Understanding how social media influences student engagement within the classroom: middle grades students' perspectives.

This dissertation investigated the concept of student engagement and participation through the lens of middle school students. Studies and research show that overall student engagement amongst middle school-aged students is the most unengaged period throughout students' K-12 educational journey. Today's students live in a completely different generation from their guardians and parents due to the technology component, including smartphones making the element of social media more accessible. Social media is a platform that helps people communicate through various applications, and middle school students engage and participate in various social media applications daily. Student engagement is a critical component within education that impacts student achievement, achievement gap, post-secondary schooling, and the overall success of students. This research study explored the tools of social media in the classroom among sixth through eighth-grade students to see how it could affect student engagement within the classroom. It also provided students with the platform and safe space to vocalize their ideas and concerns regarding their personal student engagement experiences within the classroom. The study provided the students with the autonomy to participate in meaningful dialogue surrounding their educational and social media experiences. The theoretical framework used to explore this research was critical pedagogy which encouraged students to critique various element structures, educational discourse, practices, and values to provoke transformative change. Today's education system still teaches many of the same instructional practices and strategies that were used generations ago. Students today have different beliefs about how they want to be engaged in the classroom. This study was explored using the methodology of action research but more specifically youth participatory action research with the method of World Café. This allowed students to collaborate in the solution process of the student engagement dilemma within middle school education. The data collection consisted of audio recordings from participants' dialogue, surveys, and the notes on the chart paper where participants and facilitators recorded meaningful information. The major component of the World Café was utilizing a topic or subject matter that was both meaningful and relevant to the participants within the study.