Abstract
This paper aims to examine the gender differences of undergraduate students’ educational use of Facebook. The objectives of the study include identifying male and female students’ Facebook usage and assessing their perception on the usefulness and ease of use of Facebook in higher education. Using a quantitative research method, results reveal that male students have a higher frequency of Facebook visit (93.9%). Male students are more competent (48.5%) and more satisfied (42.2%) in using Facebook in comparison to female students. Although there were marginal differences between males’ and females’ perception for both usefulness and ease of use of Facebook (with mean differences ranging from 0.01 to 0.33); the differences in their overall perception on the usefulness and ease of use of Facebook were not significant (p<.05). In conclusion, male students had a higher overall score on the perceived usefulness of Facebook in higher education, while female students had a higher overall score on the perceived ease of use of Facebook.
Highlights
With the increasing number of research on social media in higher education, the most common and popular social media tool used in higher education is Facebook [1]
Facebook has the potential to be used as a platform for online academic discussions [2]; Facebook is used for informal learning [8]; Facebook complements the current teaching and learning practices [3, 7]; Facebook enhances teaching and learning practices in large classes [6]; and Facebook has a positive impact on students’ academic performances [9, 10, 11]
In regard to students’ self-reported level of satisfaction and competency in using Facebook, the results unveil that male students were more satisfied (42.2%, n= 14) and more competent (48.5%, n=16) in using Facebook for educational purposes compared to female students
Summary
With the increasing number of research on social media in higher education, the most common and popular social media tool used in higher education is Facebook [1]. Prior literature revealed that the use and influence of social networking sites in students’ daily lives are pervasive as they used it for social purposes and for educational reasons [4]. Facebook has the potential to be used as a platform for online academic discussions [2]; Facebook is used for informal learning [8]; Facebook complements the current teaching and learning practices [3, 7]; Facebook enhances teaching and learning practices in large classes [6]; and Facebook has a positive impact on students’ academic performances [9, 10, 11]. [9] and [10] found no significant gender differences regarding the use of Facebook for academic activities, [5] state that an academically viable sense of direction for future research on exploring Facebook especially information about gender differences is much needed
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