Factors That Influence Instructors’ Integration of Social Media Platforms Into Higher Education Pedagogy in Ghana

Abstract

Higher Education (HE) institutions have been exploring new approaches that will enable them to manage with the increasing demand of access to education. One key area is in the usage of new models, new innovations, and new ways of delivering the curriculum, connecting students with their instructors such as the use of Social Media (SM) in teaching. This paper examined the factors that influence instructors’ use of SM in Ghanaian HE pedagogy. The study employed the concurrent triangulation mixed method approach using questionnaire and semi-structured interview guide to obtain data from two hundred and thirty-five (235) instructors who were selected using the multistage sampling technique from the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) and the Ghana Technology University College (GTUC). The key findings point to the fact that instructors’ professional rank, intrinsic drive, functionality of SM platforms, user friendliness, motivation, ease of use of the SM platforms, access to internet connection and ease of communication in using the platforms were the factors that influenced instructors use of SM for teaching. The study concludes by indicating the implications of the findings for policy on the use of SM for delivering instruction in Ghana and recommends the need for HE authorities to come up with motivational packages that would encourage instructors to integrate SM into the pedagogy of HE in Ghana.