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• Self-study: a developing research approach for professional learning

Dr Liz White and Professor Joy Jarvis, University of Hertfordshire

In this article the authors consider the ‘self-study’ research approach that has been used particularly in teacher education contexts in North America and Australia. They explore the concept of self-study and its use as a research approach for practitioners. They identify its limited, but growing use in Europe and focus on developments in the field of teacher education at the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

What is self-study?

The conviction that professionals should be able to improve their practices through systematic research was proposed by Stenhouse in 1975:

‘the outstanding characteristics of the extended professional is a capacity for autonomous professional self-development through systematic self-study, through the study of the work of other teachers and through the testing of ideas by classroom research procedures’ (1975:144).

Since then there has been an increasing interest in practitioner research, and the development of a whole range of inquiry approaches - for example, action research, reflective learning, pragmatic evaluation of practice and lesson study (Boyd & White, 2017). Self-study connects with these approaches but it is characterised by its focus on one’s own practice and one’s own role in it, and looking more deeply to identify motivations, beliefs, and concerns around an aspect of practice. Characteristics of self-study are: the involvement of critical friends (Schuck & Russell, 2005); the use of theory to help to gain wider perspectives on practice; and methodological rigour (LaBoskey, 2004). Self-study aims not only to enhance the quality of practice, but also to open up the self-study to public debate in the academic community, contributing to the knowledge base of teacher education (Vanassche & Keltchermans, 2015). Interestingly self-study has not been used to the same extent in Europe as it has been in North America or Australia. The name may suggest an inward looking focus on oneself and one’s own concerns rather than on the role of the teacher educator, teacher, or other practitioner, in the practice. This understanding of the concept could lead to practitioners discounting this approach when choosing how they will engage in practitioner research.

Why choose self-study?

A reason for choosing self-study as an approach to studying practice relates to the view one takes to the role of the practitioner in the practice.  Approaches under a teacher inquiry/self-improvement umbrella can have different areas of focus (Noffke & Somekh, 2009). These include, for example, research in which an aspect of the researcher’s practice is identified, examined, changed and then evaluated. This has the practice itself as the focus. This seems logical if one is aiming to change the way something is undertaken. So, for example, a group of colleagues could explore the way feedback is given on university assignments, collect data from students and colleagues, undertake a change in light of this evidence, perhaps using audio instead of written feedback, and then evaluate this new way of working through further data collection. The findings could then inform feedback given on assignments on this particular programme, with suggestions as to how this could be transferable to other contexts. Critical action research (Carr & Kemis, 2009) may follow a similar research trajectory but have as a focus the growth and emancipation, through the development of critical understanding, of the students or clients who are engaged as participants in, rather than subjects of, the research. Self-study research focuses on the learning of the practitioner-researcher.

Through self-study research the practitioner can develop his/her ‘wisdom of practice’ (Schulman, 2004) or what van Manen (1991) calls the ‘tact of teaching’, which is the sensitivity to act in an educative manner in context.  Schulman (2004) stresses that the ongoing professional learning of the teacher is essential due to the contextual nature of teaching, where each decision for action has to be made in relation to a wide range of considerations and in a complex context with many learners.  Flinn (2018:12) argues that in the development of leadership, - and teaching could be seen as leadership of learning - a complex context necessitates leaders developing their capacities for ‘sense-making, reflexivity and practical judgement’. Self-study may be apt for teachers and teacher educators in schools or universities or indeed for other practitioners. The researcher needs to identify what they are seeking to change, and if it is himself or herself as a practitioner then a self-study approach could be appropriate.

Looking at self-studies that have been undertaken, such as those in a collection edited by Russell and Loughran (2007), one sees the challenging nature of this approach, as personal assumptions, judgements and actions are challenged by the self-study researchers themselves and their critical friends.  Colleagues who can be both supportive and challenging are central to the practice of self-study. Researchers have their beliefs and actions challenged by these critical friends and may identify that their ‘espoused’ theories are not their ‘theories in action’ (Agyris & Schon, 1974), or that their well-intentioned approach may be having a detrimental effect on students. The voice of the student must be heard in self-study and ways of collecting data in contexts of power relations have to be identified. Self-study researchers use published research and writing in the area they are exploring to gain a wider and deeper understanding of that practice, and to look outside the social, cultural and political contexts in which they, their colleagues and their students are set. Self-study researchers must look at practice through Brookfield’s (2017) four lenses: self; colleagues; students; and professional literature, in order to develop themselves as practitioners.  Self-study is challenging as a research approach because it examines the extent to which one is living out one’s values. It also requires one to re-examine them, and as Russell (2007) notes in a personal reflection on his own enquiries, values can evolve in response to examined practice. Of the process of self-study he reports, ‘Only by significant effort over several years am I able to fully understand the potential benefits and personal consequences of a change recommended by research, and only through self-study am I able to achieve that understanding’ (Russell, 2007: 182).  While a piece of self-study research with a particular focus may be time-bounded, the process can lead to the researcher taking an ‘inquiry stance’ (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) to practice and professional learning throughout their career.

An example of a teacher who took an inquiry stance to his work in classrooms and later to his teacher educator practice is Bullock (2007).  He tried different classroom pedagogies and undertook action research on whether they facilitated student learning.  He also looked at himself as a teacher, and later as a teacher educator, working at surfacing his ‘default’ assumptions and practices so that he could act more knowingly.  He found a critical friend invaluable in raising questions and challenging ways of thinking and practising. His interest in self-study grew from his use of Schön’s work on reflective practice and epistemology of professional knowledge. He wrote reflections after teaching sessions and used these to identify issues for his practice.  For example at one point he noticed that many of his teacher education students had assumptions about teaching that were limiting their pedagogy. This led to the development of a self-study question: ‘Do I solicit teacher candidates’ prior conceptions about their pedagogy?’  (Bullock, 2007:89).  In this way he was researching and developing his own professional practice. At the end of his account he writes ‘I have much to learn on my journey of thinking about teaching and learning and I am confident that self-study of teacher education practices will help me to articulate my teaching practice and to continue to learn and teach about teaching.’ (Bullock, 2007:93)

Self-study research on teacher education – the international and national picture

Over the past 25 years, self-study research has emerged strongly as a form of teacher educator research in North America and Australia. One of the largest special interest groups of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the one for self-study of teacher education practices (S-STEP). However, self-study research is still limited across Europe (Lunenberg et al., forthcoming). In the UK, this may be because some teacher educators fear that self-study may not be recognised as an acceptable research approach for inclusion in the Research Excellence Framework submission (through which UK universities receive financial reward for contributing to the knowledge base). This may be because some assessors and research leaders may believe that self-study, and other practitioner research, lacks theoretical underpinning, rigour and ability to contribute to the evidence-base for teaching because of the difficulty of generalising from small-scale research.

A report of self-study practices in Iceland, the Netherlands, England and Ireland shows the development of self-study groups and the use of this methodology in an increasing number of doctoral studies (Lunenberg et al., forthcoming). In England there are discreet areas of practice that have arisen through local interest and needs, reflecting the fragmented context of teacher education (Hayler, 2010; Jackson and Burch, 2016; McNamara et al., 2017). The S-STEP SIG of AERA hold a biennial ‘Castle Conference’ at Herstmonceux Castle in England. Over the 12 years that this conference has been running, there have been only a small number of researchers from English universities presenting each year and in the last 5 years only two academics from English Universities have published in Studying Teacher Education (Akinbode, 2013; Vázquez, 2014). Notable in the English scene is the work of Whitehead in developing self-study masters and doctoral groups. Whitehead and Huxtable have consistently contributed to the S-STEP SIG community (e.g. Whitehead and Huxtable, 2008; Whitehead and Huxtable, 2010; Whitehead and Huxtable, 2014; Huxtable and Whitehead, 2016).

The development of self-study at the University of Hertfordshire

In the School of Education, University of Hertfordshire, our interest in self-study was initiated by Helen Burchell who led a reflective practice group of teacher educators.  She was interested in using visual and narrative research approaches to inquiry into practice and connected with Jean Clandinin and other leading North Americans and Australian researchers in this field through the AERA. Burchell introduced self-study to the School and was the critical friend to Joy Jarvis who undertook a self-study into her teaching of students in the field of special educational needs presented at the Castle Conference 2006 (Jarvis and Burchell, 2006). Jarvis and Burchell returned from the conference enthusing about John Loughran’s book Developing a Pedagogy of Teacher Education (2006) and subsequently the Head of the School purchased a copy for each member of staff in the School. Lunchtime discussions of the book were led by Jarvis and were the inspiration for some small practice-based inquiries. Russell and Loughran’s book Enacting a pedagogy of teacher education. Values, relationships and practices (2007) was also used to inspire groups of staff in thinking about their own practice.

In 2008, Burchell and Mary Rees attended the Castle Conference and at the following Castle Conference Leo Chivers presented the results of a self-study group of six novice academics in the School of Education through their induction year (Chivers et al., 2010). This study and the process of preparing a conference paper supported the development of academic identity in these colleagues. Liz White, joining the group later, also undertook a self-study which helped her to develop her identity as a teacher educator (White, 2011). In this study a critical incident in practice provoked research involving listening to the voice of the learners to develop a pedagogy of explicit modelling as a teacher educator. Alongside this, Jack Whitehead was invited to speak at the University of Hertfordshire. This raised the standing of self-study, in professional learning and development, with colleagues and doctoral students. Additionally, Adenike Akinbode (2013) undertook her doctorate externally using a reflective approach to personal inquiry and a study group to support criticality. Ann Jasman (2010) while at the University of Hertfordshire explored her own learning as a teacher educator through undertaking research projects with teachers.

We had not connected our work together and labelled it as self-study, rather we had seen ourselves working within the Stenhouse framework (and this of course includes teachers studying themselves) but we had not emphasised the term.  Then, in 2017, White was invited by Mieke Lunenberg to present a self-study in a symposium at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER). The symposium was entitled ‘Self-Study Methodology:  An Inspiring and Ambitious Approach for Practitioner Research in Europe’. This led to an invitation to White and Jarvis to contribute to a chapter of self-study practices in Europe, in the forthcoming new edition of the International Handbook of Self-study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices (Lunenberg et al., forthcoming).

In 2018, White invited Eline Vanassche to speak in the School of Education. She shared her experience of S-STEP as an outsider looking in, from her perspective as a researcher. She left us with her lessons on ‘teaching’ self-study to those new in the field drawn from her involvement in a two-year study of a self-study research group of six experienced teacher educators from Flemish teacher education programmes (Vanassche and Keltchermans, 2016).

