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THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL NETWORKING ON STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1            BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The definition of social media is “the relationships that exist between network of people” (Walter & Riviera, 2004). In the last ten years, the online world has changed dramatically. Thanks to the invention of social media, young men and women now exchange ideas, feelings, personal information, pictures and videos are truly astonishing rate. Seventy-three percent of wired American teens now use social media websites (Oberst, 2010).

Social media has become one of most important communication means in recent times. However, social networking exist so as to provide communication among people regardless of the distance, making it open to people easily share information, files   and pictures and videos, create blogs  and  send  messages and  conduct  real-time conversations. These systems are referred to as social, simply because they allow communication with buddies and coworkers so easily and effectively. Social forums are way of communication directly with other people socially and in media. They are playing a large and influential role decision-making in the occasions from the global world economically, politically, socially and educationally.

The  driving  factors  for  adoption  of  social  media  are the  progressively  ubiquitous  access,  convenience, functionality, and flexibility of social technologies (Brown, 2010 and Schroeder, Minocha and  Schneider, 2010).

It has been contended that, poor greater  education, social technologies  supports  social  constructivist  techniques to learning,  they  potentially  have  to  improve  students’ construction of understanding and promote student interaction (Ferdig, 2007, Schroeder, Minocha and Schneider, 2010 and McLoughlin and Lee, 2008). An additional benefit of social technologies provided on the internet is that they are frequently free or require marginal investment, eliminating a potential barrier to adoption (Brown, 2010).

Social media comprises of activities that involve socializing and networking online through words, pictures and videos. Social media is redefining how we relate to each other as humans and how we as humans relate to the organizations that serve us. It is about dialog –two way discussions bringing people together to discover and share information (Solis 2008a).

In the three and a half minute video called “Social Media in Plain English,” the authors provide and easy-to-follow introduction to social media with a small town ice cream shop metaphor. “Social media means new opportunities to create and communicate with people that care” (LeFever 2008). It talks about the change in business and media environment from a high level, rather than the specifics of how to use one or more tools.

Fred Cavazza, a French consultant in new media, breaks down the various forms of social media into ten categories in his “Social Media Landscape”: publication tools, sharing tools, discussion tools, social networks, micro publication tools, social aggregation tools, live-cast, virtual worlds, social gaming and massively multiplayer online gaming (MMO) (Cavazza 2008).  Brian Solis, co-founder of the Social Media Club and leader in Social media thought, recently introduced “The Conversation Prism,” which he describes as “the art of listening, learning and sharing” (Solis 2008b). The graphical prism (below) illustrates the wide array of social media tools available today.

Social media gives us the opportunity to humanize stories of students and alumni of our institutions, which can create loyalty and earn future business (students), and ultimately their respect (Solis 2008c).

If you are willing to join the conversation and embrace social media in some form, create strong and effective policies for their use and assign staff members with specific monitoring and contribution tasks. Establish only those sites and tools your staff will really have the time to commit to. “Participation is no longer an option as Social Media isn’t a spectator sport” (Solis 2008d).

The  issue  of  pupils’  performance  at  schools  has  been  of  concern  ever since modern education was introduced. Many countries have come to realize  that  pupils  are  the  heart  of  educational  process  and  that without good performance, all innovations in education are doomed to failure.  There  is  a  wide  dissatisfaction  with  the  current  situation  of schooling in many countries and parents come in for the share of the blame (Achombo, 2006)

Similarly, Kundu and Tutoo (2000) believed, that home background is the  most  significant  primary  factor  which  influences  and  shapes children’s  attitudes,  personality  and  behaviour  patterns  that  lead  to good performance at schools.

School, colleges and universities have no worth without student. Students are most essential asset for any educational institute. The social and economic development of the country is directly linked with student academic performance. The students’ performance (academic achievement) plays an important role in producing the best quality graduates who will become great leader and manpower for the country thus responsible for the country’s economic and social development (Ali, Jusoff, Ali, Mokhtar, and Salamt, 2009). Student academic performance measurement has received considerable attention in previous research, it is challenging aspects of academic literature, and science student performance are affected due to social, psychological, economic, environmental and personal factors. These factors strongly influence on the student performance, but these factors vary from person to person and country to country.

