The relationship between social media and professional learning from the perspective of pre-service teachers: A survey

Social media usage is indispensable for college students, but the connection between social media and learning has received little scientific investigation. By examining pre-service teachers' attention to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching content and presentation in social media apps through WeChat, DingTalk, and TikTok, this study aimed to provide suggestions on using social media apps to promote pre-service teachers’ skill learning and teaching development and to understand the relationship between social media and learning. 383 valid surveys were distributed and gathered. The findings indicate that: 1) Social media apps have both beneficial and detrimental effects on education. 2) The degree of agreement differs on “Social media app is an excellent teaching tool” and “social media app has significant promise in boosting educational development”. The highest and lowest levels of agreement degrees were obtained for DingTalk and TikTok. The level of identification also affects how much pre-service teachers may pay attention to educational research and how frequently they study new materials in the future. 3) The degree to which pre-service teachers' academic performance in professional learning is affected by their use of social media varies. These findings have implications for pre-service teachers. This study suggests that it is necessary to further investigate the teaching aid function of social media apps and how pre-service teachers can better utilize them to develop professional skills.