Research Blog #2: Scouting the Territory

My research project has not changed since my last post, yet to refine the topic further, it would be a study of the influence of social media and technology on college students.

I simply searched social media and college students, or technology and college students, and there were a plethora of websites depicting different studies on how social media/technology both helps and harms students in higher education. Everything from college admissions, social media affecting internships and using social media/technology as a tool in the workplace after graduation were all issued in my google search.

Some books and other scholarly articles that seemed important in my google search were found in the same simple key words as my other google search. Some of the scholarly articles on google scholar depicted researched evidence on how many universities both for-profit and typical universities are now going "viral" and using online classes to their advantage, and there were also other subjects similar to the ones listed before on the simple google search.

Many ideas were spurred from this google search. It definitely helped me channel my topic into moreso how technology has a very strong INFLUENCE on college students rather than just being a simple part of everyday life. Many students would not know how to function in an educational enviornment without the aid of the internet, other forms of social media and other simple technology, such as sakai, computers, calculators etc, and this search definitely put the importance and strong influence of technology and social media into perspective.

http://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/mba_student/5/
This article from a member of Johnson & Wales, is simple and short, yet it shows many different quantitate sets depicting how much social media influences students and how much time is spent on these different sites. It makes you think if the aspect of social media is actually necessary, or is it a burden on our society taking students attention away from more important aspects of life?

http://news.yahoo.com/born-digital-first-person-accounts-of-how-technology-is-changing-the-college-experience-234212354.html
This article depicts the timely difference between the generation of our parents going to college, and the students of today. Rising tuition costs are typically a thought on every student and parents mind, and this article helps depict how incredibly different the educational world is today compared to the past.

Overall, there is one main topic controversy over the idea of social media and technology and their affects on the students in higher education today; is it helping or hurting students? Although many will argue that the world is advancing at such a rapid rate that technology is necessary, some are taking the opposite opinion stating that students are becoming less intelligent due to all this "additional help". In conclusion, both sides can be heavily argued and seeing which side pans out to be a stronger argument could be a very interesting and informative essay.