CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Social networking is built on the idea
of how people should know and interact with each other through the use
of the internet. Internet is a very essential part of life from shopping
to electronic mails and education. It has become one of the most
important communication tools among people nowadays. It gives people the
power to share, making the world more open and connected. Recently,
there is a drastic increase of adults that are into online social
networking site compare to January 2014 when the percentage was 74
(Ellision 2008). Social networking can be done for social purposes,
business purposes and educational purpose. Social networking programs
group individuals by interests, hometowns, employers, schools and
other commonalities.
Wikipedia defined social networking
service as a platform to build social relations among people who share
similar interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections. A
social network service consists of a representation of each user (often a
profile), his or her social links, and a variety of additional services
such as career services. Social network sites are web-based services
that allow individuals to create a public profile, create a list of
users with whom to share connections, and view and cross the connections
within the system. Most social network services are web-based and
provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail
and instant messaging.
There are over 219 social networking
sites today according to Wikipedia. Some of the popular and commonly
used ones are Facebook, Twitter, Google, Google+, YouTube, Academia.edu,
Instagram, About.me, Whatapp, Blackberry messenger, Yahoo mail, G
mail, Bebo, Friendster, Hi5, Habbo, NING, classmates, Tagged,
myYearbook, Meetup, MyLife, Flixster, myHeritage, Orkut, Badoo, Gaia
Online, Netlog Tuenti, IRC-Galleria, Xing, Ibibo,. Social networking hit
really its stride with the launch of Friendster in 2002 founded by
Canadian computer programmer Jonathan Abrams. It is used as a degree of
separation concept similar to that of the now-defunct SixDegrees.com,
refined it into a routine dubbed the “Circle of Friends,” and promoted
the idea that a rich online community can exist only between people who
truly have common bonds. After Friendster was abandoned, LinkedIn took a
more serious approach to social networking phenomenon and LinkedIn was
formed for business people who want to connect with other
professionals.
There is much interest from schools and
Universities in the potential of public social networking services and
social media such as blogs to leverage or complement formal educational
activities and enhance learning outcomes (Brennan 2001 & 2003;
Notley 2010). Whilst e-learning frameworks are now integrated into most
educational settings, the use of social networking services is less
comprehensively utilized. Access to social networking services varies
according to state and educational level with some states banning access
to social networking services and social media services altogether
(Notley 2009). Consequently there is a dearth of evidence on the impact
of social networking on young people’s formal education (Anderson 2007).
Nevertheless, pilot projects and research are being rolled out which
highlight both the potential and the need for social software, services
and practices to be integrated into school and higher education
frameworks. Social networking services are also being used to extend
opportunities for formal learning across geographical contexts. For
example, students from University of Benin and Obafemi Awolowo
University, learners from both schools use instant messaging and Skype
to share information about their cultures and work collaboratively.
Social networking service use between teachers and students can improve
rapport and motivation and engagement with education (Mazer, Murphy,
Simonds 2007).
Additionally, social networks grab the
total attention and concentration of the students and divert them
towards non educational, unethical and inappropriate actions such as
useless chatting, time wasting by random searching and not doing their
jobs which is reading. Also social network has introduced many
attractive tasks like gamming, online addiction, advertisements etc. so
that people can never get enough of these things. The social network
addict becomes a useless node for parents, friends and other associated
people. They cannot succeed because they have no sense of upcoming
future and competitions in their careers. Most business education
students nowadays miss classes due to arrangement they made with their
friends online which could lead to missing of test if the lecturer
decide to do one, and also they don’t meet the required percentage of
attendance before exams which could lead to them not writing. After all
these students cannot miraculous have good grades and this seems to be
an issue which has affected the performance of business education
students’ academic performance.
