A descriptive study on social media as a supplementary tool for teaching and learning

First-year students’ perspectives

Dados Bibliográficos

ID22436923
AutoresPhilani Brian Mlambo (0000-0001-6370-2075, Durban University of Technology, autor correspondente)
Ano2026
Volume5
Fascículo1
Data de publicação2026-01-24
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoDiscover Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2731-5525 • E-ISSN: 2731-5525
EditoraSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s44217-026-01148-y
OpenAlexW7125606796
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas45

The educational sector has experienced transitions from physical classes to online classes owing to COVID-19 that had the world by the scruff of its neck. After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted educational sectors had to maintain a clean transition from online classes back to physical classes hence they adopted what is known as blended learning to accommodate both admirers or physical and virtual classes. This transition led to most institutions adopting social media as a supplement tool to ensure that the transition was smooth, and this gave rise to the usage of social media in teaching and learning. Consequently, this quantitative study sought to investigate the preferred social media platforms by the students for the purpose of teaching and learning. Convenience sampling was used to administer closed-ended questionnaires to 37 Engineering Graphics and Design (EGD) first-year pre-service teachers. These closed- ended questionnaires followed a 5 Likert type. The resulting data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29.00. With the aid of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), the findings show that WhatsApp and YouTube are the most preferred social media platforms by students to be used for teaching and learning as they recorded a mean score of 4.54 and 4.30 respectively. The findings also revealed that smartphones are the device that most students access social media on for schooling purposes. Based on the findings, this chapter recommends that universities should adopt social media such as WhatsApp and YouTube as the official tools to be used to supplement learning management systems (LMS) as most students struggle to access such platforms and find more easier to use WhatsApp and YouTube. This study contributes to the technology field and the digital pedagogy literature as we are in the digital era where teachers are encouraged to infuse technology within their pedagogy.

Blended Learning · Descriptive statistics · Digital media · Educational technology · Likert scale · Social media · Statistical analysis · E-Learning and COVID-19 · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Technology-Enhanced Education Studies