Having identified our story of the development of self-study in the School of Education at the University of Hertfordshire, we would like to build on these foundations and to move the narrative forward. As ‘self-study has the potential to critique the rather narrow and instrumentalist view of teacher education practice and scholarship furthered by policies in many countries’ (Vanassche, 2018), we are considering whether the time is ripe for a new self-study group to support the induction and professional development of teacher educators across the university and regional partnerships. Teachers in schools, colleges and universities to learn and develop as practitioners could also use this approach.

Self-study research has the potential to benefit the learning of professionals from a range of disciplines who are teaching in higher education. There is also capacity to explore different ways of conducting self-study research in collaboration with our international colleagues.

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Home > Books > Teacher Education in the 21st Century - Emerging Skills for a Changing World

Self-Study Research: Challenges and Opportunities in Teacher Education

Submitted: 21 September 2020 Reviewed: 27 January 2021 Published: 01 March 2021

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.96252

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This article aims to describe what self-study research is, why self-study can be a good approach to teacher educators’ professional development and improvements in practice and highlight some challenges and opportunities in this research approach. In addition, the article will shed light on some methodological aspects related to self-study. Self-study refers to teacher educators who in an intentionally and systematically way examine their practice to improve it, based on a deeper understanding of practice, as well as the context practice takes place. In the article, I argue that engaging in self-study is a learning and development process and an approach to developing personal professionalism, collective professionalism and improvements in practice.

• pedagogy in teacher education
• professional identity
• teaching about teaching

Author Information

Kåre hauge *.

• Department of Teacher Education, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

The professionalization of teachers´, teachers´ learning and teaching has been high on the political agenda in many countries, both in Europe and in large part of the world [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. In the last 40 years, the discourse around teachers’professional learning and development has largely been linked to various forms of practitioner research. That is, research where teachers actively initiate innovations and research their own practice to improve their understanding of practice, and as a consequence, improve their teaching and professional actions [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].

A closely related approach to practice-oriented research related to professional learning and development is also found in the self-study research , which is explicitly related to teacher educators [ 9 , 10 ]. The professionalization of teacher’s and teacher educators has both emerged from and been influenced by a range of approaches and has built on the work of fields such as reflective practice (e.g [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]), action research (e.g [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]), teacher research (e.g [ 6 ]) and other forms for practitioners’reseach (for a more detailed overview, see [ 18 ]). Self-study is the study of oneself and one’s own practice and involves a moral commitment to improving practice [ 19 ]. According to Bullough and Pinnegar [ 20 ], self-study is used in relation to teaching and research on practice with the intention of better understanding of both oneself (in the different roles one holds as teacher educator), instruction, teaching and learning; and the development of knowledge related to these factors. Self-study refers to teacher educators who in an intentionally and systematic way examine their practice in order to improve it, based on a deeper understanding of the practices, as well as the contexts practice is taken place [ 9 ]. With such an understanding of self-study, self-study is characterized as a specific form of action research, and corresponds to Pinnegar and Hamilton’s [ 19 ] definition which describe self-study as something more comprehensive than just applying the study of oneself:

“it is not the self but the self and the others in practice that is most of interest … the self seeks to explore the gap between who I am and who I would like to be in my practice and studies that self and the others involved as the self takes action to reduce or alter that gap” (p. 12).

This means that self-study should not only be of significance to the person who conducting the study, but also of importance for creating meaning and contribute to increased understanding and knowledge for other teacher educators. Self-study research is an approach to understand one’s own practice and one’s self-concept, means that teacher educators look critically at their own professional values [ 21 ], work towards a better self-understanding [ 22 ], and have a moral purpose [ 23 ].

In this article, it will first be an elaboration of what self-study is about, before it is elucidated why self-study can be a useful approach for development in teacher education and various purposes related to self-studies. Then follows a discussion of methodological aspects associated with self-studies, before a presentation of some methodological approaches from self-studies that have been completed. Finally, some challenges and opportunities related to self-study research will be highlighted. The conclusion is: 1) that teacher educators have a professional responsibility for continuous professional development that contributes to better understanding for teaching and students learning- and development processes, 2) engaging in self-study is a learning and development process and approach to develop personal professionalism, collective professionalism and improvements in practice.

2. Self-study: core characteristics and aspects

Self-study is largely about becoming better informed, gaining expanded understanding, and an effort to improve oneself as a professional educator and one’s own practice. As mentioned, self-study are closely related to action research, teacher research and reflective practice, and all these approaches share the assumption that the quality of education is “hinged” on the practitioner’s (teacher’s / teacher educators) knowledgeability (ability to; communicate with students, teach, create development processes, facilitate teaching, facilitate meaningful processes etc.), and that practitioner’s actively studying their own practice and teaching is a valuable approach to enhance these abilities [ 24 ]. An important aspect of self-study is to search for the “gap” (distance) and contradictions between personal theory, own beliefs, thoughts, ideas, and how own teaching is actually conducted [ 25 , 26 ]. This means to discover and acknowledge the differences between own normative beliefs and aspirations of teaching on the one hand, and the actual teaching practice on the other hand. This is what Whitehead [ 27 ] describes as the notion of experiencing oneself as a “living contradiction”. To put it simply: we think, means and say one thing but we do something else in action.

A key characteristic of self-study is that it is initiated and carried out by practitioners whose practice is studied [ 28 ]. Nilsson and Loughran [ 28 ] emphasizes and argues that it is teacher educators themselves who must have control over the development and knowledge generation of teaching about teaching in teacher education, and how to facilitate teacher students´ development, understanding and learning processes. This implies that it is the practitioners (teacher educators) who are responsible and must take responsibility for investigating, describing and articulating the relationship between the given teaching and the students´ development, understanding and learning. Smith [ 29 ] uses the term “teacher educators´ agency” about this responsibility. This is about teacher educators´ taking control of their own professional practice by researching it with the intention of developing and improving both oneself and practice and aiming to create new research-based knowledge. One important aspect here is also about being critical of the existing knowledge, traditions, institutional ways of thinking and acting, and institutional and political leadership related to teacher education [ 29 ]. Agency acts to the extent that the professional practitioners, teacher educators´, exploits the opportunities and freedom of the professional room in a responsible manner [ 30 ]. In that way, self-studies that lead to changes and improvements are the practice of agency.

An important aspect of self-study which is crucial in understanding the methodology is embedded in the desire of teacher educators to better align their teaching intents with their teaching actions [ 31 ]. It is unavoidable that the nature of practice itself, with its inherent contradictions and tensions, affects the manner in which the practice is researched. Accordring to Loughran [ 10 ], it will also be unavoidable for researchers and teacher educators who engage in self-study that the study of; themselves – their thinking – their actions – their teaching, does not affect or is applicable in their own practice. Another important aspect of self-study is about discovering and becoming aware of the complexities associated with teaching and educating. There are many challenging operations that take place simultaneously, and a teacher have a responsibility for everyone to support and facilitate both understanding and development, and for processes and actions to create meaning as well as challenging students. Zeichner [ 32 ] state that research related to self-study has managed to bring out some of the complexities associated with educating teachers and contributed to a certain dignity and to highlight the important, yet underestimated work of teacher education institutes and teacher educators. According to Zeichner [ 32 ], self-study may be the approach to research within teacher education that has contributed most to important developments in the field. Although an attempt has been made to briefly describe what self-study is about, it is according to Bullough and Pinnegar [ 20 ] difficult to fully understand what it is and what it is not. In addition, they also emphasized that self-study is not a recipe or procedure that is slavishly followed, but rather a methodology for exploring and researching own practice, one’s self and own teaching about teaching. In the following, it will be elucidated why self-study can be a good approach to learning and development and what the purposes are for self-study.

3. The relevance of self-study in teacher education

What challenges do I have in my practice and how to investigate, work with and understand these?

How can I encourage / make students more aware of having a more reflective attitude to experiences from practice periods they have in schools?

How can I be more informed about and aware of problematic aspects in practice that are usually hidden from my understanding and reflection? (in teaching, there are many problems that are obvious, and we can discover, but we have an understanding, experiences, thoughts and perspectives that make some problems hidden from us – so how to discover these?)

How can I support my students to raise the quality of their learing and development towards becoming a teacher?

How to facilitate thorough and meaningful deliberative dialogs?

How to get students more involved and active in seminar groups?

These are just a few examples of what questions teacher educators can ask related to their own teaching and practice. One of the problems in teaching is that teachers tend to act before they know how things are related or evolved, or that teachers act from past experiences and habits, without knowing they do it [ 35 , 36 ]. In Dewey’s theory of learning and development, which is one of the sources of inspiration for self-study, he makes a clear distinction between actions based on habits and actions based on knowledge [ 11 ]. He claims that in situations where we have control, overview and know what it takes to solve the task, we do it based on our habits and learned ways of doing things. In such situations, thinking is unnecessary. It is when challenges or problems arise that cannot be solved with habits and learned methods that we must apply our ability to think and do something with our habits, methods and actions. Dewey [ 11 ] describes this as changing habits and actions from being unintelligent to becoming intelligent habits and actions. Based on this theoretical framework, Keltchermans and Hamilton [ 37 ] point out that one of the purposes of self-study is that self-studies can help teachers to look beyond technical and mechanical reductionism, i.e. from the perspective of “knowing how” to the perspective of “knowing why”, and “becoming some-one-who – for students”. This mean: for teachers and teacher educators to live up to society’s demands for high-quality education in the 21st century, teachers must be more than professional and educational experts [ 38 ]. This in turn means that teaching involves a moral obligation, a moral dimension of one’s knowledge that includes personal attributes such as vulnerability, honesty, integrity and credibility that are important in the work of teacher and teacher educators [ 37 ]. Here we are talking about a deeper understanding and knowledge that we also can understand considering Schön’s concept of single and double loop learning [ 13 ]. Where single-loop learning confines itself to focusing on the instrumental, technical, mechanical actions, while double-loop learning goes beyond the actions itself, and to the underlying beliefs, values and attitude to the individual and institutional. When there are tensions and contradictions between how practice actually is carried out and our beliefs and values, it is not enough to just fine-tune actions. Then we must go beyond them and back to the sustaining factors to see what changes and improvements can be made so that the teaching can reflect our beliefs and values. An essential purpose in addition to developing practice is to develop one’s own moral awareness related to teaching and being a teacher educator. Focusing on self-study for understanding own practice and self-esteem means that teacher educators critically examine their own personal values [ 21 ], work towards better self-understanding [ 22 ] and positive changes in identity and practice [ 39 ], and, have a moral purpose [ 23 ].

