The Influence of Social Media on Students’ Learning Ability Among Secondary School Students
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main purpose of this study is to examine the influence of social media on adolescents learning ability in secondary schools in Alimosho Local Government of Lagos State. The specific objectives of the study are to;
- Examine the influence of social media usage on students’ attitude to learning in schools.
- Ascertain the influence of social media usage on secondary school students writing skills. in secondary schools
- Determine the influence of social media usage on students’ academic performance in secondary school.
- Ascertain whether gender differences in social media usage exist among students in secondary schools.
- Determine the influence of social media usage based on age
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Junco (2011) identifies that today we live in the time of the social web, an interactive, engaging, and democratizing space where social capital- the resources obtained through interpersonal interactions- is of great importance. Alongside the expansion of the social web came a generation of students, who have never known life without the technologies that many have to depend on. This mobile technology makes it easier for kids to fit whatever they want to access in their pockets, while making it more difficult for parents to monitor what their kids are doing. The early descriptive and ethnographic research on youth, Internet, and social media offer rich evidence that (a) the features of different platforms, for example, the MySpace Top 8 case, influence the social practices of youth within those online communities, (b) Social Networking Sites (SNS) are important places for youth to develop their personal identity, and (c) youth use technologies like SNS to mediate their relationships with friends, romantic partners, and broader groups of peers (Ito et al., 2009). Subrahmanyam and Greenfield (2008) observed that the lines between the virtual and real world is increasingly blurred for youth today: “…for today’s youth, media technologies are an important social variable where physical and virtual worlds are psychologically connected; consequently, the virtual world serves as a playing ground for developmental issues from the physical world”. The key questions for the field of youth and Social Networking Sites (SNS) focus on what is the emotional, social, and cognitive effects of using the technology are for adolescents. In 1995, it was estimated that only 11% of American teenagers were actively participating on social networking websites (Peter & Valkenburg, 2009). College-aged individuals are especially interested in having a lot of friends, because many worry what others will think if they do not have as many friends as their peers (Barker, 2009). Statistic have shown from the study done on visual impression management and social networking sites that approximately 60% of students do spend more time selecting which pictures to post on their profile than actually communicating with others (Siibak, 2009). This indicates that these SNSs are not just for keeping in touch with classmates and meeting new people, but are equally used to build identities (Siibak, 2009). Social Networking Sites (SNS) are becoming ubiquitous aspects of youth and young adult life. Students have become accustomed to this lifestyle much more than older generations have in recent years, as this way of living is all they know (Lewis, 2008). They use the Internet for the major part of their daily activities and information gathering, as opposed to older generations who used resources like the television or newspaper (Lewis, 2008). Similarly, Seiter (2008) observes that young people famously use digital communications—instant messaging, cell phone texting, and social networking Web sites—to maintain their social capital, at least with those peers who can afford to keep up with the costly requirements of these technologies. Kist (2008) cited a survey conducted in United States which showed that approximately ninety percent of teens have Internet access, and about seventy-five percent of these teens use the Internet more than once per day. It further revealed that approximately half of all teens who have Internet access are also members of social networking sites, and use the Internet to make plans and socialize with friends. Goodman (2007) stated that teens use [the Internet] as an extension of their personality, to show their friends-and the world- who they are, what they care about, and to build connections with other likeminded people. Shosanya (2013) revealed that:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought the influence of social media on students learning among secondary school students
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information the influence of social media on students learning among secondary school students. 200 students of selected secondary schools in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos state were selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the influence of social media on students learning ability among secondary school students. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the social media on students learning ability among secondary school students
Summary
This study was on the influence of social media on students learning ability among secondary school students. Five objectives were raised which included: Examine the influence of social media usage on students’ attitude to learning in schools, ascertain the influence of social media usage on secondary school students writing skills in secondary schools, determine the influence of social media usage on students’ academic performance in secondary school, ascertain whether gender differences in social media usage exist among students in secondary schools, determine the influence of social media usage based on age. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 students of selected secondary schools in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made sss iii students, sss ii students, sss i students and jss iii were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
In this study, our results indicated that majority of the secondary school students used MSNs sites for different purposes other than learning related activities. It is also found that, Facebook is the most frequently used MSNs by the respondents. Similarly, majority of the students also confirmed that, they are addicted to MSNs sites in the sense that, they cannot spend any day without accessing their accounts. Moreover, mobile phones contributed immensely in providing easy access to MSNs services among secondary school students in Ilobu commercial grammar school and Ima high school, Osun state
Recommendation
Therefore based on the findings of this research work, we made the following recommendations:
- Secondary school teachers should provide adequate knowledge and skills to the students on how to use MSNs sites to enhance their learning related activities.
- Parents should monitor their children at home on the excessive usage of mobile phones for social connections.
- MSNs features should be properly investigated in order to provide broader learning opportunities for the students
REFERENCES
- Abaleta, A. B, Centaza, S.M, & Calimlim, M. E. (2004). Impact of Social Networking on the Academic Performance of College Students in Anellano University-(Unpublished Dissertation) pp. 1-19
- Ahmed, I. & Qazi, T. (2011). A look out for academic impacts of social networking sites (SNSs): A student based perspective. African Journal of Business Management, 5(12), pp. 5022-5031.
- Asur, S. &. Huberman, B.A. (2010) Predicting the Future with Social Media. Social Computing Lab: HP Labs, Palo Alto, California. pp 1- 8.
- Boyd, D.(2010) Taken Out of Context: American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics Berkeley, CA: Uniiversity of California; 2008. Available at: www.danah.org/papers/TakenOutOfContext.pdf. Accessed July 16, 2010
- Choney, S. (2010) Facebook Use Can Lower Grades by 20 Percent, Study Says. http://www.msnbc.com/id/39038581/ns.technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/.Retrieved 14/08/13
- Enriquez, J.G. (2010) Facebook and Other Online Social Networking Sites Can Lower Grades, Study Says. http://seerpress.com/facebook-and-other-online-social-networking-sites-can-lower-grades-studysays/6935/.Retrived 14/08/13
- Englander, F., Terregrosa, R. & Wang, Z. (2010).Internet use among College Student : Tool or Toy? Educational Review. 62(1) pp.:85-96.
