UTILIZATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN TEACHING AND LEARNING IN OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC IDAH

This study was carried out to determine the extent of utilization of social media in teaching and learning in Office Technology and Management, the Federal Polytechnic Idah. Survey design was adopted for the study. To guide the study, four research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated. The population for this study is 181 OTM lecturers and students. Structured questionnaire was used for the collection of data. 181 copies of questionnaire were distributed and 160 copies were collected. Data collected were analyzed using Mean and t-Test statistic. Based on the analysis it was found out that: Social Networking Sites are often utilized to disseminate information, share announcements, and organize academic discussions, class group communication and assignment reminders; Content Sharing Sites are often used for: accessing tutorial videos, demonstrations, and recorded lectures, share reading materials; Collaboration and Discussion Tools are often utilized for online forums, virtual group discussions and brainstorming, academic discussions and interactive learning; Microblogging and Live Streaming Tools are often utilized for academic updates and sharing relevant content, large-group communication and real-time teaching sessions. The result also showed that there is no significant difference between the mean responses of lecturers and students on the utilization of social networking sites and content sharing sites in teaching and learning in OTM. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends that: the Polytechnic should embark on advocacy programs to encourage lecturers to embrace the use of social networks in teaching; provide social media tools and that lecturers should be exposed to seminars and conferences to make them conversant with the use of social media platforms.