The Impact of Social Media Use on the Academic Performance of Students of Private Tertiary Institutions in Ghana: The Valley View University Perspective

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of social media use on the academic performance of students in private tertiary institutions in Ghana. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The Valley View University, Oyibi Campus, Accra, was used as a case study. The population for the study was 2,172. The simple random sampling technique was used to sample 388 students. The questionnaire was used to solicit data for the study. 388 copies of the questionnaire were administered to the students. However, 362 copies were filled correctly and used for the analysis. The data were analysed using the IBM Statistical Product and Service Solutions (IBM-SPSS) version 22.0. The findings revealed that entertainment and relaxation, posting pictures and chatting with friends were students' motivators for social media use. The study found out that the frequent use of social media had negatively affected the academic performance of some students. The study recommended that the Management of the University should motivate students to use the various social media platforms for educational activities rather than non-academic ones. The study also suggested that students should be advised to reduce the number of hours spent on social media platforms.

Use of electronic resources in research and learning in a health sciences library in Ghana: An analysis of awareness and perception of users

“…The results were supported by what Akporhonor and Akpojotor (2016), Ameyaw et al (2016) and Ternenge and Kashimana (2019) found in their research studies. They revealed that users faced challenges in accessing electronic resources in libraries and they attributed the challenges to the unreliable power supply and poor internet connectivity.…”

“…According to Kwafoa et al (2014), due to the importance and usefulness of electronic resources, CARLIGH pays an average of 25 0000 US Dollars as a subscription fee to enable affiliated institutions to have unlimited access to selected scholarly electronic resources for their information need at a subsidy. Moreover, studies such as Akporhonor and Akpojotor (2016), Ameyaw et al (2016), Ternenge and Kashimana (2019), found that unreliable power supply and poor internet connectivity are some of the challenges users face in accessing electronic resources in libraries.…”