Universities sociability in social media era: Towards sustainable education in Nigeria
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Date
2016
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Educational Technology, University of Ilorin
Abstract
Universities in Nigeria are struggling to gain prominence in the world and often ranked in the lower rung of the ladder. Social media offer universities a formidable presence as they are utilized by higher ranked global universities. In this study, the sociability of universities in Nigeria is premised on how these universities use social media to enhance their presence, visibilities, engagement and interactive approaches for higher global ranking and development. Thus, this study investigated the sociability of universities in social media era for sustainable development of university education in Nigeria. The research type was an online survey method where data from Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) were used to identify 143 accredited universities in Nigeria. Five social media sites served as the measurement scale for universities’ sociability. Three research questions were raised and one research hypothesis was formulated. Percentage, and frequency counts were used to answer research questions 1 & 2 and result was presented in a bar chart. Research question 3 had corresponding hypothesis which was tested and analysed with chi-square at 0.05 critical level of significance. Findings revealed that the sociability of Nigerian universities is low and that university generation does not significantly differentiate sociability of Nigerian universities on social media. In this vein, this study recommended among others that universities need to shed the lukewarm attitude to social media use and embrace this phenomenon in order to cease the initiative and chart a beneficial course of using social media for the sustainable development of university education.
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Keywords
University Education,, Sustainable Development, Social Media,, Sociability,