Leveraging Social Networks to Enhance Learning at Higher Institutions

The increasing use of social networks has attracted many researchers to investigate its potential and value it adds to education. However, there is limited research in the South Africa context in relation to the use of social networks for education. This study sought to determine better ways of social networks adoption for educational outcomes at higher institutions of learning. A quantitative approach was used whereby data was collected using a structured questionnaire. The conceptual framework was validated by means of data collected from university lecturers. Results show that institutional factors are positively related to adoption of social network to enhance learning. More still, results indicate that there is no significant influence between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Furthermore, perceived ease of use was a significant predictor of the behavior intention and also relates to other factors. This study contributes to on going debate of using social networks for educational outcomes.