Another purpose of self-study is to “model” something for the students. The concept of “modeling” in an educational context can easily be misunderstood, and in some cases the perception of modeling may be to imitate, do the same, model or template for reproduction, or some form of indoctrination. Despite the potential for misunderstandings, the term is widely used in education, but through self-study research the language, intensions and results of modeling are understood differently [ 10 ]. In self-study research, modeling is understood as i.e.: 1) a way to illustrate something, 2) a way to process and operationalize something, 3) a way to experiment with something, 4) a perspective and approach how to investigate something, and 5) modeling becomes viewed as a starting point for professional growth and development.

An essential purpose of self-study is also linked to the need to ask critical questions about teaching, learning, development and knowledge, and to articulate the silent knowledge and understanding about the practices of teacher educators. This is also about clarifying pedagogical reasoning and pedagogical argumentation and justification. In other words, making teacher educators thinking, actions, concerns, challenges and professional development more explicit and accessible to other teacher educators [ 19 , 31 , 40 ]. If the result of self-study really intended to influence the work within teacher education beyond the individual, the studies must demonstrate scholarship and knowledge generation that may be central to teacher education and the research field more generally. Self-studies must be made available for public criticism, critical review and evaluations from other teacher educators, so that others can use, build on, develop, adapt and adjust the work in meaningful ways that suit their own teaching context and own level of knowledge. Bullough and Pinnegar [ 41 ] emphasize that the question “so what?” is a critical reference for the quality of self-study. In other words: What is the significance of the study for others? What meaning does the study give to others? Is the study transferable to other contexts? If questions like these remains unanswered, the self-study may become a navel-gazing study that others in the field will not benefit from or contribute to knowledge generation [ 24 ]. Considering that the methodology in self-study can be perceived as a bit diffuse, it will further be elucidated some methodological aspects related to self-study research.

4. Methodology of self-study

As previously mentioned, Bullough and Pinnegar [ 20 ] point out that self-study is not a recipe or a procedure, but rather a methodology. Pinnegar [ 42 ] highlights the fact that self-study is a methodology for studying the professional practices of teacher educators, and that there is no particular method or correct way to conduct self-study. Rather, what determines how a self-study is conducted depends on which focus area of practice that is wanted to be better understood and developed. Pinnegar [ 42 ] offers a way to understand the methodological when she states:

“while the methods and methodologies of self-study are not much different from other research methods, self-study is methodologically unique … self-studies involves a different philosophical and political stance … researchers who embrace self-study through the simple act of choosing to study their own practice, present an alternative representation of the relationship of the researcher and the researched … as they explore the development of understanding practice” (p. 31–32).

Therefore, it is crucial when considering how to approach the self-study to be aware of the continuous interplay between research and practice in the practice context [ 31 ]. This means i.e., as the research unfolds, learning and development through research will affect the practice, and because the practitioner is the researcher, the practice will inevitably change as a result of this interaction and thus affect what is being researched. According to Feldman [ 43 ] and Loughran [ 44 ], a persistent criticism related to self-study is the lack of methodological rigor and transparency. LaBoskey [ 45 ] presents insightful perspectives into the methodology of self-study, outlining what she sees as four integrated aspects.

The first aspect is that self-study aims to create changes and improvements, both at the individual, the collective and at the institutional level. In addition, one of the purposes of self-study is to bring in new knowledge and development related to the education of teachers. Therefore, it is necessary that self-study thoroughly elucidates and justifies choices made, and studies should point to changes or new structures in thinking, learning- and development processes and actions. It is also important in the studies to highlight how and why changes and improvements occurred. The second aspect is about the interactivity in self-study. Interactivity is connected to interaction with colleagues, with students, with literature and research in the field and the interaction with our own previous practice. According to Zeichner [ 46 ], there is an especially important link between the researcher and the students. Students are important participants and must be actively involved in self-studies. Students will be the researcher’s “mirror” of what happens in the processes of information, feedback and advice related to teaching and processes, development, learning and their understanding. Pinnegar and Quiles-Fernández [ 47 ] point out the importance of building good relationships between researchers in self-studies that takes place in a research collaboration with other researchers. Hauge [ 35 ] emphasize that relationships between researchers and teachers based on trust, respect and equality contribute to; delve deeper into the topics being investigated, dare to ask the difficult questions and being critical, creates a lower threshold for trying out and experimenting with new approaches, and this enables them to have a deeper understanding of what is being studied.

The third aspect is that self-study uses several, primarily qualitative methods. Some of these methods are often used in educational research and intervention research, while some methods may have a more innovative character. An essential purpose of methods of an innovative character, or what Engeström and Sannino describe as expansive learning, is about thinking new, experimenting, trying new approaches, and, it is an opportunity to develop “something that is not yet there” ([ 48 ], p. 2). The methodological aspect is, as mentioned, a controversial area within self-study (both by researchers who have completed self-study and others who are more critical), and although there has been development, refinement and demarcation in the field, the one correct way or template for self-studies has not emerged. Rather, self-study tends to be methodologically framed through questions, challenges, problems and desires related to areas in practice which should be changed and developed, and where the method most appropriate for examining and collecting data is used according to the study’s intent. The fourth aspect is about the need to formalize the work and make it available to the professional community (i.e other researchers in self-study and teacher education research). For self-study to be examples of the development of knowledge and practice, they must be intelligible to other researchers in self-study / teacher education research and to teacher educators, reflective over the human actions, and they must be socially and contextually situated. In addition, the researcher who completed the study must engage and guide the reader into examining aspects of the study related to teaching and learning by elucidating experiences and situations, and the research (text) must involve the researcher, the author’s “self”. This means that the researcher must show who he / she is in this landscape by illuminating thoughts, opinions, interpretations, actions, development, and it must involve the construction of meaning and knowledge. In other words: a self-study should not only describe the development of meaning and knowledge, but the moral dimension that involves the researcher’s “self” must be brought into the research. Together, these four aspects demonstrate an expectation that learning and knowledge development from self-studies will not only be informative to the individual who completed the study, but also meaningful and useful for other researchers and teacher educators in their practice.

4.1 Methods for self-study in practice

A basic starting point in all empirical research is to choose the research design and the methods that are best suited to illuminate and answer the research questions [ 49 ]. It is thus the research questions that lay the foundation for the choice of design and methods for the research. To map, reconstruct, explore, analyze, develop and represent the study to a wider audience, self-study researchers use “whatever methods will provide the needed evidence and context for understanding their practice” ([ 50 ], p. 240). To show that self-studies borrows its repertoire of research methods and strategies from empirical-analytical and/or qualitative-interpretive research, some examples of self-study is presented below. The methodological approaches are highlighted in italics.

There are many teacher educators who are concerned about the impact of specific pedagogical interventions have on teacher students´ learning and development, and there can be various reasons to investigate one’s own practice. To initiate discussions and reflections among students related to her methods in mathematics teaching, Brandenburg [ 51 ] organized short weekly Round Table Reflection sessions. The intention was to improve the students´ reflective thinking and to investigate whether her teaching created meaning and understanding, and whether the methods were good approaches for these students. A study conducted by Dourneen and Matthewman [ 52 ] analyzed how two student teachers´ transformed an education course on ICT in their internship lessons in a school through videotaping the lessons . The purpose was to identify what the students emphasized in their teaching, and how the teacher educators´ didactic approach affected the students and to create a focus for their ongoing improvements in practice with teacher students. In a study of Dinkelman [ 53 ], the starting point was an incident in his classroom where a student stated that she did not feel safe or could speak freely in this classroom. To investigate what this was about, a number of individual interviews with students´ in the class were conducted. In the interviews, several students appeared who felt insecure and lacked openness to speak freely in class, and the students pointed out that the reason was largely about the teacher’s facial expression was perceived by some as judgmental. Although open classroom discourse were an important goal and a personal value in his teaching, there was something in his demeanor and behavior that placed restrictions on its implementation. This is what Whitehaed [ 27 ] describes as perceiving oneself as a “living contradiction”, which in this case is about valuing one thing but showing something else. Dinkleman’s study also show that those who complete a self-study must be able to cope with and handle what is revealed in the study.

Berry and Forgasz [ 40 ] have conducted a study based on Clandinin and Connelly’s [ 54 ] metaphor of “professional knowledge landscape” as a support for conceptualizing teachers’ professional knowledge. This “landscape” consists of two fundamentally different places: one is in the classroom with students, and the other is in professional places with others (colleagues, administrators, etc.). At the intersection of these rooms, the secret lived stories of practice , teachers can learn to both tell and live their professional knowledge, while at the same time having the opportunity to reconstruct and adjust their professional knowledge. The broader landscape of teachers’ professional knowledge, on the other hand, is full of imposed prescriptions on teaching, the sacred stories . Sacred stories are “pulled down” to teachers by a number of seemingly undeniable external authorities, including researchers and policy makers. By disseminating their secret lived stories , it was a goal for Berry and Forgasz [ 40 ] to find out how articulation and disclosure of own secret stories of teaching to colleagues could contribute to a broader and more pedagogical understanding of teacher education practices and at the same time be critical of the sacred stories of teaching.

In a study by Vanassche and Keltchermans [ 24 ], six teacher educators worked with their professional development in a two-year period where they had monthly meetings. Vanassche and Keltchermans facilitated the study and the monthly meetings, and the six participants made their own research questions related to focus in their professional development. The study was a formative intervention study based on a research collaboration between researchers and participants, where the goal was to create development and understanding of the teacher educators´ practice for both parties, both the facilitators and the teacher educators. The intention of formative intervention research is to carry out interventions to promote change and improvement, and development and research take place in parallel [ 48 ], which means that research is carried out on the ongoing development processes while the study is in progress. In order to bring out tensions and contradictions between the teacher educators´ practices and their normative beliefs, “mirror data” was collected as a basis for systematic discussions and reflections. According to Cole and Engeström [ 55 ], “mirror data” will act as a collective mirror on the participants practice, and the data literally “hold up the mirror”. The mirror data included: video-recordings of lessons with student-teachers´, teacher educators´ staff meetings, observations of teaching and internship evaluation reports.

