Abstract:

The purpose of this research was to explore and determine the views of students about the use of the internet for academic performance at three South African universities. Using a mixed-method approach, this study focused on students registered at the University of Limpopo, University of Venda and Tshwane University of Technology Polokwane campus. Students sampled for the study registered at different Faculties. Survey participants consisted of 384 students and focus groups were conducted with 42 students, 14 from each university. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 26) and (Microsoft Excel) were used to capture and analyse quantitative data collected with the questionnaires, data were then analyzed using descriptive statistics. Data collected from focus group interviews were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analyses to generate major themes and sub-themes. Findings from the statistical analyses of quantitative data revealed that the majority of the students (47%) indicated that they spent between two and three hours on the internet for academic purposes, 24% of the participants spent at least two hours on the internet strictly for academic work, while 3% spent less than an hour doing academic work on the internet. Online library resources played a cardinal role in enhancing the learning process for students by providing online content that could have been difficult to access without the internet. Social media were not much used for academic purposes but for social activities. Proper and timely integration of social media into education is necessary and these universities should use social media for teaching and learning promptly to assist their student education. The thematic analyses of qualitative data revealed that students preferred to use social media for socializing and entertainment. Despite their ability to assist students in enhancing and improving learning process, social media were least used for learning. Students’ use of internet search engines exposed them to an array of information, which requires critical online information literacy to able to choose the best information. The students require advanced information skills training to discern useful from useless information to advance their studies.

Keywords:

Online teaching and learning, educational technology, social media, online library resources, universities, digital divide and higher education.