PERCEIVED INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ADULT EDUCATION STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, KWARA STATE

Abstract

The purpose of this research study is to examine the influence of social media on the academic performance of adult education students in University of Ilorin, Kwara State. Three research questions and one research hypothesis guided the study. To achieve this, the descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population consists of all the 429 full-time undergraduate students. The simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 120 adult education students. A four point Likert Type Rating Scale Questionnaire type, titled: Influence of social media on the academic performance of adult education student’s questionnaire (ISMAPAESQ) was used to collect data from the respondents. The descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage were used to analyse the demographic data while inferential statistics of Chi-square(x2) was used in testing the hypotheses. Research findings showed that a great number of adult education students in the University of Ilorin are addicted to social media and the level of adult education students’ utilization of social media is so high. To this end, the study recommended that social media should be used for educational purposes as well; social networking sites should be expanded and new pages should be created to enhance academic activities and avoid setbacks in the students’ academic performance; and students should be monitored by teachers and parents on how they use these sites. This is to create a balance between social media and academic activities of students to avoid setbacks in the academic performance of the students.