Exploring Business Community Engagement With Educational Institutions Supporting Future Business Graduates

Abstract

The evolution of technology enables educational institutions to provide innovative ways to support students' learning, and as a result, there is an increasing trend in adopting business innovations such as e-learning solutions and online learning platforms. An empirical study was conducted to explore the effect of using Moodle and Facebook on business students' motivation to learn. It hypothesized that students will be more motivated to use social media Facebook over Moodle as a learning tool in tertiary education. Participants were students enrolled on the first year of a business program. Participants were given access to both the Moodle online learning platform and Facebook to use throughout the first semester of 2017. Lecturers posted questions on Moodle and Facebook on a weekly basis to which participants were asked to provide responses. Findings from this study confirmed the validity of using social media in tertiary education. Implications for the business community engagement with educational institutions are discussed.