Using Social Networking Tools for Teaching and Learning: A Perspective of University Lecturers and Students Francis Otto ( ✉ ) , Shirley Williams, and Karsten Øster Lundqvist School of Systems Engineering, University of Reading, Reading, UK F.Otto@pgr.reading.ac.uk, {Shirley.williams,k.o.lundqvist}@reading.ac.uk Abstract. The use of online social networking tools (SNTs) has become commonplace within higher education. In this paper a definition and a typology of educational affordance of social networking service (SNS) are presented. The paper also explores the educational affordances whilst examining how university lecturers and students use SNTs to support their educational activities. The data presented here were obtained through a survey in which 38 participants from three universities took part; two universities in Uganda and one in the United Kingdom. The results show that Facebook is the most popular tool with 75 % of participants having profiles. Whilst most participants perceived the educational significance of these tools, social affordances remain more pronounced compared to peda‐ gogical and technological affordances. The limitations of this study have also been discussed. Keywords: Social networking tools · Social networking services · Online social networks · Educational affordance · Typology · E-learning · Students · Lecturers 1 Introduction The traditional approach to managing e-learning has been through the learning manage‐ ment system (LMS). LMS platforms, such as Blackboard and Moodle, have dominated teaching and learning landscape in higher education for the past decade [1]. The study in [2] shows that LMS does not provide the pedagogical conditions of interaction and collaboration. Students do not only want to “listen but also to ask questions, to express opinion, to answer questions and tasks, and to change content and learning forms” which may explain why they resort to social networking tools (SNTs), such as Facebook and Twitter, to support their educational interactions and collaborations. Research demon‐ strates that Facebook, for example, impacts students’ motivation to learn, affective learning, and classroom climate [3]. SNTs are online tools that facilitate sharing, interaction and collaboration among users [4, 5]. Like other genres of social media, SNTs are commercial products initially This study was part of a doctoral research (in its second year) exploring adoption of social collaborative e-learning in higher education. © Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2016 G. Vincenti et al. (Eds.): eLEOT 2015, LNICST 160, pp. 1–9, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-28883-3_24 Author Proof