Social media impact on professional development in Physical Education: uses, motivations and opportunities

Social media emerged as an entertaining communication tool. However, other possibilities were soon considered, such as professional development, especially in education. This research aims to learn about what impact social media generate on the professional development of Physical Education teachers and students and compare the different uses, motivations and opportunities that they offer. To that end, a questionnaire was developed and validated, which was answered by 403 participants. The results indicate that the most used social media for professional development in Physical Education's area is YouTube (3.39/5), followed by Instagram (2.82 / 5) and Facebook (2.68 / 5); the main motivations for their use are entertainment and the aid they provide for professional development for teacher learning (36.6% both); furthermore, social media enable to start new projects (76.8%) like developing didactic units and/or programming or participating in conferences.