University students’ serceptions in using social media for teaching and learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

Abstract

The paper focuses on the investigation of the use of social media for academic purposes by students at institutions of higher learning. This qualitative study seeks to explore university students’ perceptions in using social media for academic purposes in the midst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and beyond. Convenience sampling technique under a non-probability sampling method was employed to select students from one of the rural universities in Limpopo Province of South Africa. Focus groups were employed as a data collection tool, and thematic analysis has been used as a method to analyse the data. Couldry’s Practice theory and Uses and gratifications theory have been used as lenses for this study. The study revealed that few students are using social media platforms for educational purposes. Some postgraduate students use YouTube to access academic-related content. There are several challenges that students encounter regarding the use of social media for academic purposes. Such challenges include the struggle to integrate social media into the academic field. Students also highlighted the lack of support and encouragement from academics in using social media for academic purposes; poor internet connection; lack of internet data; and lack of training on how to use these platforms as academic tools.