Teacher Education Programs with Blended Education at Bangladesh Open University: An Assessment of Learners’ Use of Social Media

Abstract

Social media (SM), a platform where people can share, exchange, and communicate their ideas and knowledge, has been the part of human’s life and has become the new trend in communication and learning. Technology has profoundly changed education and its delivery mode. This study aims to explore the usage of SM by the students, and to discover the most common resources used in teacher education. Furthermore, it aims to illustrate students’ belief about the influence of SM on their learning. This study administered validated questionnaires to students of B.Ed./M.Ed. from School of Education (SoE) of Bangladesh Open University. A non-probability sampling technique was utilized with a sample size of 195 students (females, n=117; males, n=78). The most common website used by both genders was Facebook. With regard to utilizing SM for learning, the students believed that it was beneficial. SoE needs to improve the utilization of SM by its faculty, tutors and students by developing activities and encouraging the usage of SM in blended program of teacher education program.