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“I feel like there is no reason, because I get what I want from the simple Google search, without visiting Google Scholar” (Respondent B2).
“Honestly because I was never aware that there’s advanced search option”
(Respondent C2).
“Well, I don’t them so I have never tried to use them” (Respondent D4).
“I don’t know about Google Scholar, I only search on Google search”
(Respondent D6).
“Truly speaking I haven’t use Google Scholar” (Respondent C3).
However, some of the participants indicated that they have never used google Scholar claiming that their line of education does not demand much research articles. One participant said that numerical subjects including Mathematics and Science does not demand lot of research articles, and such they normally use calculations and formulas for their subjects. Another participant noted that one’s course was too broad that it dealt with daily activities, thus they could easily access information through Google search without proceeding to Google Scholar. These respondents stated the following:
“No, I’ve never used Google Scholar, maybe because I’m from Mathematics, and as an undergraduate we never do research, it’s just questions which need to be solved using formulas” (Respondent F2).
“I don’t use Google Scholar because the course which I’m doing is very broad, it deals with day-to-day activities, so I can find anything I need on Google just like that” (Respondent B2).
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media for academic purposes include YouTube. This is a user-generated content, in which people generate content in a form of audio and video and share it with people.
Students indicated that they sometimes used YouTube to watch academic related videos to supplement what they had learned in class. Some participants stated that YouTube videos assisted them so much especially when related to calculations and formulae. Some participants stated the following views:
“They are very effective because when it comes to YouTube I just see and understand much better than when I’m reading and I don’t understand anything so they are very effective. I think Facebook can help and it cannot help, as for research you can collect data via Facebook and ask people on what are they saying about this particular topic, but then the responses may be negative”
(Respondent A3).
“They are very effective, normally if there’s a chapter which I do not understand, I’ll go to YouTube and type that chapter, there are lot of videos which will be explaining on those matters. I understand better when I’m watching than when I’m just reading” (Respondent C2).
“I think YouTube is very helpful. Normally I collaborate the information I access from google, together with the one I watch from YouTube, especially when I’m studying Mathematics” (Respondent C3).
“They are very effective; I think I would give them 10 out of 10. Some of us have very little concertation span, and in class is one source, if you don’t understand him even if he explains ten times you won’t get it, but with YouTube if you don’t get to this one, you go to another one” (Respondent B5).
“Yeah, watching videos in the internet helps a lot, for me most of the things need calculations, so demonstrations from YouTube helps a lot” (Respondent D6).
Participants also acknowledged that social media helped them to share academic content amongst themselves. Social media help students to create virtual
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communities, sharing same values and having same goals to achieve academically.
One participant stated:
“Sometimes I don’t understand what the lecturer was saying, so I get the clarity by watching related videos on YouTube. Facebook can work because friends can exchange information which they have accessed from different sources”
(Respondent E2)
As much as on one hand some students acknowledged the use of social media for academic purposes, on the other hand, others were against it. Participants indicated that indeed the social networking site Facebook was good for sharing content, it also depended on who one’s ‘friends’ were in the virtual setting. Students stated that it was sometimes difficult to get what they were looking for simply because their friends were not conversant in the given matter. Thus, social media had some negative effects with regard to students’ academic achievements. Some participants stated that they only used Facebook to communicate with friends, and YouTube for entertainment.
Students also indicated that some content generators on social media were not experts in the fields, posing a threat of misleading students or whoever was consuming such content. Thus, they would not recommend the use of social media for academic purposes to anyone but preferred engaging with their lecturers and the content they received in class rather than using social media for academic purposes. The following extracts demonstrate respondent views:
“It’s very much effective. I think Facebook can be used for academic purposes but like he said, not always will you get relevant answers for what you will be looking for” (Respondent A6).
“It’s minimal, because we use books, articles, slides, and we interact with our lecturers in class so that we can understand very much better because some of the material on YouTube are not prescribed materials for reading and for teaching and learning within your school” (Respondent B4).
“I only go for written material. I only use YouTube for entertainment and everything because I think watching academic related materials in YouTube is
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time consuming. If I go into internet and research for information to read, I determine my pace of reading the information, for YouTube it’s very difficult because someone is reading or interpreting for you, for instance I can give an example, yesterday I wanted to number my assignment so I went to YouTube and then I wanted the tutorials which took so long, then I switched off the YouTube and went to google and typed and I read, which was fast and quick.
So I won’t recommend YouTube to anyone and I don’t use it for academic purposes. Facebook can be used for academic purposes but I think for us as blacks is very difficult, because if you are doing research and you post a topic and you want people to comment, you want to have their views, for black is all about fun and jokes if not jealousy, they won’t give you that information you are looking for. But then for whites, I have seen it when they want information could it be homework, they post in their timelines and people will be commenting positive stuff, so I think it works but with us there’s limitation” (Respondent A5).