Perceptions of social media on students' academic engagement in tertiary education

Social media has been gaining popularity among university students who use social media at higher rates than the general population. Students consequently spend a significant amount of time on social media, which may inevitably have an effect on their academic engagement. Subsequently, scholars have been intrigued to examine the impact of social media on students' academic engagement. Research that has directly explored the use of social media and its impact on students in tertiary institutions has revealed limited and mixed findings, particularly within a South African context; thus leaving a window of opportunity to further investigate the impact that social media has on students' academic engagement. This study therefore aims to investigate the use of social media in tertiary institutions, the impact that the use thereof has on students' academic engagement and to suggest effective ways of using social media in tertiary institutions to improve students' academic engagement from students' perspectives. This study used an interpretivist (inductive) approach in order to determine and comprehend student's perspectives and experiences towards the use of social media and the effects thereof on their academic engagement. A single case study design at Rhodes University was used to determine students' perceptions and data was collected using an online survey. The findings reveal that students use social media for both social and academic purposes. Students further perceived that social media has a positive impact on their academic engagement and suggest that using social media at tertiary level could be advantageous and could enhance students' academic engagement.