Smith and Krumsvik [ 56 ] conducted a self-study in teacher education where they searched for weak points in their own pedagogy teaching. An essential part of the study was the teacher educators´ reflection processes. The methods used to collect data for the reflection processes were video recordings of lectures with many students present and seminars with a small group of students. In addition, the teacher educators´ log notes were part of the data base. The video recording became the empirical basis for searching for weak points in the teaching. Based on the video recordings and log notes, the reflection processes were first carried out on an individual level, then they reflected together, before showing the video recordings and discussing the reflections with all the other colleagues in the department of pedagogy. In this study, video recordings and log notes are used for thorough individual reflections, reflections in pairs , and to invite an ever-expanding audience to participate in the reflection processes related to the two teacher educators´ learning process.

An important point that large parts of the literature in self-study agree on is the need for self-study to be a collaborative process (e.g. multiple chapters in the International handbook of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices : [ 10 , 20 , 45 ]). Freese [ 57 ] conducted a two years self-study collaborating with one student teacher aiming at a better understanding of the complexities of learning to teach, and which specific tasks and activities could contribute to teacher students´ growth and development. Another goal of this study was to discover “oneself” as a teacher through reflection and an inquiry approach in collaboration. In this study, discussions and reflections ( audio-recorded ) related to growth and development for both parties, in addition to finding themselves as teachers` were essential methods.

Koster and van den Berg [ 58 ] have conducted a study that focuses on how teachers who participated in a Master’s degree study of learning and innovation can explore their professional identity. One of the methods used in this study was a biographical approach [ 59 ]. There are different approaches to a biographical approach, but here a constructivist approach was used where the students actively constructed their career experiences into a story that became meaningful to them.

What emerges in these different examples from different self-studies is that it does not involve following a recipe or a fixed procedure, but that there are many different methodological approaches. What determines which methodological measures self-study the researcher should take depends on the focus of the study, what is to be investigated and what is the goal and purpose of the study [ 42 ]. Until now, it has been tried to illuminate and describe what self-studies is and what makes self-studies special in terms of methodological approaches. In the following, some challenges and opportunities related to self-study will be highlighted in order to study and develop own practice.

5. Challenges and opportunities

5.1 challenges.

The discussion related to challenges in self-study research could have been an article in itself, but here three challenges will be highlighted: 1) the challenge of the self-critical nature of one’s own work and practice, 2) the requirement for quality, and 3) the tensions between efficiency and understanding.

Being able to ask “serious” critical questions about own actions and existing interpretations and assumptions is difficult when exploring and investigating own practice and experiences [ 31 , 60 ]. There is a risk that the learning that comes out of a self-study just becomes a pseudonym for rationalization or self-justification. One of the core elements of self-study is about being informed to a greater extent about and developing own practice through adopting a reflective attitude towards own teaching. A vital feature of reflective teaching involves having a critical view on practice and a critical look at existing assumed assumptions related to various aspects of the educational process. In the field of teacher education there is a widespread agreement that there is a strong relationship between what a teacher believes and how teaching occurs in the classroom [ 45 ]. Thus, in order to influence practice, teachers´ thinking about teaching must be transformed and critical questions must be asked about what is being done [ 45 ]. But, for various reasons this is easier said than done. Firstly, this is due to the fact that our beliefs, values and knowledge about teaching are derived from our experiences and our personal history which is necessarily limited. Secondly, many of these assumptions are implicit, which means they have never been articulated, not even for us self [ 61 ]. It is also a fact that some of these ideas and beliefs about teaching are deeply ingrained in us and intimately connected to our identities as teachers and teacher educators [ 45 ]. For these reasons, it can therefore be challenging to ask critical and constructive questions related to one’s own teaching and practice.

Another challenge, according to Vanassche and Keltchermans [ 24 ] is related to the tensions between the relevance of self-study and methodological rigor. In other words, a question of quality and what requirements are placed on quality for a self-study. Self-studies are inevitable in this field of tensions and it is a direct consequence of its dual research agenda. One the one hand, the requirements to contribute to professional development and improvements in practice, and on the other hand the development of a public and accessible knowledge base in teacher education. Moving too much towards relevance can produce a solipsistic study, which may result in a study in which the person conducting the study becomes the only one that exist in the text. In other words, a navel-gazing study that will not necessarily have transfer value to other teacher educators. Such studies will probably raise awareness and open up new understandings to the person who completed the study, but the value may not extend beyond the local individual context. On this side of the scale, the study will manifest itself as a study about oneself – of oneself – and for oneself, and the question about “so what”, what does this mean for others in the field of teacher education which is a critical reference for quality in self-studies will remain unanswered. On the other hand, moving too much towards rigor and requirements that emphasize methodological concerns to justify a generalization of the study’s findings could result in an increased methodological focus and reduced conceptualization in order to allow proper measurements [ 24 , 62 , 63 ]. By reducing the conceptualization, there will be less focus on describing actions and models that integrates ideas and concepts about what is done, why it is done and how the researcher came to this. The problem with such an approach is that there is a danger of less focus on the researcher’s actions and behavior in the study, which is an essential part of self-study. The question is on which side of this continuum will the study be located and focused, and what is considered most valuable for moving both the individual / local professional knowledge and the public knowledge base on teacher education going forward in a developing direction.

The final challenge is the tension between efficiency and understanding that is described by several as a demanding balance [ 24 , 64 , 65 ]. Although the framework and mindset within self-study has an agenda among other things to adopt a critical view to education policy that in many countries has promoted a rather narrow and instrumentalist view of practice, learning and knowledge development in teacher education and in schools [ 66 ], there are examples of self-studies presenting suggestions for quick solutions to problems and increased efficiency of own practice. In other words, find quick and short-terms solutions to complex problems so that students´ learning can take place effectively, in less time and preferably less resources. Such a technical-instrumentalist approach to self-study as research on teaching and learning has great legitimacy among many policy-makers who want clear evidence of “what works” [ 64 ]. Whether researchers in self-studies or other research approaches are put under pressure and made responsible by pointing to evidence of “what works” and how pedagogy should be in teacher education an in schools, it is hardly surprising that reseachers´ may be tempted to limit the research agenda to the question of “what works” [ 67 ]. Such an approach will limit the value of self-study to its functional, self-oriented and problem-solving nature which is characteristic of self-study. By doing so, self-study risks being cut off from potential inherent in the opportunities to develop a significant critical-political, educational, and epistemological understanding of the complexities of teacher education and teaching in general. Self-studies should articulate the researcher’s understanding of what, why and how the study led to understanding, and the study should uncover tensions in a specific course of action such as why one type of action was chosen over others. This is about offering a conceptualization of how the researcher arrived at what he did and what knowledge was generated, which raised it to a more general level that allows the work to be a contribution to the public knowledge base on teacher education [ 24 ].

5.2 Opportunities

Although some challenges related to self-study have been described, there are also several opportunities for development and knowledge building in this research and development approach. Korthagen and Lunenberg [ 68 ] have presented some opportunities and gains from engaging in self-study. Firstly, they believed that it is a personal gain to engage in self-study that is about their own professional development as a teacher educator. This is further supported by Clandinin and Connelly [ 69 ] and Berry and Forgasz [ 40 ] who claims that self-study research is in a particularly good position to influence the teacher education field and develop its knowledgebase. This is because the self-study approach potentially involves changes in the “self”, and this is where changes are least likely, but in self-study most suitable to occur. Secondly, Korthagen and Lunenberg [ 68 ] believe that there are opportunities to reshape and develop institutions` teacher education in terms of teaching, syllabus, programs and courses. Thirdly, they believed that there are opportunities to lay a foundation for a growing international community for teacher educators who engage in self-studies (or in general teacher education), and who benefit from the ongoing interaction between studies, researchers / teacher educators and the sharing of insight.

In a self-study approach, there are opportunities that more traditional approaches to research are probably not as thoroughly able to encapsulate. In particular, this is about examining features of being a “living contradiction” [ 27 ], which i.e. means we think and say one thing but do something else in action. It may also be about the fact that as teachers we feel that we are required to practice a practice that goes across our beliefs, values and attitudes. Such contradictions are challenging and demanding to detect, and it is difficult to stop, take a step back from personal experiences and examine these in a free and detached way. An essential characteristic and factor in self-study, is about making some stops to create an overview of own practice and take the important step back to find out what this is really about, take a meta-perspective [ 70 ]. Another possibility with self-study is that it is an effort for teacher educators to better understand how to handle, deal with and decide meaningful actions to dilemmas, challenges and problems, rather than seeking the correct answer to these. By seeing dilemmas, challenges and problems from such a perspective, one will, according to Shulman [ 71 ], create opportunities that help to shed light on how the reality of what is being examined actually is. Shulman also says that it makes a qualitative difference when it is the practitioner who defines the challenge instead of being introduced or imposed by external obeservers, decision makers or others, whose work is at distance from the teacher educator.

A self-study research approach can also be a good way to create meaningful processes to become more aware of who you are as a teacher educator and to develop your teacher educator identity. Koster and van den Berg [ 58 ] emphasizes that by engaging in self-study, teacher educators can become more aware of who they are- and find their core values as teacher educators. This is about raising awareness of who you are, what you stand for, what are your core values and how to convey these as a teacher educator. The research approach to self-study is closely related to the constructivist approach within the pragmatic paradigm [ 11 ]. A key point of Dewey [ 11 ] when it comes to learning and knowledge development is that it occurs when people face challenges or problems. Learning and knowledge development lies in dealing with such situations by exploring and engaging in them, working systematically and transforming it into something we understand and master. The new knowledge will then be able to help us change and improve our thinking and actions. When the goal is to create development and generate new knowledge that is important for the practitioner’s practice of the profession and to support the teacher students learning, or what Engeström and Sannino [ 48 ] describe as developing “something that is not yet there” (p. 2), is testing and experimentation with new approaches to teaching and learning processes a significant factor. Self-study is an appropriate and good approach for experimentation, trying out methods, moving out into the unknown and out of the comfort zone. One of the reasons for this is the requirement for interactivity with students, colleagues, literature and research in the field and with own previous practice. In collective processes, creativity and innovation are more likely to emerge than if we work individually, and the implementation of the “new approach” takes place in an environment where the participants have collaborated on the changes [ 72 ]. When changes to be implemented are a result of collaboration, it is a factor that also makes it a little safer to try out new approaches [ 73 ]. Takahashi [ 5 ] says that an important factor for teachers´ development and learning is the necessity of moving out of the comfort zone, and says that’s the place where exiting, unpredictable and evolving situations arise. Testing and experimenting is probably something all teachers and teacher educators do to a greater or lesser degree, but it does not mean that the testing and experimentation is studied and has a research approach. Through self-study, teacher educators can research and study this testing and experimentation, go deeper into what they are doing, use students actively in the development of new methodological approaches and construct good and meaningful processes that make sense to students and suit the teacher educator’s way of thinking and how to facilitate development- and learning processes. In these exploration and testing processes, Takahashi [ 5 ] believes that many teachers are afraid of failing or that it does not work as they had intended, and that this fear of not succeeding can be a hinderance for development and learning. According to Dewey [ 11 ], we should not be afraid of making mistakes or that the scheme does not go as planned, because a mistake is not just a mistake. Dewey sees mistakes as a starting point and a potential source for developing new knowledge and further development by looking at mistakes as something instructive.

