Fostering Mental Health Awareness through Social Media: Reflective Exploration of an Innovative Assessment
Abstract
This study explores the innovative use of social media platforms to promote mental health awareness among the German Jordanian University students. The objective is to equip students with practical skills to optimize social media to foster understanding and empathy toward mental health issues. The study was carried out through the implementation of a final assessment task that required students to partner up in groups and create short videos (reels/shorts) for social media with the purpose of raising the awareness of the university community about mental health disorders they had spent the semester learning about. The study adopted a qualitative approach, involving reflective examinations of the learning and teaching experiences of 20 Master social work students enrolled in a mental health class. The study found that integrating social media into class assessments enhanced students’ practical skills and effectively promoted mental health awareness. Both students and instructors observed significant collaborative benefits in creating the videos. The findings also highlight the urgent need to integrate media and technology training into the courses. This paper provides key recommendations for the effective implementation of innovative class assessment tasks. Some highlight the importance of integrating social media platforms into promoting mental health awareness in the context of social work, enhancing collaboration among students when working on projects, and building skills in digital tools and social media among students and instructors in higher education. This study introduces a practical assessment design that integrates technology to address contemporary challenges and current trends worldwide, preparing students for future professional and personal settings in which digital tools are fundamental to professional practice. This approach contributes to building knowledge and bridges the gap between theory and practice.
Keywords: higher education, social media, technology, community, collaboration.
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