| Abstrakt: |
The growth in information technology as embedded in Web 2.0, has redefined the way people communicate, interact and participate in the creation and re-use of contents among users. Web 2.0 or Library 2.0 tools are internet-based services which include interactive platforms such as Wikis, Web blogs, instant messaging, etc. This empirical study investigated the social media trends, interactive and collaborative learning for scholarly research among postgraduate (PG) students in a Nigerian university. The utilization of social media and networking tools is crucial to PG students and very helpful in the course of conducting scholarly research and is invariably a key to accomplishing scholarly targets. The descriptive survey research design was adopted. The sampling frames of 809 out of 1,361 of the postgraduate students in the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria was used. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used to interpret the data with frequency counts, percentages, mean, standard deviation and Pearson Moment Correlation Analysis. Results showed that the PG students had a strong preference for the use of Academia (x=1.94, SD=1.40). Other social media sites used were Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and ResearchGate, etc. Knowledge contents were collaboratively shared by colleagues and used frequently for scholarly research. The results also revealed that social media has made a significant influence on respondents' research output (x=3.63, SD=0.62). Challenges which hinder effective use of social media by PG students include poor internet connectivity, low level of ICT skills of the respondents etc. The study recommends that regular seminars and training be organized for PG students to attune with recent development in social media sites so that they can appreciate and maximally utilize the opportunities they offer. Regular overhauling of electronic devices is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
