Abstract:
Social media networks are fundamentally changing the way we
socialize, communicate, and perhaps the way students learn. This paper explored
the patterns of pre-service teachers’ adoption and perceived usefulness of
social media. It also explored the relationships between the pre-service teachers’
perceived usefulness of the social media in relation to socialisation, communication,
and study, and (a) the time they spend on social media, and (b) their social
media account subscriptions. The participants were 388 pre-service teachers
from one tertiary institution in Nigeria. The social constructivist theory, the
Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Technology Acceptance Model were used
to underpin the study. The result revealed that Facebook and WhatsApp were
the most common social media applications used by the participants and they
use the media chiefly for socialising. With respect to the time they spent on social
media daily, 310 (80%) spent at least one hour on social media on average
daily while 196 (50%) spent over two hours on average every day. The relationships
between social media subscriptions, and perceived usefulness of social
media for socialising and for communication, were found to be positive and statistically
significant. Similarly, the relationships between the time spent on social
media and perceived usefulness of social media for socialising and also for
study were found to be positive and statistically significant. The results suggest
that the pre-service teachers are adopters of social media and perceive the media
useful not only for social activities but also for academic purposes. However,
they have not really adopted the social media for academic purposes. The research
findings make a compelling case for the incorporation of social media into
the teaching and learning context.
