Conceptual model for the academic use of Social Networking Sites from student engagement perspective

Due to the innovative interactive and collaborative features of Social Networking Sites (SNSs), several opportunities are available to support student engagement and student learning. Despite the pedagogical advantages of these social technologies to support educational use and the high level of use among students in higher education institutions, they often inefficiently used in education. As a result, and based on the student engagement literature, this paper presents a review of student engagement concept and related issues, and then proposes a model for the academic use of SNSs. In addition, considerations for SNSs implementation in education and directions for further research in the use of SNSs in the academic settings are discussed.