According to Loughran [ 31 ], there is little doubt that teacher educators who explore their own practice through the use of self-study methodology, are serious about seeking a better understanding and execution of their own practice.

6. Conclusion

Self-study is a meaningful approach and tool that can be employed to serve several purposes in the preparation of teacher educators. Through self-study, teacher educators can to a greater extend be able to capture, unpack and portray the complexity of teaching that can lead to a deeper understanding of both practice and students´ learning processes. In this chapter, self-study as research is thoroughly described, and the possible positive influence in teacher educators´ development and practice are illuminated. At the same time, it is important to point out that self-study can be challenging, and it places some demands on teacher educators. It requires from teacher educators the courage to be open, willing to examine their own pedagogical thinking, actions and practice and to be vulnerable. As interactivity is an essential methodological aspect in self-study [ 45 ], openness to other views, perspectives and critical remarks from colleagues and students is an essential part. Openness is also about being open to and having the courage to try, test and experiment with new tasks, activities and actions in teaching. In addition, openness is about daring to move out of the comfort zone and into a creative and innovative landscape.

For teacher educators´ who enter self-study, it is of great importance that they are willing to examine their own pedagogical thinking and actions. When teacher educators´ are willing to do this, there is also an inherent desire and goal to make changes and improvements in their practice [ 35 ]. A starting point for examining one’s own thinking, actions and practice can be based on perceived challenges in teaching situations. By examining own practice and searching for new approach and understandings related to challenges, teacher educators´ can make a transformation from being knowledge consumers to being knowledge producers. When teacher educators perceive themselves as producers of knowledge, it also has an impact on their self-confidence, the development of their identity and the development of a personal pedagogy of teacher education [ 29 , 30 ].

Finally, the importance of having the courage to be vulnerable. Once teacher educators´ frame their research as a self-study, they enter the field of research with a different approach, a personal approach. They enter the field with themselves and about themselves. It requires them to put themselves, their assumptions, their preconceptions, their beliefs and their ideologies of teaching under scrutiny. How one teaches is a product of who one is and what one considers to be one’s own beliefs and truths related to teaching (Austin & Senese [ 74 ]. An important influence of self-study is that it is a research approach that facilitates to find out who you are as a teacher educator and to dig a little into your own beliefs and truths with the aim of acquiring a better understanding of practice and reconstructing your beliefs, which in turn can lead to improvements in teaching practice and the strengthening of teacher education.

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Effectiveness of social media-assisted course on learning self-efficacy

• Jiaying Hu 1 ,
• Yicheng Lai 2 &
• Xiuhua Yi 3  

Scientific Reports volume  14 , Article number:  10112 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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The social media platform and the information dissemination revolution have changed the thinking, needs, and methods of students, bringing development opportunities and challenges to higher education. This paper introduces social media into the classroom and uses quantitative analysis to investigate the relation between design college students’ learning self-efficacy and social media for design students, aiming to determine the effectiveness of social media platforms on self-efficacy. This study is conducted on university students in design media courses and is quasi-experimental, using a randomized pre-test and post-test control group design. The study participants are 73 second-year design undergraduates. Independent samples t-tests showed that the network interaction factors of social media had a significant impact on college students learning self-efficacy. The use of social media has a significant positive predictive effect on all dimensions of learning self-efficacy. Our analysis suggests that using the advantages and value of online social platforms, weakening the disadvantages of the network, scientifically using online learning resources, and combining traditional classrooms with the Internet can improve students' learning self-efficacy.

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Introduction.

Social media is a way of sharing information, ideas, and opinions with others one. It can be used to create relationships between people and businesses. Social media has changed the communication way, it’s no longer just about talking face to face but also using a digital platform such as Facebook or Twitter. Today, social media is becoming increasingly popular in everyone's lives, including students and researchers 1 . Social media provides many opportunities for learners to publish their work globally, bringing many benefits to teaching and learning. The publication of students' work online has led to a more positive attitude towards learning and increased achievement and motivation. Other studies report that student online publications or work promote reflection on personal growth and development and provide opportunities for students to imagine more clearly the purpose of their work 2 . In addition, learning environments that include student publications allow students to examine issues differently, create new connections, and ultimately form new entities that can be shared globally 3 , 4 .

Learning self-efficacy is a belief that you can learn something new. It comes from the Latin word “self” and “efficax” which means efficient or effective. Self-efficacy is based on your beliefs about yourself, how capable you are to learn something new, and your ability to use what you have learned in real-life situations. This concept was first introduced by Bandura (1977), who studied the effects of social reinforcement on children’s learning behavior. He found that when children were rewarded for their efforts they would persist longer at tasks that they did not like or had low interest in doing. Social media, a ubiquitous force in today's digital age, has revolutionized the way people interact and share information. With the rise of social media platforms, individuals now have access to a wealth of online resources that can enhance their learning capabilities. This access to information and communication has also reshaped the way students approach their studies, potentially impacting their learning self-efficacy. Understanding the role of social media in shaping students' learning self-efficacy is crucial in providing effective educational strategies that promote healthy learning and development 5 . Unfortunately, the learning curve for the associated metadata base modeling methodologies and their corresponding computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools have made it difficult for students to grasp. Addressing this learning issue examined the effect of this MLS on the self-efficacy of learning these topics 6 . Bates et al. 7 hypothesize a mediated model in which a set of antecedent variables influenced students’ online learning self-efficacy which, in turn, affected student outcome expectations, mastery perceptions, and the hours spent per week using online learning technology to complete learning assignments for university courses. Shen et al. 8 through exploratory factor analysis identifies five dimensions of online learning self-efficacy: (a) self-efficacy to complete an online course (b) self-efficacy to interact socially with classmates (c) self-efficacy to handle tools in a Course Management System (CMS) (d) self-efficacy to interact with instructors in an online course, and (e) self-efficacy to interact with classmates for academic purposes. Chiu 9 established a model for analyzing the mediating effect that learning self-efficacy and social self-efficacy have on the relationship between university students’ perceived life stress and smartphone addiction. Kim et al. 10 study was conducted to examine the influence of learning efficacy on nursing students' self-confidence. The objective of Paciello et al. 11 was to identify self-efficacy configurations in different domains (i.e., emotional, social, and self-regulated learning) in a sample of university students using a person-centered approach. The role of university students’ various conceptions of learning in their academic self-efficacy in the domain of physics is initially explored 12 . Kumar et al. 13 investigated factors predicting students’ behavioral intentions towards the continuous use of mobile learning. Other influential work includes 14 .

Many studies have focused on social networking tools such as Facebook and MySpace 15 , 16 . Teachers are concerned that the setup and use of social media apps take up too much of their time, may have plagiarism and privacy issues, and contribute little to actual student learning outcomes; they often consider them redundant or simply not conducive to better learning outcomes 17 . Cao et al. 18 proposed that the central questions in addressing the positive and negative pitfalls of social media on teaching and learning are whether the use of social media in teaching and learning enhances educational effectiveness, and what motivates university teachers to use social media in teaching and learning. Maloney et al. 3 argued that social media can further improve the higher education teaching and learning environment, where students no longer access social media to access course information. Many studies in the past have shown that the use of modern IT in the classroom has increased over the past few years; however, it is still limited mainly to content-driven use, such as accessing course materials, so with the emergence of social media in students’ everyday lives 2 , we need to focus on developing students’ learning self-efficacy so that they can This will enable students to 'turn the tables and learn to learn on their own. Learning self-efficacy is considered an important concept that has a powerful impact on learning outcomes 19 , 20 .

Self-efficacy for learning is vital in teaching students to learn and develop healthily and increasing students' beliefs in the learning process 21 . However, previous studies on social media platforms such as Twitter and Weibo as curriculum support tools have not been further substantiated or analyzed in detail. In addition, the relationship between social media, higher education, and learning self-efficacy has not yet been fully explored by researchers in China. Our research aims to fill this gap in the topic. Our study explored the impact of social media on the learning self-efficacy of Chinese college students. Therefore, it is essential to explore the impact of teachers' use of social media to support teaching and learning on students' learning self-efficacy. Based on educational theory and methodological practice, this study designed a teaching experiment using social media to promote learning self-efficacy by posting an assignment for post-course work on online media to explore the actual impact of social media on university students’ learning self-efficacy. This study examines the impact of a social media-assisted course on university students' learning self-efficacy to explore the positive impact of a social media-assisted course.

Theoretical background

• Social media

Social media has different definitions. Mayfield (2013) first introduced the concept of social media in his book-what is social media? The author summarized the six characteristics of social media: openness, participation, dialogue, communication, interaction, and communication. Mayfield 22 shows that social media is a kind of new media. Its uniqueness is that it can give users great space and freedom to participate in the communication process. Jen (2020) also suggested that the distinguishing feature of social media is that it is “aggregated”. Social media provides users with an interactive service to control their data and information and collaborate and share information 2 . Social media offers opportunities for students to build knowledge and helps them actively create and share information 23 . Millennial students are entering higher education institutions and are accustomed to accessing and using data from the Internet. These individuals go online daily for educational or recreational purposes. Social media is becoming increasingly popular in the lives of everyone, including students and researchers 1 . A previous study has shown that millennials use the Internet as their first source of information and Google as their first choice for finding educational and personal information 24 . Similarly, many institutions encourage teachers to adopt social media applications 25 . Faculty members have also embraced social media applications for personal, professional, and pedagogical purposes 17 .

