Abstract:

It is well-known that technology is today's tool without which we can hardly define any day-to-day activity. Technology together with social networks has become a coalition through which we show our daily wishes, choices and make our presence felt in social environments. Analyzed in terms of age, it has been shown that over 60% of young people over the age of 16 have at least one account on social networks. This is the age at which young people are actively involved in the education system and uses accredited sites for various purposes.

The current emphasis on constraint refers to the influence that these new opportunities can have on developing the proactive way of learning and whether the passion for social networks can bring benefits to education.

The academic benefits are multiple. First of all, we are removing barriers to communication and facilitating collaborations. Social networks bring together people with common interests, activities and joint discussion topics. Group discussions and even video calls improve the effectiveness of team projects and identify optimal solutions.

Websites contain an almost unlimited amount of information, very diversified, and allow for redirection to other useful links. Students can find answers to almost any question.

The utility of social platforms can also be demonstrated in the preparation of lessons, the creation of interest groups, the carrying out of very accurate studies and the obtaining of information of interest, which is also constantly updated.

Teachers who are always entwined with the trends and the most effective methods to reach and keep the attention of learners, get to use networks like Facebook or Instagram to reach their goal and feedback is beyond expectations.

The enthusiasm with which young students come to express themselves in writing is another proof of the usefulness of social networks in education.

Opinion is unanimous when referring to a classroom meeting between student and teacher, but it must be admitted that methods have evolved and that social media is beneficial by developing issues such as efficiency, motivation, and productivity.

The purpose of the article is to identify the efficiency of social media use as an alternative tool in the teaching-learning process, and among the objectives is the comparison between classical and alternative teaching methods in Romanian university education.

Within the article, quantitative research was carried out among a sample of 96 students to identify their attitudes towards the use of social networks and the media in the learning process. For this, a questionnaire of 20 questions was used, of which 5 questions of classification and identification. Also, qualitative research was carried out among 7 teachers from the Romanian university, in order to find out their opinion regarding the introduction of new elements in the teaching-learning process. In order to get their answers, a semi-guided interview guide was used as a research tool.

The results showed that most of the students are delighted with the idea of ​​using new means of communication in the teaching-learning process, while most of the teachers interviewed were skeptical about this.

Keywords:

Teaching process, alternative methods, social networks.