In his paper presented to the American Educational Research Association last Sunday, postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois Collin Ruud found that Facebook plays a crucial role in helping students get accustomed to college life.
Rudd reports in the paper, "Social Networking and Social Support: Does It Play a Role in College Social Integration?," that there exists a relationship "between social media use and feelings of belonging to the broader campus community" and that students that use Facebook to stay in contact with high school friends feel closer to their communities at college. Rudd explains that this is the case because having a support network of friends going through similar experiences alleviates students' anxieties about college.
"We've got all these student-development theories," Rudd said. "Is technology going to change the way students develop socially?"
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education.
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