Social networks allow one to create a personal profile and build various networks that connect him/her to family, friends, and other colleagues. Users use these sites to stay in touch with their friends, make plans, make new friends, or connect with someone online. Therefore, extending this concept, these sites can establish academic connections or promote cooperation and collaboration in higher education classrooms 2 . This study defines social media as an interactive community of users' information sharing and social activities built on the technology of the Internet. Because the concept of social media is broad, its connotations are consistent. Research shows that Meaning and Linking are the two key elements that make up social media existence. Users and individual media outlets generate social media content and use it as a platform to get it out there. Social media distribution is based on social relationships and has a better platform for personal information and relationship management systems. Examples of social media applications include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Skype, Wiki, blogs, Delicious, Second Life, open online course sites, SMS, online games, mobile applications, and more 18 . Ajjan and Hartshorne 2 investigated the intentions of 136 faculty members at a US university to adopt Web 2.0 technologies as tools in their courses. They found that integrating Web 2.0 technologies into the classroom learning environment effectively increased student satisfaction with the course and improved their learning and writing skills. His research focused on improving the perceived usefulness, ease of use, compatibility of Web 2.0 applications, and instructor self-efficacy. The social computing impact of formal education and training and informal learning communities suggested that learning web 2.0 helps users to acquire critical competencies, and promotes technological, pedagogical, and organizational innovation, arguing that social media has a variety of learning content 26 . Users can post digital content online, enabling learners to tap into tacit knowledge while supporting collaboration between learners and teachers. Cao and Hong 27 investigated the antecedents and consequences of social media use in teaching among 249 full-time and part-time faculty members, who reported that the factors for using social media in teaching included personal social media engagement and readiness, external pressures; expected benefits; and perceived risks. The types of Innovators, Early adopters, Early majority, Late majority, Laggards, and objectors. Cao et al. 18 studied the educational effectiveness of 168 teachers' use of social media in university teaching. Their findings suggest that social media use has a positive impact on student learning outcomes and satisfaction. Their research model provides educators with ideas on using social media in the education classroom to improve student performance. Maqableh et al. 28 investigated the use of social networking sites by 366 undergraduate students, and they found that weekly use of social networking sites had a significant impact on student's academic performance and that using social networking sites had a significant impact on improving students' effective time management, and awareness of multitasking. All of the above studies indicate the researcher’s research on social media aids in teaching and learning. All of these studies indicate the positive impact of social media on teaching and learning.

• Learning self-efficacy

For the definition of concepts related to learning self-efficacy, scholars have mainly drawn on the idea proposed by Bandura 29 that defines self-efficacy as “the degree to which people feel confident in their ability to use the skills they possess to perform a task”. Self-efficacy is an assessment of a learner’s confidence in his or her ability to use the skills he or she possesses to complete a learning task and is a subjective judgment and feeling about the individual’s ability to control his or her learning behavior and performance 30 . Liu 31 has defined self-efficacy as the belief’s individuals hold about their motivation to act, cognitive ability, and ability to perform to achieve their goals, showing the individual's evaluation and judgment of their abilities. Zhang (2015) showed that learning efficacy is regarded as the degree of belief and confidence that expresses the success of learning. Yan 32 showed the extent to which learning self-efficacy is viewed as an individual. Pan 33 suggested that learning self-efficacy in an online learning environment is a belief that reflects the learner's ability to succeed in the online learning process. Kang 34 believed that learning self-efficacy is the learner's confidence and belief in his or her ability to complete a learning task. Huang 35 considered self-efficacy as an individual’s self-assessment of his or her ability to complete a particular task or perform a specific behavior and the degree of confidence in one’s ability to achieve a specific goal. Kong 36 defined learning self-efficacy as an individual’s judgment of one’s ability to complete academic tasks.

Based on the above analysis, we found that scholars' focus on learning self-efficacy is on learning behavioral efficacy and learning ability efficacy, so this study divides learning self-efficacy into learning behavioral efficacy and learning ability efficacy for further analysis and research 37 , 38 . Search the CNKI database and ProQuest Dissertations for keywords such as “design students’ learning self-efficacy”, “design classroom self-efficacy”, “design learning self-efficacy”, and other keywords. There are few relevant pieces of literature about design majors. Qiu 39 showed that mobile learning-assisted classroom teaching can control the source of self-efficacy from many aspects, thereby improving students’ sense of learning efficacy and helping middle and lower-level students improve their sense of learning efficacy from all dimensions. Yin and Xu 40 argued that the three elements of the network environment—“learning content”, “learning support”, and “social structure of learning”—all have an impact on university students’ learning self-efficacy. Duo et al. 41 recommend that learning activities based on the mobile network learning community increase the trust between students and the sense of belonging in the learning community, promote mutual communication and collaboration between students, and encourage each other to stimulate their learning motivation. In the context of social media applications, self-efficacy refers to the level of confidence that teachers can successfully use social media applications in the classroom 18 . Researchers have found that self-efficacy is related to social media applications 42 . Students had positive experiences with social media applications through content enhancement, creativity experiences, connectivity enrichment, and collaborative engagement 26 . Students who wish to communicate with their tutors in real-time find social media tools such as web pages, blogs, and virtual interactions very satisfying 27 . Overall, students report their enjoyment of different learning processes through social media applications; simultaneously, they show satisfactory tangible achievement of tangible learning outcomes 18 . According to Bandura's 'triadic interaction theory’, Bian 43 and Shi 44 divided learning self-efficacy into two main elements, basic competence, and control, where basic competence includes the individual's sense of effort, competence, the individual sense of the environment, and the individual's sense of control over behavior. The primary sense of competence includes the individual's Sense of effort, competence, environment, and control over behavior. In this study, learning self-efficacy is divided into Learning behavioral efficacy and Learning ability efficacy. Learning behavioral efficacy includes individuals' sense of effort, environment, and control; learning ability efficacy includes individuals' sense of ability, belief, and interest.

In Fig.  1 , learning self-efficacy includes learning behavior efficacy and learning ability efficacy, in which the learning behavior efficacy is determined by the sense of effort, the sense of environment, the sense of control, and the learning ability efficacy is determined by the sense of ability, sense of belief, sense of interest. “Sense of effort” is the understanding of whether one can study hard. Self-efficacy includes the estimation of self-effort and the ability, adaptability, and creativity shown in a particular situation. One with a strong sense of learning self-efficacy thinks they can study hard and focus on tasks 44 . “Sense of environment” refers to the individual’s feeling of their learning environment and grasp of the environment. The individual is the creator of the environment. A person’s feeling and grasp of the environment reflect the strength of his sense of efficacy to some extent. A person with a shared sense of learning self-efficacy is often dissatisfied with his environment, but he cannot do anything about it. He thinks the environment can only dominate him. A person with a high sense of learning self-efficacy will be more satisfied with his school and think that his teachers like him and are willing to study in school 44 . “Sense of control” is an individual’s sense of control over learning activities and learning behavior. It includes the arrangement of individual learning time, whether they can control themselves from external interference, and so on. A person with a strong sense of self-efficacy will feel that he is the master of action and can control the behavior and results of learning. Such a person actively participates in various learning activities. When he encounters difficulties in learning, he thinks he can find a way to solve them, is not easy to be disturbed by the outside world, and can arrange his own learning time. The opposite is the sense of losing control of learning behavior 44 . “Sense of ability” includes an individual’s perception of their natural abilities, expectations of learning outcomes, and perception of achieving their learning goals. A person with a high sense of learning self-efficacy will believe that he or she is brighter and more capable in all areas of learning; that he or she is more confident in learning in all subjects. In contrast, people with low learning self-efficacy have a sense of powerlessness. They are self-doubters who often feel overwhelmed by their learning and are less confident that they can achieve the appropriate learning goals 44 . “Sense of belief” is when an individual knows why he or she is doing something, knows where he or she is going to learn, and does not think before he or she even does it: What if I fail? These are meaningless, useless questions. A person with a high sense of learning self-efficacy is more robust, less afraid of difficulties, and more likely to reach their learning goals. A person with a shared sense of learning self-efficacy, on the other hand, is always going with the flow and is uncertain about the outcome of their learning, causing them to fall behind. “Sense of interest” is a person's tendency to recognize and study the psychological characteristics of acquiring specific knowledge. It is an internal force that can promote people's knowledge and learning. It refers to a person's positive cognitive tendency and emotional state of learning. A person with a high sense of self-efficacy in learning will continue to concentrate on studying and studying, thereby improving learning. However, one with low learning self-efficacy will have psychology such as not being proactive about learning, lacking passion for learning, and being impatient with learning. The elements of learning self-efficacy can be quantified and detailed in the following Fig.  1 .

Learning self-efficacy research structure in this paper.

Research participants

All the procedures were conducted in adherence to the guidelines and regulations set by the institution. Prior to initiating the study, informed consent was obtained in writing from the participants, and the Institutional Review Board for Behavioral and Human Movement Sciences at Nanning Normal University granted approval for all protocols.

Two parallel classes are pre-selected as experimental subjects in our study, one as the experimental group and one as the control group. Social media assisted classroom teaching to intervene in the experimental group, while the control group did not intervene. When selecting the sample, it is essential to consider, as far as possible, the shortcomings of not using randomization to select or assign the study participants, resulting in unequal experimental and control groups. When selecting the experimental subjects, classes with no significant differences in initial status and external conditions, i.e. groups with homogeneity, should be selected. Our study finally decided to select a total of 44 students from Class 2021 Design 1 and a total of 29 students from Class 2021 Design 2, a total of 74 students from Nanning Normal University, as the experimental subjects. The former served as the experimental group, and the latter served as the control group. 73 questionnaires are distributed to measure before the experiment, and 68 are returned, with a return rate of 93.15%. According to the statistics, there were 8 male students and 34 female students in the experimental group, making a total of 44 students (mirrors the demographic trends within the humanities and arts disciplines from which our sample was drawn); there are 10 male students and 16 female students in the control group, making a total of 26 students, making a total of 68 students in both groups. The sample of those who took the course were mainly sophomores, with a small number of first-year students and juniors, which may be related to the nature of the subject of this course and the course system offered by the university. From the analysis of students' majors, liberal arts students in the experimental group accounted for the majority, science students and art students accounted for a small part. In contrast, the control group had more art students, and liberal arts students and science students were small. In the daily self-study time, the experimental and control groups are 2–3 h. The demographic information of research participants is shown in Table 1 .