1.2            STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

A number of earlier studies have shown evidence that efforts are required in order to start using social media in order to influence educational activities. However, the whole process of adopting a particular social media has not received adequate attention from researchers (Hamid, Waycott, Chang and Kurnia, 2011). Choney, (2010), and Jacobsen & Forste, (2011), believe that the use of technology such as internet is one of the most important factors that can influence educational performance of students positively or adversely.

The rapid advancement of media technology has had a great impact on the way people communicate on a daily basis.  Due to the increased popularly of it, economists and professors are questioning the way grades of students will be enhanced through the use of social media.

1.3            OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The general objective of this study was to find out the effect of social networking on student academic performance among primary school pupils.

 The specific objectives of the study were as follows:

i.            to examine the impact of social media on academic performance of pupils;

ii.          to identify the benefits obtained from using the social media;

iii.        to ascertain teachers knowledge of the use of social media in teaching;

iv.        to determine the social media network that the students are more exposed to; and

v.          to ascertain the influence of the exposure on their academic performance;

1.4            RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i.              How do we employ social media to enhance academic performance of pupils?

ii.            What are the benefits obtained from using the social media?

iii.           Do teachers have required knowledge to use social media in teaching?

iv.           Which social media network are the students exposed to?

v.             What are the influence of the exposure on their academic performance?

1.5            RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The above research questions stem from the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis I

HO1: There is no significance relationship between the use of social media in teaching and student’s performance in Lagos state primary schools.

Hypothesis II

 H02:    the type of social media employed as resources for the teaching of and students performance in the primary schools in Lagos State.

Hypothesis III

H03:     That teachers’ adequate knowledge of social media will not significantly influence their use as teaching resources during classroom instruction in Lagos State Public Primary Schools.

1.6       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is hoped that the outcome of this study will provide information for parents, educators and school administrators to reflect upon various factors that help students in achieving their academic goals. In so doing, they can investigate the possibility of introducing those factors to their school, which may consequently lead to enhancing students’ educational outcomes in school through the use of social media.

This study will also be significant because the findings will stimulate parents, school managers, teachers, students and the society’s awareness on the importance of social media. The findings of the study will also assist school administrators and curriculum planners to develop strategies that would reduce negative effects of social media on academic achievement of students in primary schools.

The study could also help to inform school administrators of the area which need to be emphasized on at various seminars and workshops, which will, in turn help teachers in classroom settings and increase students’ learnability through the adoption of social media in their teaching-learning process.

It will also enable the society to offer useful advice to learners, teachers and curriculum experts on the effect of availability and effective use of social media in primary schools.

Finally, the findings of the study will act as a reference point to other interested scholars interested in this area of research.

1.7       SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study will focus mainly on the use of social media in enhancing the performance of pupils in Lagos State Public Primary Schools.

1.8       LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study will be limited to Teachers in ten (10) selected Public Primary Schools in Badary Local Government Area of Lagos State because of the following: firstly, the time frame within which this study is expected to be completed, secondly, the researcher’s financial constraint to adequately cover the expenses for more research, and thirdly, the policy of certain respondents’ schools to furnish sufficient information needed for this study.

1.9       OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF THE TERMS

The following are key terms used in the Research Work:

1.  Social Media- They are forms of electronic communication which facilitate interactive base on certain interests. Social media include web and mobile technology. Kaplan and Helen (2010) defined Social Media as a group of internet based application that allows the creation and exchange of user generated content.

2.  Social Networking Sites – A website where people put information about them and can send to others.

3.  Social Networking – The use of internet to make information about yourself available to other people especially people you share an interest with to send messages to them.

4.  Media – Are all those media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. “They are messages communicated through a mass medium to a number of eople”(Bittner, 1980, p.10).

5.  Academic – It is concerned with Studying from books as opposed by a practical work.

6.  Students – Someone who is Studying at a University or School. Someone who is very interested in a particular subject.

7.  Computer – A computer is a machine that receives or stores or process data quickly according to a stored program.

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