Social Media in the Learning Process of Nigerian Students of Mass Communication

Abstract

Studies on social media among students in higher institutions are now becoming global phenomena. However, majority of these studies are based in Europe and America with Africa having the least. Similarly, there are limited studies on integrating social media in the student learning process. The objective of this study is to investigate the use of social media among the students of mass communication and its relevance in their study. The study used mixed research method and collected the data through survey questionnaire and focus group discussion. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data. The result reveals that some of the respondents (37.8%) used social media to report and share news or information to the online communities. Similarly, majority of them (75.7%) used data subscription to access social media, which in turn poses a threat to the internet café businesses. Qualitative findings indicate that participants agreed that courses on social media should be introduced in their classes, but educators should not over rely on online teaching using social media platforms as that would make both students and educators lazy.

Keywords: Social Media, Uses and Gratification Theory, Students’ Learning Process, Student-Centred Learning