The assistant professor of economics discusses the results of a study exploring the perceptions of economics faculty members regarding the use of social media platforms for economic instruction in a Journal of Economic Education article.
Brandon Sheridan, assistant professor of economics in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, has published an article in The Journal of Economic Education, examining how economic professors from various institutions have chosen to either embrace or refrain from using social media for educational purposes.
The article, appearing in Volume 48, Issue 1 of the journal, is titled “Have economic educators embraced social media as a teaching tool?”
Sheridan discusses his research, which aimed to determine whether economic educators used social media as part of their courses and further understand the reasoning behind their decisions. Sheridan and co-authors Abdullah Al-Bahrani, Northern Kentucky University, and Darshak Patel, University of Kentucky, found that “in general, economic educators are using social media but not directly for educational purposes.”
The article’s abstract reads: “In this article, the authors discuss the results of a study of the perceptions of a national sample of economics faculty members from various institutions regarding the use of social media as a teaching tool in and out of the economics classroom. In the past few years, social media has become globally popular, and its use is ubiquitous among students. As such, some instructors have incorporated social media into their courses to engage students. Others are reluctant to embrace social media, citing privacy concerns, social media being more of a distraction than a useful tool, and the challenge of keeping up with social media developments, among others. The authors characterize economics faculty’s perceptions of the use of social media platforms for economic instruction.”
The Journal of Economic Education publishes articles evaluating innovations in teaching techniques, materials and programs. The journal is published quarterly in cooperation with the National Council on Economic Education and the Advisory Committee on Economic Education of the American Economic Association.