Social Media as an Information Source of Political Learning in Online Education

Abstract

The use of social media as a learning process is inevitable, as students need to be politically inclined. This study wants to contribute to the lack of research on the topic of political material. Complement the literature by evaluating the effects of social media use on political knowledge. The research used a cross-sectional survey method involving 508 undergraduate students of a distance learning program, Open University, Indonesia. They were 218 males (42.9%) and 290 females (57.1%). The study results showed that the use of social media influences political knowledge by mediating online discussions over different social media platforms. The more students use social media and discuss political issues, the higher their level of knowledge. The study implies that instructors can use social media to integrate the instructional design of relevant courses that facilitate political discussion to learn for the acquisition of students’ political knowledge.