Social Media in Tertiary Education-Vhembe Further Education Training College Case Study

• Main Authors: Manzira Francis Mungofa, Tsvara Peter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The International Academic Forum 2015-08-01
• Series: IAFOR Journal of Education
• Subjects: Learning culture; social media; social networking technologies
• Online Access: http://iafor.org/archives/journals/education/journal-of-education-special-edition-contents/Mungofa_Tsvara.pdf

Social media technologies are being widely used by students in institutions of higher education and these are transforming their way of learning, social conduct, communication and networking. The intend of this research was conducted to determine value of social media technologies to students in higher education but with a focus that was directed towards students in a vocational training college. A random sample of 105 students from Vhembe Further Education Training College (FET) participated in the study and they were the following departments, Business/Finance, Engineering, Hospitality and Tourism. Analysis of results was executed through application of SPSS statistical package. Findings show that social media technology has infused a new culture of learning among students. In addition, social media applications which are being widely used by students for learning activities that include studying, access of education content, and social communication are: Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and YouTube.