The Use of Social Networks as a Communication Tool between Teachers and Students: A Literature Review

Abstract

Social networks have drastically changed communication between people, constituting a means of everyday use by which information is created and shared in a simple, instantaneous way with the rest of the world. Although social networks were not initially created for academic purposes, they are gradually being used as a means of communication between teachers and students, making them an extremely important element in the teachinglearning process by offering new possibilities for communication and interaction as well as creating new learning spaces. The purpose of this study is to analyze the use of social networks as a communication tool between teachers and students through a thorough bibliographical review. To do this, a systematic review of scientific documents containing data on teacher-student communication through social networks was carried out, resulting in a total of 96 documents published between 2006 and 2016 indexed in different internationally consulted databases. From the analyzed documents were extracted the educational levels in which research on teacherstudent communication in social networks were carried out; the most addressed social networks in the study of teacher-student interaction through social networks; the research areas that have been developed and the main results.