Research procedure

Firstly, the ADDIE model is used for the innovative design of the teaching method of the course. The number of students in the experimental group was 44, 8 male and 35 females; the number of students in the control group was 29, 10 male and 19 females. Secondly, the classes are targeted at students and applied. Thirdly, the course for both the experimental and control classes is a convenient and practice-oriented course, with the course title “Graphic Design and Production”, which focuses on learning the graphic design software Photoshop. The course uses different cases to explain in detail the process and techniques used to produce these cases using Photoshop, and incorporates practical experience as well as relevant knowledge in the process, striving to achieve precise and accurate operational steps; at the end of the class, the teacher assigns online assignments to be completed on social media, allowing students to post their edited software tutorials online so that students can master the software functions. The teacher assigns online assignments to be completed on social media at the end of the lesson, allowing students to post their editing software tutorials online so that they can master the software functions and production skills, inspire design inspiration, develop design ideas and improve their design skills, and improve students' learning self-efficacy through group collaboration and online interaction. Fourthly, pre-tests and post-tests are conducted in the experimental and control classes before the experiment. Fifthly, experimental data are collected, analyzed, and summarized.

We use a questionnaire survey to collect data. Self-efficacy is a person’s subjective judgment on whether one can successfully perform a particular achievement. American psychologist Albert Bandura first proposed it. To understand the improvement effect of students’ self-efficacy after the experimental intervention, this work questionnaire was referenced by the author from “Self-efficacy” “General Perceived Self Efficacy Scale” (General Perceived Self Efficacy Scale) German psychologist Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995) and “Academic Self-Efficacy Questionnaire”, a well-known Chinese scholar Liang 45 .  The questionnaire content is detailed in the supplementary information . A pre-survey of the questionnaire is conducted here. The second-year students of design majors collected 32 questionnaires, eliminated similar questions based on the data, and compiled them into a formal survey scale. The scale consists of 54 items, 4 questions about basic personal information, and 50 questions about learning self-efficacy. The Likert five-point scale is the questionnaire used in this study. The answers are divided into “completely inconsistent", “relatively inconsistent”, “unsure”, and “relatively consistent”. The five options of “Completely Meet” and “Compliant” will count as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 points, respectively. Divided into a sense of ability (Q5–Q14), a sense of effort (Q15–Q20), a sense of environment (Q21–Q28), a sense of control (Q29–Q36), a sense of Interest (Q37–Q45), a sense of belief (Q46–Q54). To demonstrate the scientific effectiveness of the experiment, and to further control the influence of confounding factors on the experimental intervention. This article thus sets up a control group as a reference. Through the pre-test and post-test in different periods, comparison of experimental data through pre-and post-tests to illustrate the effects of the intervention.

Reliability indicates the consistency of the results of a measurement scale (See Table 2 ). It consists of intrinsic and extrinsic reliability, of which intrinsic reliability is essential. Using an internal consistency reliability test scale, a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of reliability statistics greater than or equal to 0.9 indicates that the scale has good reliability, 0.8–0.9 indicates good reliability, 7–0.8 items are acceptable. Less than 0.7 means to discard some items in the scale 46 . This study conducted a reliability analysis on the effects of the related 6-dimensional pre-test survey to illustrate the reliability of the questionnaire.

From the Table 2 , the Cronbach alpha coefficients for the pre-test, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, sense of belief, and the total questionnaire, were 0.919, 0.839, 0.848, 0.865, 0.852, 0.889 and 0.958 respectively. The post-test Cronbach alpha coefficients were 0.898, 0.888, 0.886, 0.889, 0.900, 0.893 and 0.970 respectively. The Cronbach alpha coefficients were all greater than 0.8, indicating a high degree of reliability of the measurement data.

The validity, also known as accuracy, reflects how close the measurement result is to the “true value”. Validity includes structure validity, content validity, convergent validity, and discriminative validity. Because the experiment is a small sample study, we cannot do any specific factorization. KMO and Bartlett sphericity test values are an important part of structural validity. Indicator, general validity evaluation (KMO value above 0.9, indicating very good validity; 0.8–0.9, indicating good validity; 0.7–0.8 validity is good; 0.6–0.7 validity is acceptable; 0.5–0.6 means poor validity; below 0.45 means that some items should be abandoned.

Table 3 shows that the KMO values of ability, effort, environment, control, interest, belief, and the total questionnaire are 0.911, 0.812, 0.778, 0.825, 0.779, 0.850, 0.613, and the KMO values of the post-test are respectively. The KMO values are 0.887, 0.775, 0.892, 0.868, 0.862, 0.883, 0.715. KMO values are basically above 0.8, and all are greater than 0.6. This result indicates that the validity is acceptable, the scale has a high degree of reasonableness, and the valid data.

In the graphic design and production (professional design course), we will learn the practical software with cases. After class, we will share knowledge on the self-media platform. We will give face-to-face computer instruction offline from 8:00 to 11:20 every Wednesday morning for 16 weeks. China's top online sharing platform (APP) is Tik Tok, micro-blog (Micro Blog) and Xiao hong shu. The experiment began on September 1, 2022, and conducted the pre-questionnaire survey simultaneously. At the end of the course, on January 6, 2023, the post questionnaire survey was conducted. A total of 74 questionnaires were distributed in this study, recovered 74 questionnaires. After excluding the invalid questionnaires with incomplete filling and wrong answers, 68 valid questionnaires were obtained, with an effective rate of 91%, meeting the test requirements. Then, use the social science analysis software SPSS Statistics 26 to analyze the data: (1) descriptive statistical analysis of the dimensions of learning self-efficacy; (2) Using correlation test to analyze the correlation between learning self-efficacy and the use of social media; (3) This study used a comparative analysis of group differences to detect the influence of learning self-efficacy on various dimensions of social media and design courses. For data processing and analysis, use the spss26 version software and frequency statistics to create statistics on the basic situation of the research object and the basic situation of the use of live broadcast. The reliability scale analysis (internal consistency test) and use Bartlett's sphericity test to illustrate the reliability and validity of the questionnaire and the individual differences between the control group and the experimental group in demographic variables (gender, grade, Major, self-study time per day) are explained by cross-analysis (chi-square test). In the experimental group and the control group, the pre-test, post-test, before-and-after test of the experimental group and the control group adopt independent sample T-test and paired sample T-test to illustrate the effect of the experimental intervention (The significance level of the test is 0.05 two-sided).

Results and discussion

Comparison of pre-test and post-test between groups.

To study whether the data of the experimental group and the control group are significantly different in the pre-test and post-test mean of sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, and sense of belief. The research for this situation uses an independent sample T-test and an independent sample. The test needs to meet some false parameters, such as normality requirements. Generally passing the normality test index requirements are relatively strict, so it can be relaxed to obey an approximately normal distribution. If there is serious skewness distribution, replace it with the nonparametric test. Variables are required to be continuous variables. The six variables in this study define continuous variables. The variable value information is independent of each other. Therefore, we use the independent sample T-test.

From the Table 4 , a pre-test found that there was no statistically significant difference between the experimental group and the control group at the 0.05 confidence level ( p  > 0.05) for perceptions of sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, and sense of belief. Before the experiment, the two groups of test groups have the same quality in measuring self-efficacy. The experimental class and the control class are homogeneous groups. Table 5 shows the independent samples t-test for the post-test, used to compare the experimental and control groups on six items, including the sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, and sense of belief.

The experimental and control groups have statistically significant scores ( p  < 0.05) for sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, and sense of belief, and the experimental and control groups have statistically significant scores (t = 3.177, p  = 0.002) for a sense of competence. (t = 3.177, p  = 0.002) at the 0.01 level, with the experimental group scoring significantly higher (3.91 ± 0.51) than the control group (3.43 ± 0.73). The experimental group and the control group showed significance for the perception of effort at the 0.01 confidence level (t = 2.911, p  = 0.005), with the experimental group scoring significantly higher (3.88 ± 0.66) than the control group scoring significantly higher (3.31 ± 0.94). The experimental and control groups show significance at the 0.05 level (t = 2.451, p  = 0.017) for the sense of environment, with the experimental group scoring significantly higher (3.95 ± 0.61) than the control group scoring significantly higher (3.58 ± 0.62). The experimental and control groups showed significance for sense of control at the 0.05 level of significance (t = 2.524, p  = 0.014), and the score for the experimental group (3.76 ± 0.67) would be significantly higher than the score for the control group (3.31 ± 0.78). The experimental and control groups showed significance at the 0.01 level for sense of interest (t = 2.842, p  = 0.006), and the experimental group's score (3.87 ± 0.61) would be significantly higher than the control group's score (3.39 ± 0.77). The experimental and control groups showed significance at the 0.01 level for the sense of belief (t = 3.377, p  = 0.001), and the experimental group would have scored significantly higher (4.04 ± 0.52) than the control group (3.56 ± 0.65). Therefore, we can conclude that the experimental group's post-test significantly affects the mean scores of sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, and sense of belief. A social media-assisted course has a positive impact on students' self-efficacy.

Comparison of pre-test and post-test of each group

The paired-sample T-test is an extension of the single-sample T-test. The purpose is to explore whether the means of related (paired) groups are significantly different. There are four standard paired designs: (1) Before and after treatment of the same subject Data, (2) Data from two different parts of the same subject, (3) Test results of the same sample with two methods or instruments, 4. Two matched subjects receive two treatments, respectively. This study belongs to the first type, the 6 learning self-efficacy dimensions of the experimental group and the control group is measured before and after different periods.

Paired t-tests is used to analyze whether there is a significant improvement in the learning self-efficacy dimension in the experimental group after the experimental social media-assisted course intervention. In Table 6 , we can see that the six paired data groups showed significant differences ( p  < 0.05) in the pre and post-tests of sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, and sense of belief. There is a level of significance of 0.01 (t = − 4.540, p  = 0.000 < 0.05) before and after the sense of ability, the score after the sense of ability (3.91 ± 0.51), and the score before the Sense of ability (3.41 ± 0.55). The level of significance between the pre-test and post-test of sense of effort is 0.01 (t = − 4.002, p  = 0.000). The score of the sense of effort post-test (3.88 ± 0.66) will be significantly higher than the average score of the sense of effort pre-test (3.31 ± 0.659). The significance level between the pre-test and post-test Sense of environment is 0.01 (t = − 3.897, p  = 0.000). The average score for post- Sense of environment (3.95 ± 0.61) will be significantly higher than that of sense of environment—the average score of the previous test (3.47 ± 0.44). The average value of a post- sense of control (3.76 ± 0.67) will be significantly higher than the average of the front side of the Sense of control value (3.27 ± 0.52). The sense of interest pre-test and post-test showed a significance level of 0.01 (− 4.765, p  = 0.000), and the average value of Sense of interest post-test was 3.87 ± 0.61. It would be significantly higher than the average value of the Sense of interest (3.25 ± 0.59), the significance between the pre-test and post-test of belief sensing is 0.01 level (t = − 3.939, p  = 0.000). Thus, the average value of a post-sense of belief (4.04 ± 0.52) will be significantly higher than that of a pre-sense of belief Average value (3.58 ± 0.58). After the experimental group’s post-test, the scores for the Sense of ability, effort, environment, control, interest, and belief before the comparison experiment increased significantly. This result has a significant improvement effect. Table 7 shows that the control group did not show any differences in the pre and post-tests using paired t-tests on the dimensions of learning self-efficacy such as sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, and sense of belief ( p  > 0.05). It shows no experimental intervention for the control group, and it does not produce a significant effect.

