Social Media Tools for Educational Sustainability in Conflict-Affected Regions

Abstract

This conceptual paper demonstrates the potential role of social media in providing students with access to education during emergency situations when schools cannot ensure students’ safety or provide safe learning environments. It is based on conceptual analysis that transforms face-to-face education into a cost-free, online educational environment by relying on social-media learning tools during short-term disruptions caused by violence and conflict. This article proposes a framework that outlines how technology can be used to maintain education in schools during conflicts and emergency situations: cloud computing to access administrative resources and social media tools to maintain teaching/learning resources and student–teacher as well as student–student interactions. The proposed strategy could be greatly beneficial to educational leaders and administrators in regions vulnerable to sectarian conflicts where student safety and the delivery of educational services can become major challenges. This paper contributes to the literature by emphasising the advantages of social media tools for educational delivery in conflict-afflicted regions.

Keywords

• educational sustainability
• sectarian violence
• emergency education
• social media tools
• disaster risk reduction