Students, Social Media & Schools (SSMS) is a research group at Florida State University led by Dr. Vanessa Dennen and Dr. Stacey Rutledge.
We interested in the how students use social media, both in and out of the school environment, and how social media use influences their learning (both formal and informal) as well as their interactions within the school environment.
Current Project
During Summer 2020 we received a COVID-19 seed grant from Florida State University to study how teenagers are using social media during the pandemic. For this project, we surveyed teens and parents about teen happiness, activities, and social media use during summer 2020. We also interviewed 43 teens and had them keep video diaries for one week.
During Summer 2021, we again collected data on this project. We followed up with 30 of our 43 teens from Summer 2020, interviewing each one twice and also having them record a week’s worth of video diaries for us. We also conducted a national survey of teens, and a national survey of teachers. In this follow-up data collection effort, we focused on both social media use and how teens and teachers had experienced the pandemic.
We are presently preparing manuscripts on the following topics:
- Teen social media use and wellbeing during the pandemic
- Teen social media use in the school context
- Teen social media use and informal learning
- Teen social media use and social activism
- Teen engagement at school and instructional methods during 2020-21
- Video diary as method
Past Projects
Our project began with embedded research in a 10th and 12th grade class, asking students about their social media perceptions and habits. During that first data collection effort, we were listening closely to teens and learning what their social media networks looked like. We were also learning what questions to ask about their social media use.
We followed up with an another study, in which we interviewed 57 teens and teachers at one school. Through this study we learned about how social media is perceived and managed in a school setting, how teachers position themselves relative to student social media use, and how drama unfolds on social media in the school setting.