The purpose of this study aims to explore the impact of social media use on college students' learning self-efficacy, examine the changes in the elements of college students' learning self-efficacy before and after the experiment, and make an empirical study to enrich the theory. This study developed an innovative design for course teaching methods using the ADDIE model. The design process followed a series of model rules of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation, as well as conducted a descriptive statistical analysis of the learning self-efficacy of design undergraduates. Using questionnaires and data analysis, the correlation between the various dimensions of learning self-efficacy is tested. We also examined the correlation between the two factors, and verifies whether there was a causal relationship between the two factors.

Based on prior research and the results of existing practice, a learning self-efficacy is developed for university students and tested its reliability and validity. The scale is used to pre-test the self-efficacy levels of the two subjects before the experiment, and a post-test of the self-efficacy of the two groups is conducted. By measuring and investigating the learning self-efficacy of the study participants before the experiment, this study determined that there was no significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in terms of sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, and sense of belief. Before the experiment, the two test groups had homogeneity in measuring the dimensionality of learning self-efficacy. During the experiment, this study intervened in social media assignments for the experimental group. The experiment used learning methods such as network assignments, mutual aid communication, mutual evaluation of assignments, and group discussions. After the experiment, the data analysis showed an increase in learning self-efficacy in the experimental group compared to the pre-test. With the test time increased, the learning self-efficacy level of the control group decreased slightly. It shows that social media can promote learning self-efficacy to a certain extent. This conclusion is similar to Cao et al. 18 , who suggested that social media would improve educational outcomes.

We have examined the differences between the experimental and control group post-tests on six items, including the sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest, and sense of belief. This result proves that a social media-assisted course has a positive impact on students' learning self-efficacy. Compared with the control group, students in the experimental group had a higher interest in their major. They showed that they liked to share their learning experiences and solve difficulties in their studies after class. They had higher motivation and self-directed learning ability after class than students in the control group. In terms of a sense of environment, students in the experimental group were more willing to share their learning with others, speak boldly, and participate in the environment than students in the control group.

The experimental results of this study showed that the experimental group showed significant improvement in the learning self-efficacy dimensions after the experimental intervention in the social media-assisted classroom, with significant increases in the sense of ability, sense of effort, sense of environment, sense of control, sense of interest and sense of belief compared to the pre-experimental scores. This result had a significant improvement effect. Evidence that a social media-assisted course has a positive impact on students' learning self-efficacy. Most of the students recognized the impact of social media on their learning self-efficacy, such as encouragement from peers, help from teachers, attention from online friends, and recognition of their achievements, so that they can gain a sense of achievement that they do not have in the classroom, which stimulates their positive perception of learning and is more conducive to the awakening of positive effects. This phenomenon is in line with Ajjan and Hartshorne 2 . They argue that social media provides many opportunities for learners to publish their work globally, which brings many benefits to teaching and learning. The publication of students' works online led to similar positive attitudes towards learning and improved grades and motivation. This study also found that students in the experimental group in the post-test controlled their behavior, became more interested in learning, became more purposeful, had more faith in their learning abilities, and believed that their efforts would be rewarded. This result is also in line with Ajjan and Hartshorne's (2008) indication that integrating Web 2.0 technologies into classroom learning environments can effectively increase students' satisfaction with the course and improve their learning and writing skills.

We only selected students from one university to conduct a survey, and the survey subjects were self-selected. Therefore, the external validity and generalizability of our study may be limited. Despite the limitations, we believe this study has important implications for researchers and educators. The use of social media is the focus of many studies that aim to assess the impact and potential of social media in learning and teaching environments. We hope that this study will help lay the groundwork for future research on the outcomes of social media utilization. In addition, future research should further examine university support in encouraging teachers to begin using social media and university classrooms in supporting social media (supplementary file 1 ).

The present study has provided preliminary evidence on the positive association between social media integration in education and increased learning self-efficacy among college students. However, several avenues for future research can be identified to extend our understanding of this relationship.

Firstly, replication studies with larger and more diverse samples are needed to validate our findings across different educational contexts and cultural backgrounds. This would enhance the generalizability of our results and provide a more robust foundation for the use of social media in teaching. Secondly, longitudinal investigations should be conducted to explore the sustained effects of social media use on learning self-efficacy. Such studies would offer insights into how the observed benefits evolve over time and whether they lead to improved academic performance or other relevant outcomes. Furthermore, future research should consider the exploration of potential moderators such as individual differences in students' learning styles, prior social media experience, and psychological factors that may influence the effectiveness of social media in education. Additionally, as social media platforms continue to evolve rapidly, it is crucial to assess the impact of emerging features and trends on learning self-efficacy. This includes an examination of advanced tools like virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence that are increasingly being integrated into social media environments. Lastly, there is a need for research exploring the development and evaluation of instructional models that effectively combine traditional teaching methods with innovative uses of social media. This could guide educators in designing courses that maximize the benefits of social media while minimizing potential drawbacks.

In conclusion, the current study marks an important step in recognizing the potential of social media as an educational tool. Through continued research, we can further unpack the mechanisms by which social media can enhance learning self-efficacy and inform the development of effective educational strategies in the digital age.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the 2023 Guangxi University Young and middle-aged Teachers' Basic Research Ability Enhancement Project—“Research on Innovative Communication Strategies and Effects of Zhuang Traditional Crafts from the Perspective of the Metaverse” (Grant Nos. 2023KY0385), and the special project on innovation and entrepreneurship education in universities under the “14th Five-Year Plan” for Guangxi Education Science in 2023, titled “One Core, Two Directions, Three Integrations - Strategy and Practical Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education in Local Universities” (Grant Nos. 2023ZJY1955), and the 2023 Guangxi Higher Education Undergraduate Teaching Reform General Project (Category B) “Research on the Construction and Development of PBL Teaching Model in Advertising” (Grant Nos.2023JGB294), and the 2022 Guangxi Higher Education Undergraduate Teaching Reform Project (General Category A) “Exploration and Practical Research on Public Art Design Courses in Colleges and Universities under Great Aesthetic Education” (Grant Nos. 2022JGA251), and the 2023 Guangxi Higher Education Undergraduate Teaching Reform Project Key Project “Research and Practice on the Training of Interdisciplinary Composite Talents in Design Majors Based on the Concept of Specialization and Integration—Taking Guangxi Institute of Traditional Crafts as an Example” (Grant Nos. 2023JGZ147), and the2024 Nanning Normal University Undergraduate Teaching Reform Project “Research and Practice on the Application of “Guangxi Intangible Cultural Heritage” in Packaging Design Courses from the Ideological and Political Perspective of the Curriculum” (Grant Nos. 2024JGX048),and the 2023 Hubei Normal University Teacher Teaching Reform Research Project (Key Project) -Curriculum Development for Improving Pre-service Music Teachers' Teaching Design Capabilities from the Perspective of OBE (Grant Nos. 2023014), and the 2023 Guangxi Education Science “14th Five-Year Plan” special project: “Specialized Integration” Model and Practice of Art and Design Majors in Colleges and Universities in Ethnic Areas Based on the OBE Concept (Grant Nos. 2023ZJY1805), and the 2024 Guangxi University Young and Middle-aged Teachers’ Scientific Research Basic Ability Improvement Project “Research on the Integration Path of University Entrepreneurship and Intangible Inheritance - Taking Liu Sanjie IP as an Example” (Grant Nos. 2024KY0374), and the 2022 Research Project on the Theory and Practice of Ideological and Political Education for College Students in Guangxi - “Party Building + Red”: Practice and Research on the Innovation of Education Model in College Student Dormitories (Grant Nos. 2022SZ028), and the 2021 Guangxi University Young and Middle-aged Teachers’ Scientific Research Basic Ability Improvement Project - "Research on the Application of Ethnic Elements in the Visual Design of Live Broadcast Delivery of Guangxi Local Products" (Grant Nos. 2021KY0891).

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Contributions

The contribution of H. to this paper primarily lies in research design and experimental execution. H. was responsible for the overall framework design of the paper, setting research objectives and methods, and actively participating in data collection and analysis during the experimentation process. Furthermore, H. was also responsible for conducting literature reviews and played a crucial role in the writing and editing phases of the paper. L.'s contribution to this paper primarily manifests in theoretical derivation and the discussion section. Additionally, author L. also proposed future research directions and recommendations in the discussion section, aiming to facilitate further research explorations. Y.'s contribution to this paper is mainly reflected in data analysis and result interpretation. Y. was responsible for statistically analyzing the experimental data and employing relevant analytical tools and techniques to interpret and elucidate the data results.

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Hu, J., Lai, Y. & Yi, X. Effectiveness of social media-assisted course on learning self-efficacy. Sci Rep 14 , 10112 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-60724-0

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Self-Study Through Action Research

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• Allan Feldman 5 ,
• Patricia Paugh 5 &
• Geoff Mills 6  

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE,volume 12))

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This chapter discusses the ways in which action research is and is not related to self-study. The many approaches to action research are outlined through comparing and contrasting the nature of action research with that of self-study of teacher education practices. The authors argue that what distinguishes self-study from action research is its methodology rather than the methods used. They suggest three methodological features that would be present in self-studies: 1) A self-study would bring to the forefront the importance of self; 2) it would make the experience of teacher educators a resource for research; and 3) it would urge those who engage in self-study to be critical of themselves and their roles as researchers and teacher educators. The authors explore these features through an analysis of the stories of their own journey to self-study and an analysis of three self-study reports.

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Allan Feldman & Patricia Paugh

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Feldman, A., Paugh, P., Mills, G. (2004). Self-Study Through Action Research. In: Loughran, J.J., Hamilton, M.L., LaBoskey, V.K., Russell, T. (eds) International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 12. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6545-3_24

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