be used as an instructional application and its capabilities leading to connecting students to their world to make positive social change.

Download

Share

 
COinS