Date of Conferral
2019
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Education
Advisor
Jennifer Courduff
Abstract
While social media is becoming an innovative tool in education for teacher and student use, little is known about how social media is being used in the high school band room to communicate with students, increase student-connectedness, or improve classroom community. Using Vygotsky's theory of social constructivism, Siemens's theory of connectivism, and Wenger's community of practice theory as a framework, this study explored the phenomenon of social media as used in the high school band room for communication, student-connectedness, and classroom community. Participants included 10 high school band directors located throughout the United States who shared their experiences through 1-on-1 semistructured interviews and focus group interviews. Data analysis included coding and categorizing responses from interviews and focus groups to identify themes. Results indicated social media use contributed to improved communication, increased student-connectedness, and improved classroom community in the high school band classroom, though challenges of access, cyber-bulling, and a lack of training in social media use for the classroom were also revealed as concerns by participants. These findings could impact social change by providing evidence to support appropriate use of social media in high school band programs and change teacher mindset to embrace the power of social media for communication, for student connectedness, and to improve classroom community as well as in teacher preparation programs to encourage incorporating social media as a plausible teaching tool.
Recommended Citation
Welch, Heidi, "High School Band Directors' Experiences Using Social Media in the Classroom" (2019). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 6956.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/6956
