Seyed Abolghasem Barabadi; ali shams
Abstract
Social Network Sites (SNSs), as a tool for conveying educational messages, have a high position in the agricultural education system. The use of SNSs can affect different aspects of the educational system. Numerous studies have examined the relationship between the use of SNSs and various variables of ...
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Social Network Sites (SNSs), as a tool for conveying educational messages, have a high position in the agricultural education system. The use of SNSs can affect different aspects of the educational system. Numerous studies have examined the relationship between the use of SNSs and various variables of educational system outputs. However, an important question in this area is the relationship between students' use of SNSs and their academic performance. This study seeks to identify the factors affecting the educational use of social media and then, to clarify the relationship between educational use of SNSs and students’ academic performance (total GPA). The statistical population included 111,528 students of public agricultural colleges across the country, of which 400 students from eight universities were surveyed using Morgan table and multi-stage random sampling method. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire using Likert Scale whose apparent validity was confirmed by a number of professors in the field of agricultural extension and Persian literature, content validity was confirmed by AVE and reliability was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha and CR. The data were analyzed by t, f and Pearson tests. The results showed that the most common use of SNSs among students is related to communicating with friends and family. There is a significant difference between the educational use of these networks by male and female students and also between students of different educational levels, but no significant difference was observed between different disciplines. It was also found that the rate of educational use of social networks among students who used these networks for educational purposes, has a positive effect on their academic performance, so it is suggested that educational administrators and planners as well as university professors pay more attention to the inclusion of these media in the curriculum.
Seyed Abolghasem Barabadi; Ali Shams; Nicholas Wise
Abstract
Identifying the obstacles limiting the level of use of social network sites (SNS) in educating activities by the stakeholders of the educational system can help in informed decision-making and planning in this field. The aim of this study was to identify the barriers to the use of SNSs in agricultural ...
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Identifying the obstacles limiting the level of use of social network sites (SNS) in educating activities by the stakeholders of the educational system can help in informed decision-making and planning in this field. The aim of this study was to identify the barriers to the use of SNSs in agricultural higher education from the perspective of faculty members and students. The statistical population included 1215 faculty and 36132 students of public agricultural colleges of Iran. Using multi-stage random sampling method, 211 faculty and 400 students from different universities were selected and studied. Data were collected by a questionnaire taken from the results of previous studies with a five-level Likert scale. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed discriminately and reliability with a composite reliability coefficient. Data were analyzed by t-test, Mann-Whitney, and structural equation modeling using partial least squares method. The results showed that the rate of educational use of SNSs by students is more than professors and their attitude towards the use of these networks in teaching and learning is more positive than faculty members. The modeling results also indicate that the factors related to students, type of lessons, and characteristics of SNSs have a negative and significant relationship with the educational use of faculty members of these networks. Also, factors related to faculty members, educational organizations, and software and hardware inhibitors show a negative and significant relationship between students' use of social networks in education.
