The Impact of Social Media-Based Collaborative Learning Environments on Students' Use Outcomes in Higher Education

Social media has been increasingly utilized by many instructors and students for personal and educational use in higher education. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether and how utilization and usage of social media applications as instructional networking platforms affect use outcomes. This study proposes a research model for assessing the potential use outcomes of social media by conceptualizing three-dimensional factors that capture use outcomes, namely perceived satisfaction, perceived academic performance, and perceived impact on learning. The study collected survey data from 95 undergraduate students from a state college in Palestine reflecting their personal experience on using social media as an educational tool. Partial least square approach using structural equation modelling technique (PLS-SEM) was used for data analysis and research model testing. The results indicate that utilization and educational usage of social media have a positive impact on learning, enhance students' perception of performance, and produce greater learning satisfaction. This study contributes to the growing body of literature by verifying the benefits of using social media as an educational tool and, in particular, Facebook groups created for educational purposes. Furthermore, this study offers insights into the predictive capabilities of PLS-SEM in the assessment of reflective-formative constructs of the higher-order model.