Statement of Problem
Social networking can be regarded as one
of the means which has made knowledge to be easily access. It has
increase the rate of learning process, and makes teaching and learning
effective and efficient. Online social networks have become
increasingly popular in recent years providing a different and user
friendly way to maintain social connections and share information. Leki
(2014) assert that a shift is taking place in the focus of pedagogical
practice on universities all over the world as students across a wide
variety of disciplines are learning by making and creating rather than
from simple consumption of content. The proliferation of e-learning
systems in learning institutions has contributed a lot to the
acquisition and application of new skills (Awodele, Idowu, Anjorin,
Adedire & Akpore 2009).
The idea of using social media is to
provide students with a variety of tools for independent work,
reflection, construction and collaboration (Dalsguard 2008) . Social
network also provides learners with value resources for using the web as
a tool in order to develop their understanding and solve problems,
whether in school, at work, or in their private lives. The objectives of
business education as opined by (Njoku 2006) are: to empower
individuals with desirable skills, knowledge and value to perform
specific functions so as to become self-reliant, to help individuals
appreciate the world around them and contribute maximally to the social
and economic development of the nation. This can be achieved with the
help of social networking in acquiring such skills and knowledge through
the help of skills related videos in YouTube. Students use social media
day in and day out to interact with their peers and even teachers about
class-related subjects. Not only do they know how to interact with
others on the internet, they know how to use basic and even complex
functions in order to do so (Joseph Baker 2013). Their ability to
access, analyze, retain and share information is skyrocketing and they
often don’t even realize they’re developing these skills, the advent and
dominance of social media has created a new breed of marketing, which
has required professionals to build and further the field.
Education is very essential part of an
individual’s life for every teenager education is more important than
anything. Today students’ shows very much interest for using social
networks but unfortunately social networks affect education badly.
Technology is step towards betterment, no doubt but any technology which
can provide ease of social networks can be dangerous for social network
addicts. Providing ubiquitous facility of social networks is a straight
invitation of addiction to any student as academic satisfaction is not
enough for those students who suffers from social isolation.
The problem of the study is that
students have not been able to integrate social networking into their
academic learning process and these seems to be used for only their
social life’s which has caused addiction problems for students in
business education as they chat while lectures is actually going on and
this would affect their performance.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to determine how social networking influence business education students’ academic study.
Specially, it is to ascertain:
1. The challenges experienced by business education students in the implementation of the use of social networking
2. The ways to curb business education students’ addiction towards social networking
3. The extent to which social networking sites responsible for business education students’ academic performance.
4. The implications of using social networking sites by business education students
5. The rate of usage of social
networking sites by business education teachers affects their student
attitude towards social networking.
Research Questions
The following research questions are raised to guide the study:
1. What are the challenges in the use of
social networking sites by business education students towards their
academic performances?
2. Are they ways to curb business education students’ addiction towards social networking sites?
3. Is social networking sites responsible for students’ poor academic performance in business education?
4. What are the implications of using social networking sites by business education student?
5. To what extent can the lecturer influence business education students’ attitude towards social networking?
Significance of the Study
The findings of the study will be of
immense benefit to all education stakeholders, particularly teachers,
researchers, students, curriculum planner, government, and the public.
It will create in planners, the awareness of such problems that may be
encountered in implementing projects on social networking.
The findings of this study will be of
benefit to the teachers as it will enlighten them on the need for social
networking as it will make study carried out by them easy to find out
and help update their knowledge that would be passed down to future
generation.
The findings of this study will also be
useful to the government and its agencies, as the government would want
easy access to social networks by students and these could lead to
government subsidizing the cost and also making sure internets
connection must be a required before schools can be established.
It will be useful to curriculum planner
as it will enable them to carry out a thorough assessment on the
implementation, effectiveness and impact of social networking in
teaching and learning.
The students will benefit because they
will understand the concepts, usage of social networking and its
relevance in proffering solution to daily problems in academic and
application of the knowledge gain in their individual tasks in future.
The study will also be useful to
research as a source of literature or related literature that adds to
the available material for present and future research study.
Scope of the study
The study is focused on the impact of
social networking on business education students in the department of
vocational and technical education university of Benin, Benin City. This
study is specifically to determine the influence of social networking
has on business education student only.
The study is restricted to 300 and 400
level in the department of vocational technical education in University
of Benin, Benin City