Baixe The implications of social networking sites in education in nigeria e outras Notas de estudo em PDF para Design, somente na Docsity! ijcrb.webs.com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 93 NOVEMBER 2011 VOL 3, NO 7 THE IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES IN EDUCATION IN NIGERIA Abstract It has been discovered that the internet through the use of social network sites (SNSs) by youths and adults has constituted a form of distortion to the attention due to be paid to organisational duties and academic responsibilities. Although several research have reported on the usefulness of the internet as a means of creating entertainment, news, social network, academic interaction, commerce, and conclude that it could also take our valuable time just for futile surfing on the net. However, SNS have created a new social dimension where individuals can develop increased level of awareness and students on their part have become more knowledgeable worldwide. The objective of this study is to investigate the reasons students engage in the use of SNSs and also find out the implications on their academic performance. A multi-method approach is used in gathering relevant information from students of University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used in analyzing the data collected. Findings from this study confirm that majority of respondents clearly agreed that social networking sites have a positive impact on their academic performance. However, from this study the researcher could infer that although youths nowadays, use SNS for a variety of activities (academic and non-academic).University authorities are saddled with the responsibilities to inculcate into the students the habit of using SNS for most of their academic activities. Keywords: Nigeria, Social Networking Sites, Students, Academic performance, University of Ibadan. 1. INTRODUCTION Motivated technology inventors introduced a variety of sophisticated internet services with different objectives in mind and put up these services together into sites that aimed to connect people.In recent times, there are hundreds of social networking sites that can attract millions of people, with varied technological affordances. Nearly all sites are to enable persons to avail pre-existing connections and initiate friendships between strangers. As a result of the constantly increasing number of people who use or have access to the Internet world over, social networking websites have been discovered to be a must have for the people to stay in touch with each other. It also enable people keep in touch with old friends, make new friends, dispense new data or product, and many more aspects of our everyday lives, and there are many internet users who would love to make new friends online. Social networking websites are easier to use and navigate, because it does not require advanced knowledge and experience of the internet. Social networking sites are made up of a wide array of different formats and topics; this means that just about anyone can connect. However, there are other social networking sites out there that have a specific focus. This focus may be on a specific religion, political following, or hobby. Majority of specialized social 1Ajagbe Akintunde Musibau, 2Eluwa Stephen Eyinnaya and 3Duncan Edward E. 4Mkomange Claud Wantrudis and 5Lasisi Ayodele Nojeem 1Department of Management and 2Faculty of Built Environment. 4Department of Mathematics and Statistics 5Faculty of Computer Science and Information Systems. 1,2,5Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia. 4Mzumbe University Tanzania and 3University of Mines and Technology in Tarkwa, Ghana. ijcrb.webs.com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 94 NOVEMBER 2011 VOL 3, NO 7 networking sites restrict the individuals that can take part in their network; thus, making your experience more pleasurable [1]. At the moment, social networking sites form the bulk of most catalogues of highly cherished Internet organizations. This is because just about everyone who uses the Internet is an associate of at least one and often many online social networks. With such universal acceptance, it is no wonder that social networks have a significant influence on the way people live and interact [2]. As on education sector, social networks are also being used by teachers and students especially in the West as a communication device. Professors and teachers use forums and groups to extend classroom discussion. Some of them usually use Twitter to communicate announcements and information to their students. It is a bi-directional process as students too are using these mediums to share comment to their teachers [2]. The evolution of the term Social networks is not a magnificent improvement because most researchers believe people have been interacting with one another since the internet came into being. The pioneer social network sites was SixDegrees.com and was introduced in the year 1997,although it closed shop after three years of existence as a result of poor awareness on the use of multiple social networks by those who were initially exposed to the internet, there was little room for maneuvers [3] . In the year 1999 the Livejournal was designed in order to facilitate one way connections of journals between friends. After this was the introduction of Cyworld in the year 2001, and then followed by Lunar Storm in Sweden during the same period [4] . Cyworld a Korean virtual world site was introduced in 1999 followed by the inclusion of their social network sites properties in 2001 which is autonomous from other sites. Similarly, LunarStorm a Swedish web community customized its brand name as SNS in 2000, which includes friends’ lists, guestbooks and diary pages [5]. Nearly all social networking websites are often designed to include certain type of community for instance the college community being emulated by Facebook.com or a music/party community emulated by MySpace.com. While