Abstract
Background: There is shortage of critical skills in the South African economy. One of the reasons for this shortage is that many students at traditional universities are not completing their degree within the prescribed time frame. The massification of education at traditional universities compounds this problem as there is a decrease in the interaction between lecturers and students. Information and communication technologies, and specifically social media, have been identified as a possible solution to aid traditional universities to improve their throughput rate. Social media has become an essential tool to increase student–lecturer interaction, collaboration and communication in academic setting.Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine social media adoption among lecturers at a traditional university in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.Method: The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) framework was used as the theoretical foundation of the questionnaire that was distributed to 300 full-time staff members. A response rate of 39% was attained. Factor analysis was used to test the relationship between variables.Contribution: The study’s contribution is to the theoretical body of knowledge that affirms that the UTAUT framework is an appropriate tool to use to test adoption of social media at traditional universities.Conclusion: The findings indicated that academics are conversant with emerging technologies and could incorporate these technologies into academic settings with an aim to increase communication and interaction among lecturers and learners. The results revealed that performance expectancy, social influence, effort expectancy and behavioural intention have a positive influence on social media adoption and continued use by academics in teaching and learning at traditional university. The facilitating condition scale was not statistically significant, but must be considered by management in order to improve the adoption of social media among lecturers.
Highlights
Studies revealed that there is a shortage of critical skills in the South African economy (Breier & Mabizela 2008; Strydom, Mentz & Kuh 2010)
The results indicate that adopting social media in academic setting is easy, clear and understandable, and academics are already skilful making use of social media in their private lives, and can transfer these skills to the teaching and learning environment
The findings indicated that academics are conversant with emerging technologies and they could incorporate them in academic setting with an aim to increase communication and interaction among lecturers and learners
Summary
Studies revealed that there is a shortage of critical skills in the South African economy (Breier & Mabizela 2008; Strydom, Mentz & Kuh 2010). Prosser and Trigwell (2013) reveal that large classes and poor academic literacy of students are affecting the quality of education as they reduce student–lecturer interaction (Breier & Mabizela 2008; Council on Higher Education 2013; Mohamedbhai 2008; Strydom et al 2010). To solve the challenge of massification, traditional universities need to identify new solutions, such as emerging technologies, to improve the throughput rate in order to address critical skills shortage in the South African economy. Social media has become an essential tool to increase student–lecturer interaction, collaboration and communication in academic setting
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