ENGAGING 21ST CENTURY STUDENTS IN THEIR MEDIUM: SOCIAL MEDIA AS A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL IN A SOCIAL STUDIES CLASSROOM

Abstract

Technology and Social Media websites are now an indispensable part of our lives. It is almost impossible not to look at our accounts on any day. Most of us especially 16years and above have a profile on one of the social networks and it can be observed that a sizable number are students who use the different websites for different purposes. The focus of this research is on finding out if Social Studies lecturers in the faculty of Education are using Social Media in teaching their students and to identify ways, they are incorporating it. The population of the study is 21 lecturers (5 Social Studies lecturers, four males and one female, all senior lecturers) and 16 non-Social Studies Lecturers who teach Social Studies courses. The method of data collection was questionnaire. The data was analyzed using simple percentages. The results show among other things that the lecturers believed that social media network platforms are important pedagogical tools, many of them are not using them as a teaching and learning tool. The researcher therefor recommended that lecturers and their students should undergo training on ways of using these platforms as a teaching tool. Article visualizations: