A new report finds that social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter may help community college students gain more from their academics.
 
The report, published by the Texas-based Center for Community College Student Engagement, found higher levels of academic engagement among students who said they use social media multiple times a day for scholastic purposes, such as communicating with other students, instructors or college staff about course work, than students who said they do not use such tools at all.

Yet, many two year colleges have not focused on using social networking technology to get in better communication with their students.
 
While 95 percent of students from age 18 to 24 use social networks and 64 percent use such tools multiple times a day, only 18 percent utilize the sites for school work.
 
The report went further to suggest that students who frequently use social networking devices for recreational use in lieu of educational benefit were more likely to abandon school work.

"The uses of social networking tools are clearly growing in frequency," says Kay McClenny, director of the Center in Texas. "Colleges are not taking advantage of that particular set of tools for making connections with students to the extent that they could.”


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