Social media has been described as a double-edged sword. On one hand, it connects us globally, helps to break barriers and is a platform for self-expression and creativity. On the other, it is also often blamed for eroding real-world, in-person connections.
However, the increased penetration of internet connectivity, mobile, and smart devices in Africa has seen young people on the continent embrace the use of social media to advance their education by accessing information and learning materials in real-time, helping them connect with other learners, educators, and mentors across geographical boundaries.
To give deeper insights into how young people are using social media for education and learning, the November edition of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Mondays Africa featured views and opinions of undergraduate students from the United States International University of Africa (USIU-Africa) in Nairobi, Kenya. The discussions contextualized how young people at higher-learning institutions use social media to research, participate in discussion groups, communicate with lecturers, and collaborate with peers on group assignments. Through social media tools and platforms, young people are understanding the world in a way previous generations did not and are gaining exposure to diverse learning experiences.
“I spend almost eight hours a day on social media platforms. It has influenced my learning space tremendously. It also helps me complete my assignments and meet people who are more advanced in my career path, such as data scientists,” says Martin Kyaremateng, a Ghanaian undergraduate student in Data Science and Analytics at USIU-Africa.
Kyaremateng, who juggles his time between 20 WhatsApp groups adds, “I have also benefited from the influx of new social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Instagram. This is the best thing that has ever happened to the world of technology because when I was in high school, we only had WhatsApp as an information-sharing tool, but a lot of my connections today come because of my presence on platforms like LinkedIn.”
Carine Ishimwe from Rwanda is another undergraduate student at USIU-Africa, pursuing a degree in Information Systems and Technology and majoring in Cyberspace and Forensics. She uses social media not only for entertainment, but as a learning tool too.
Ishimwe spends close to 10 hours a day on social media, interacting with other learners and educators across 50 WhatsApp groups. And while some of her activities on social media are related to entertainment, many others, she says, are related to schoolwork. “Social media has changed my life for the better. I got scholarship links from one of my friends on WhatsApp,” says Ishimwe.
Global studies show educators are becoming increasingly aware of social media’s effect on the learning process. According to Georgetown University, students were said to react positively whenever a teacher was willing to use social media as a learning tool since “an online chat discussing a certain book gives students the ability to open up and share their opinions.”
That is how Dr. Collins Oduor, an Assistant Professor of Information Systems at USIU-Africa’s School of Science and Technology, prefers to look at technology – as an interactive communication tool for both learners and educators. Dr. Oduor engages his students on the school’s WhatsApp group where important messages are shared not only within his department but university wide.
Dr. Oduor says social media has opened up and enlarged the scope of education, since students are learning to do more research, learn more than what is presented in lectures, and assess the information’s value. It also makes student-teacher communication more convenient.
“My work has become very easy in terms of reaching out directly to the students because social media gets us close with each other in terms of breaking the barriers. I am able to reach them at any time, even after the official hours. They can also reach out to me at any given time. To me, the benefits of social media far outweigh the disadvantages,” says Dr. Oduor.
Dr. Oduor advises that rather than reduce their use of social media, learners need to be empowered to learn how to use it productively so that when they come to class, they can share meaningful ideas, have deep discussions, and see how the knowledge acquired can be applied for better outcomes.
However, there are also the dangers that come with the uncontrolled use of social media. Grace Makwaza, a student from Lesotho studying International Relations and Criminal Justice at the university, says she thinks social media presents a “challenge [to] our intrinsic values as human beings”.
Makwaza urges young people to strike a balance, rather than categorize social media as a good or bad tool. “Social media is a tool. However, the moment I see myself spending more than 12 hours there, I question my capacity to hold on to my value of discipline. Perhaps that discipline is not as strong as it is supposed to be,” she says. “So more than anything, I think we need to gauge how strong our intrinsic values are, instead of polarizing social media as either a good or a bad tool.”
Another major drawback of social media is the distraction caused by the constant flow of information. During class or examination time, Dr. Oduor ensures that school rules regulating the use of social media are strictly adhered to, including the prohibition of using phones in the exam room “unless the exam is an open book.”
There are also fears that social media distraction can interfere with the learning of subjects that require strict discipline. Jennifer Bessie, a Psychology student, says her professors will not allow them to be distracted by phones because that will interfere with work ethics as practicing psychologists in future. According to Bessie, uncontrolled use of social media is detrimental to the emotional and mental growth of learners in the younger brackets.
“As a student in the psychology field, we have learnt much about cyber bullying and its effects on mental health. Teenagers and other young learners have started to compare themselves with what they see on social media and that is very worrisome. Too much screen time affects the development of such young children,” she says.
However, Bessie says social media has key advantages in psychology, including online counselling.
“Due to the limited number of psychologists in the world and the rise in mental health issues, we found out that having online tools at USIU-Africa’s counselling centre where I trained as a peer counsellor is good because we can have online counselling sessions with those we can’t meet physically. You can still get in touch with such people and help them manage certain mental health issues. So, social media may have some distractions, but it has a lot of mental health advantages for those of us in the psychology field,” says Bessie.
Dr. Oduor says that “most institutions of learning do not have social media policies,” a challenge that both governments and learning institutions share.
As a way forward, he suggests that there is a need to craft policies that support the use of social media to achieve the true impact in education across board.
While more public schools are embracing usage of tablets and adding computer literacy to curricula, a lot more work needs to be done to streamline national and institutional-wide policies to promote positive use of social media in the learning environment.
With social media now an invaluable tool for learning in education and the work environment, such policies will need to be both protective and productive, unlike the reactive nature of current laws. In the meantime, it will require discipline and parental regulation on screen time for young learners, for all to benefit from social media while avoiding unintended drawbacks.
