TABLE
OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE i
DECLARATION ii
CERTIFICATION iii
DEDICATION iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v
TABLE OF CONTENT vi
LIST OF TABLE viii
ABSTRACT ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY 1
STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM 8
PURPOSE
OF THE STUDY 9
RESEARCH
QUESTIONS 10
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY 10
SCOPE
OF THE STUDY 11
OPERATIONAL
DEFINITION OF TERMS 12
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF
RELATED LITERATURE
MEDIA
SYSTEMS DEPENDENCY THEORY 14
SOCIAL
MEDIA 16
CATEGORIES
OF SOCIAL MEDIA 18
SOCIAL
NETWORKING 22
DANGERS
ASSOCIATED WITH USING SOCIAL MEDIA SITES 30
SOCIAL
NETWORKING SITES COMMONLY USED BY STUDENTS 32
SOCIAL
MEDIA- A TOOL FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING 36
CHALLENGES
OF USING SOCIAL MEDIA 38
EMPIRICAL
REVIEW 41
LITERATURE
REVIEW 47
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH
METHODS
RESEARCH
DESIGN 49
POPULATION
SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES 49
INSTRUMENTATION 50
PROCEDURE
FOR DATA COLLECTION 51
METHOD
OF DATA ANALYSIS 51
CHAPTER FOUR:
PRESENTATION OF RESULTS
ANSWERING
RESEARCH QUESTIONS 52
SUMMARY
OF FINDINGS 58
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION,
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
DISCUSSION
OF RESULTS 60
CONCLUSIONS 62
RECOMMENDATIONS 62
SUGGESTIONS
FOR FURTHER STUDIES 63
REFERENCES 61
APPENDIX 66
LIST
OF TABLES
Table1:
Categories of Social media 18
Table2:
Positive Influence of Social networking on students 29
Table3:
Negative Influence of Social networking on students 32
Table4:
Frequency of Social media usage 52
Table5:
Social media usage 53
Table6:
Social media influence on learning processes of undergraduate students 55
Table7:
Effects of social media on information acquisition 56
Table8:
Effects of social media on communication skills 57
ABSTRACT
The
use of social media by undergraduates cannot be overemphasized. Social media
sites are online networking applications that is used for interactions by one,
two or more people in a place or an organisation. The purpose of this study is
to determine the usage of social media sites by undergraduate students in
University of Ilorin and it is also to determine the extent to which social
media influences the learning process of undergraduates’ students in University
of Ilorin, it will also show the extent to which social media influences their
communication skills and How they get relevant information from the social
media. The study employed the use of structured questionnaire containing 18
items to elicit the responses of the sampled population of 150 undergraduate
students in University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The data gathered from the
questionnaire was subject to statistical analysis using frequency and mean for
the data analysis.The findings from the analysis showed that the research
questions were satisfactorily answered. The conclusions drawn from the study is
that Social media has very positive influence on undergraduate learning
process, Social media has very positive influence on undergraduate information
acquisition, Social media has very positive influence on undergraduate
communication skills.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study
For many years, educators and researchers
have explored which variables influence students’ achievement. In Nigeria, as policymakers
are becoming more involved in learning outcome, this quest becomes more
intensive as continuing attempts are on course on the influence of several
teacher-related factors on students’ academic performance. Ajayi (2007) notes
that characteristics of teachers in term of their attitude to work, level of
job satisfaction and quality teaching skills and academic qualifications
acquired are germane to students’ achievement.
Patrick (2005) reiterates that the important role of teachers in
students learning is unquestionable. Teachers have a lot of influence on their
classroom practices hence; they should possess as well as apply specific
abilities without which their influence may not reflect in their students’
performance, particularly in the subjects taught by them. For students to make
connection between what is taught in school in real life, must be professional,
having sufficient teaching skills.
Better performance in teaching exercises,
is a function of acquired skills in teaching. Hence, students are expected to
acquire teaching skills before they graduate. It is inevitable that they will
experience difficulties in their future teaching endeavors. Today’s students
and educators live in the world of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and YouTube.
These and many other social networking and social media applications are part
of the so-called Social Web (i.e., Web 2.0), best characterized by the notions
of social interaction, content sharing, and collective intelligence. In
addition, today’s students, often referred to as digital natives (Prensky,
2001), have spent most of their time on computers, game consoles, digital music
players, video cameras, cell phones, as well as the Web itself. Being used to
constant engagement and multitasking in their day-to-day activities, students
need a high level of social and creative engagement in learning. Traditional
teaching approaches favoring passive content consumption, therefore, are no
longer applicable and have to be substituted, or at least complemented, with
highly interactive learning processes.
Adediwura and Bada (2007) further opine
that teachers should be aware of the importance of communication in Education.
