DEVELOPMENT OF ACCEPTANCE AND UTILIZATION OF SOCIAL SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS IN HIGHER AND FURTHER EDUCATION - CASE STUDY

This paper on social software applications claims to contribute into a rather vast field of implementation of information and communication technologies (ICT) into the process of education. Results of the research dealing with a trendy issue of social applications are presented. Readers are provided with an insight into the development of acceptance and utilization of social applications by university students via comparison of findings from two surveys which were run in 2010 and 2013 at the Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Králové. The insight predominantly from the students´ perspective is revealed to show not only frequency of use of individual applications but also willingness and appropriateness for study purposes, as well.

The study problem of the described surveys concerns selected social software applications with various missions; these applications have changed within a decade the landscape of the Internet and naturally influenced private and professional lives of their users. Potential of social applications in tertiary education is revealed in this case study. The objective of the paper is to compare gained findings from repeated survey and show the progress or stagnation in acceptance and utilization of social software applications.
The contribution gives rise to new issues to be discussed because the implementation of social applications into the higher and further education to support teaching and learning processes brings not only benefits but there is also an adverse site, pitfalls and let´s say limits of their utilization.