Social Media Perceived Influence of Academic Activities among Undergraduate Mathematics Students in Public Universities, Niger State

Abstract

This study examined the social media perceived influence of academic activities among Undergraduate Mathematics students in Public Universities in Niger State. Two objectives were formulated for the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. The target population for this study consists of one thousand seven hundred and thirty four (1734) full time students of Public Universities in Niger State, comprising of (male = 1245 and female = 489) out of which 306 Undergraduate Mathematics students were randomly selected as the study sample using research Advisory Table. The questionnaire was adapted for the study which consisted of perceived influence of use of social media of academic activities in Public Universities in Niger State. The questionnaire was validated by experts and the reliability coefficient index was 0.830. Descriptive statistic mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions with the criterion mean set at 2.50 and above. T-test was used to analyze the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Analysis of data revealed that undergraduate mathematics students perceived that social media has negative influence towards their academic activities in public Universities in Niger State. Also, female undergraduate mathematics students has positive influence on social media platform on academic activities than their male counterpart. The findings showed that use of social media do influence mathematics undergraduate student’s academic performance as it become an integral part of students’ lives. It was recommended that; Undergraduate mathematics students should set their priorities right by taking advantage of social media more for learning, online discussion, downloading materials for reading and research purpose, and for solving academic related problems.