They must also realize that all students have different level of strengths and
weakness. It is only through communication that an individual can introduce
creative and effective solutions to the problems of the students. Thus, a
teacher must possess so that they interact properly with the students-positive
motivation; this is one of the important things that a teacher must possess. In
a class, students always have different kinds of tastes and preferences over
subjects. So it is the job of the teacher to create enthusiasm and interest in
the minds of the students towards a subject. It is also a teacher’s role to
remove any fear and inhibitions that a student may have towards a subject.
Another communication skill is effective body language. This is the most
powerful communication skill that a teacher must possess. Good presentation
skills include a powerful body language supported by verbal skills. This can
create a long lasting impression in the minds of the students. Thus, a teacher
will inevitably become more interactive and interesting for the students.
Besides, a teacher should maintain the volume, tone and rhythm for their voice
during a lecture. Still on teaching skills, the focus for each lesson is an
integral part of the learning objective teachers decide on. Therefore, the
focus skill should be directly related to the structure or vocabulary that
teachers are teaching and the context that is being used in. for example, if
teachers want to teach polite language for business situations, a person might
use polite language when meeting a client, which would be a spoken interaction,
or perhaps when sending an email, which would be a written correspondence.
Furthermore, it is particularly important to focus on the speaking or writing
skills, even though listening and reading respectively would be used in those
scenarios, because if a person hears or reads polite language without learning
them, they are likely to still be able to understand the message being sent. However,
if one tries to send a message in a business context and does not know how to
use polite language, then they might potentially commit a faux pas or even
cause offence, of course, practicing speaking and writing with polite language
will naturally lead to better recognition of the same when reading and also
listening (Adediwura & Bada, 2007).
Among the skills required for successful
teaching and learning is feedback skill. It helps learners to maximize their
potential at different stages of training, raise their awareness of strengths
and areas for improvement, and identify actions to be taken to improve
performance. Feedback can be seen as informal (for example in day-to-day
encounters between teachers and students or trainees, between peers or between colleagues)
or formal (for example as part of written or clinical assessment). However,
there is no sharp dividing line between assessment and training in the area of
giving feedback on learning. Feedback is part of overall dialogue or
interaction between teacher and learner, not a one-way communication.
Questioning skills are essential to good teaching. Teachers often use questions
to ensure that the students are attentive and engaged, and to assess students
understanding. What is more important to note is that in addition to the intent
of the question, the question itself matters. For instance, to ensure that
students are attentive (Tartari, 2015). Tartari (2015) believes that closure is
the skill in micro-teaching exercise. Closure is the skill that is concerned
with bringing the lesson to an end, and the teacher summarizes the major points
of the lesson. Closure skill can take various forms or shapes such as; closure
by questioning on the major points of the lesson and closure by giving pupils
exercises. Tartari (2015) therefore concludes that the last teaching skills
that undergraduates’ student position on the level of understanding the lesson
that has been taught. Thus, teaching skills have been reported in the
literatures to be affected by many factors, in which social media networking is
part.
As the world has become a global village
because of the technological advancement in the world and Nigeria in particular
(Alabi, 2008; Kayode & Ojo, 2011); mobile teaching and learning
(M-Learning) in recent years has become a valuable and real contribution to
learning environment rather than what it used to be in previous years as a
theory, academic exploration and technological idea. (Alzaza & Yaakub,
2011).
Farzana, Mushahid and Mahe (2010) and
Oluwatoyin (2011) have shown that students have turned to the use of social
media as their primary means of communication, so much that when they use
e-Library, they soon forget their purpose of going online and start updating
their status on social networking sites. Farzana, Mushahid and Mahe (2010)
sought information from 95 Universities students on purpose of using social
media. It was found that most of them frequently use these social media for
making friends but rarely used them for academic purposes. The use of social
media applications such as- WhatsApp, Facebook, 2go, Myspace, Eskimi and others
is generating a lot of controversies in public domain particularly in respect
of the usefulness and dysfunctional effects. Akindehin and Akindehin (2011)
comment on Social networking can sometimes result in negative outcomes, some
with long-term consequences, Bryer and Zavattaro (2011) note that over 65% of
American adults use social media for networking likewise youths (including
tertiary institutions students) all over the world get indulged with social
media as useful as easy way of communicating with their loved ones and
colleagues. Sim and Pop (2014) asserts that social networks or networking are
the main application under the umbrella of social media, which comes with Web
2.0 era. It is the fastest growing web application in the 21st
century. The wide nature applications like Wikis, video streaming and
applications, and social media makes with over 955 million users, followed by
Twitter with 500 million users (Sim &Pop, 2014). Social networking is an
important factor that opened doors for remote access of educational material.
Such phenomenon is called e-learning, where information communication
technology (ICT) is used as a facilitator of communication, assignment management,
and task collaboration in universities (Harb & Abu-Shanab 2009). Social
media is a fairly new concept since almost nobody heard or used social media
10-15 years ago. Nevertheless, nowadays
websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have more than 1 billion users
and account for almost 25% of internet users.