nearly all SNSs center on rising broadly and exponentially, others clearly seek limited audiences and some like little world with beautiful people and deliberately confining access to come out carefully and selected. Working web sites and their worldwide scale usage, whatever one feels about social networking websites is immaterial because social networking websites are on a fame rise and have come to stay. Although some agencies prevent the usage of SNSs sites by their employees such as the Canadian government which banned its employees from Facebook [6]; the USA military which prohibits its soldiers from accessing MySpace [7]. In addition the US congress is considering a bill banning youths from accessing SNSs in schools and libraries [8]. With the rapid development of social networking web sites and their worldwide scale usage, whatever one feels about social networking websites is immaterial because social networking websites are on a fame rise and have come to stay. 2. DEFINITIONS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES According to Boyd and Ellison, (2007) [9],”Social network sites are web based services that enable individuals to construct a semi-profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share connections, views and go through their list of connections and those made by others within the system, although the nature and nomenclature of these connections has variation”. William,[10] also defined “Social networking sites as online communities of Internet users who want to communicate with other users about areas of mutual interest, whether from a personal, business or academic perspective. The specific functionality of the various sites may differ, but in general, the sites allow users to provide information about them and communicate with others through email, chat rooms and other fora”. The term "social network site” used to describe this phenomenon and "social networking sites" also appears in public discourse, and both are often used interchangeably. "Networking" emphasizes relationship initiation, often between strangers. While networking is possible on these sites, it is not the primary practice on many of them, nor is it what differentiates them from other forms of computer-mediated communication [9] . ijcrb.webs.com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 97 NOVEMBER 2011 VOL 3, NO 7 8. QUESTIONAIRE ADMINISTRATION A total of 120 copies of questionnaire were administered to both graduate and undergraduate students in the university library and all were returned making a 100 percent response rate. The reason for choosing the library is for easy retrieval as past experiences have shown that most students do not fill the questionnaire when dropped in their hostels by the researcher. The questionnaire is divided into two sections, section A examines the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents while section B looks at the reasons students engage in the use of social networking sites and how the use of social networking sites impact on students’ academic performance. 9. DEMOGRAPHIC FINDINGS Results indicate that (63%) of the respondents are male while 37 percent are female. The reason for the higher percentage of male is based on the fact that in Nigeria, male intakes into the universities are higher compared to their female counterpart. On the programme of study, 43 percent of the respondents are undergraduates while 57 percent are postgraduates. The higher percentage of graduate students is not surprising because the sampled institution chosen is a research university which boasts of a large number of postgraduate students. Again the questionnaire was distributed in the library during the peak of academic hours around noon and majority of post graduate students are immersed in their research work during this period. On the age of the respondents, 43 percent are in the age bracket of 16-21, 28 percent in the age bracket of 22-27 while 30 percent are above 30 years. Fig.1 : showing the use of social networking sites (SNS) The results in fig 1 indicate that 21 percent of the respondents’ use social networking sites (SNS) for making friends and chatting respectively while 17 percent use SNS for receiving and sending messages. However, the use of social networking sites for academic purposes like communicating between academic peers and for academic discussion groups all have a total of 27 percentage which is less than the time they spend on other activities unrelated to academics .Nevertheless, we can infer here also based on physical discussion the researcher had with the students and the percentage score on the chart, that the attitude of using social networking sites for academic purposes is just building up. The tables below are an analysis of responses on the role the SNS has on the study habits and academic life of the university students. The scales used in the questionnaire are as the following: 1= strong disagree 2= Disagree 3= Neutral 4= Agree 5= Strong agree The researcher further grouped the scales into three for easy interpretation of findings. SA + A = A, SD +D = D, and N. Based on this new groupings, strongly agree, disagree and neutral were used in interpreting the results of the findings. ijcrb.webs.com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 98 NOVEMBER 2011 VOL 3, NO 7 10. INTERPRETATION AND FINDINGS Based on the new grouping of the likert scale to three that is Agree, Disagree and Neutral by the researcher, the mean percentages for the six questions that were asked in table 1 are as follows : Disagree 283.4%/6 =47.23%, Agree 149.3%/6 =24.88% and Neutral 166.7%/6 =27.78%. This result indicates that 47.2% of respondents disagree that SNS has impacted them negatively on their academic performance while24.88% agree and 27.78% were neutral. Table.1 Positive impact of SNS on students’ academic performance Numbers 1-6 in table 1 stand for the following questions as contained in the survey instrument: 1. These networking sites influence my academic performance negatively, because they distract me from my studies. 