Social media is a phrase used to describe
various websites or other forms of technology where people can connect and
interact with one another and share information (Heyam,2014). As defined by
Andreas and Michael (2013), social media is a group of internet-based
applications that build on ideological and technical foundations of Web 2.0,
and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. The
definition of social media is the relationships that exists between network of
people (Qingya, Wei & Yu,2011). Social media emerged as a term frequently
used to describe different types of electronic communication platforms. The
availability of high speed internet broadband connection with massive use of
desktop computers, laptops, e-readers, tablets and smartphones enable millions
of undergraduates to actively engage in social networking, text messaging,
blogging, content sharing, online learning and much more.
Ezike (2014) defines social networking as
platforms on which a range of activities take place, as well as locations for
interaction among individuals, group and communities. He notes that majority of
the social networking do a lot more than just allow students to have a profile
and a friends list; they build upon and integrate many communication tools and
technologies such as e-mail, messaging, video-sharing and photo sharing. On the
various social networking people engage in a variety of activities. The mass
appeal of the social networking which are virtual communities to the youths of
the 21st century is a matter of concern as many students spend a lot
of time online (Bolaji, Longe & Odefunso,2014).
Statement of the Problem
In spite of all measures put in place over
the years by Nigerian government at the various levels to improve the academic
performance of students at various levels of Education, stakeholders are still
battling looking for antidote to continue decline in the standard of Education.
In the attempt, the level of teacher professionalism in the classroom today has
come under questioning. It is not clear whether the teachers who are the main
hub of the system are adequately equipped with the appropriate information,
communication and pedagogical skills requirement to meet the curricular
challenges of today’s technology. Observations have shown that teacher trainees
are not absolved of the blames.
Teachers have oftentimes been accused of
getting indulged in networking on social media platforms such as WhatsApp,
Twitter, etc. during school hours; the habit they claimed were learnt during
their training to help improve their communication, writing, information
acquisition. Although, opinions have shown that information and communication
technology can enhance effective teaching, the extent at which social media can
really solve this problem of poor teaching skills of teacher trainees becomes
an issue that has not received significant attention. However, In the study
conducted by Kayode, Alabi, Sofoluwe, and Oduwaiye (2015), there is low
awareness or usage of social media sites for academic purpose by both lecturers
and students.
This is what makes this study to
empirically seek the usage of social media of undergraduates in University of
Ilorin.
Purpose
of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to
examine the usage of social media of undergraduates in University of Ilorin.
Specifically, the study also aims at:
i.
identify the social media sites used by
undergraduate students in University of Ilorin.
ii.
ascertain the extent to which social media
sites influence undergraduates learning process.
iii.
determine the extent to which social media
sites influence the acquisition of information by undergraduates University of
Ilorin.
Research
Questions
The following questions are raised for
this study:
i. What are the various social media
undergraduate students have access to?
ii.
What are the social media used by undergraduate students in University
of Ilorin?
iii.
How does media influence the learning process of undergraduate students
of University of Ilorin?
iv.
What is the extent of which undergraduate students of University of
Ilorin get relevant information from social media
v. What is the relative effect of social
media sites on the communication skills of undergraduate students of University
of Ilorin?
Significance
of the Study
The study would be of immense benefits to the students and the
administration of universities in Nigeria as it would show the usage of social
media of Undergraduate students. This would help the students the students to
know the benefits and the hazards connected to the social media.
Universities management will also see the outcome of this study as a
source of information that would assist in decision making as regard school
resource provision.
Also, the study findings could be used by academic advisers and
counsellors in proffering professional advice to the university authorities on
how to regulate the social network usage among undergraduate students.
Lastly, the findings of this study would provide facts that will enable
the ministry of communication technology to know what arises from students use
of the social media networking sites. This will help the ministry to know how
to control social network usage.
Scope
of the Study
This study will examine social media usage
among undergraduate students in University of Ilorin. Specifically, Facebook,
Twitter, WhatsApp and online forums will be the forms of social media that this
study seeks to cover. The study will examine the impact of the social media
usage on the learning process of undergraduate students and it will also
examine the extent to which social media influences the communication skills of
undergraduate students, the study would also seek to examine the various
impacts of social media both negative and positive impacts of the various
social networking sites used by undergraduate students. The study will also
examine the various social media sites that undergraduate students have access
to and how often they use the social media sites and how it influences them
both positively and negatively. The
study will be conducted in University of Ilorin.
Operational
Definitions of Terms
The following terms are defined in respects to the ways they were used
in this study alphabetically:
Social
Media: This refers to interactive communication or
discussion between people on various networking sites such as WhatsApp, 2go,
Facebook, Twitter, Google talk, Skype etc.
Undergraduates:
This can be referred to a set of students studying for a first degree in a
University.
Social
media usage: This can be defined as the rate to which
individuals make use of online interaction applications and also online search
engines.
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