2. Using social networking sites require spending money and are wastage of time and by this way it will affect my academic life. 3. Addiction to social networking sites is problematic issue that affects my academic life. N=120 4. I find it hard to concentrate on schoolwork knowing that I can play these games and visit these sites just by logging into them. 5. I compare my grades before I become engaged into these social networking sites and after I became involved. I see a drop in my academic performance. 6. Social networking sites are personal/ social-can’t be used for education Table .2 Positive impacts of SNS on students ijcrb.webs.com INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 99 NOVEMBER 2011 VOL 3, NO 7 Nunbers 7-13 in table 2 above stands for the following questions as contained in the survey instruments. 7. The usage of social networking sites is useful in higher educational institutions, because they are an effective communication application. 8. I can arrange meeting and discussion with my classmates using the social networking sites. 9. I can make an appointment with my supervisor/ lecturer through social networking sites. 10. The social networking sites help in my academic studies because I can get announcements and information from lecturers and my faculty. 11. The social networking sites help in my academic studies because I can communicate with friends about assignments and homework 12. Using SNS improves my interaction with classmates and lecturers. 13. I use SNS to facilitate academic goals and coordinate with friends. Again, the mean percentages for the seven questions in table 2 were used to examine the respondent’s responses to questions asked. The results are as follows: Disagree 105.7%/7=15.1%, Agree 325.7%/7 =46.52%, Neutral 266.7%/7 =38.1%. This result indicates that 46.5% of respondents agree that SNS has positive impact on their academic performance while 38.1% were neutral and 15.1% disagree. 11. DISCUSSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS As a result of the researchers close observations and findings from the results of this survey, it could be inferred that undergraduate students spend a higher percentage of their time daily by surfing the net chatting with peer groups on non academic related issues. This however, runs contrary to their responses during the questionnaire survey. This could also pose as a limitation to questionnaire technique because of the difficulty of ascertaining the genuineness of the answers provided. Post graduate students due to their age and status are found to be more focused and goal oriented because they are found most times immersed in their research in the computer library surfing mainly online articles, chatting with supervisors or research colleagues, downloading academic journals and textbooks and so on also they discuss and communicate through forums and email groups. However, the researcher found three basic activities common to all students involved in using SNS for academic purpose as; communicating with the faculty and university authority, communicating with lecturers and supervisors, making academic discussions with classmates and chatting with friends in respect to topics of educational interest. Although considering results from participant’s responses, majority informed that the use of SNSs does not impact negatively on their academic performance. But contrarily from observation, the researcher discovered that time youths spent on these sites is overwhelming. This distortion from focus has informed the decision of some countries’ agencies to prevent the usage of SNSs by their employees such as the Canadian government which banned its employees from Facebook [6]; the USA military which prohibits its soldiers from accessing MySpace [7]. In addition the US congress is considering a bill banning youths from accessing SNSs in schools and libraries [8]. However, from experience and general field observation in universities, internet cafés, public libraries, offices and homes, it was realized that there are great limitations to the extent students in Nigeria could benefit maximally from the use of SNSs for academic achievement. One salient feature among most undergraduates is that they use their 3G phones for surfing as internet connectivity in Nigeria is still low, so the easiest mode of accessing the SNSs is through their mobile phones. Again those who have laptops and could afford modem used by different service providers in the country are most times limited due to lack of high speed internet connectivity and coupled with erratic power supply . On the other hand, most graduate students have their own laptops with modem and the library has a standby generator which supplies electricity whenever there is power outage. The best advice to educational policy makers is that they should device a methodology to officially incorporate the use of social networking sites in the teaching and learning processes of the universities and other institutions of learning as this will encourage the students to use the social networking sites positively in such a manner that will benefit their academic pursuit. Also parents and guardians have a responsibility to monitor and know what their wards are doing on the internet with the aim of guarding and advising them appropriately, as charity they say begins at home. Government should make concerted effort to ensure there is availability of high speed internet connectivity and steady electricity supply for the citizenry, as this will go a long way to enhance academic activities among youths and prevent them from engaging in other social vices. ACKNOWLEDGMENT Authors like to thank Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for partly supporting this research under the Research University Grant .Vote No 00J74. Corresponding Author; (This article should be cited as ---Ajagbe et al.)