Social Media Usage Among University Students of Mathematics Education in Zambia: A Qualitative Analysis Approach

Abstract

This article is the second and final part of the twin papers entitled “Social Media Usage Among University Students of Mathematics Education in Zambia”. The background of this study is anchored on the fact that the implementation and integration of social media technologies particularly in the learning and teaching of Mathematics has remained one of the huge challenges facing most colleges and universities in Zambia. This situation has been worsened by a number of factors at play which include the following: lack of digital devices, uncoordinated implementation of the social media policy, high cost of data bundles, difficulties in accessing the internet, lack of mobile technological skills, and problems that borders on students’, lecturers’ and policy markers’ attitudes. This final paper therefore argues that an appraisal on the design, implementation and integration of social media platforms particularly in the pedagogy of Mathematics among university students is not only relevant but also an issue that should be treated with the sense of urgency especially now that the country is battling with the detrimental effects of the pandemic. In light of the challenges above, this study sought to explore the extent to which social media are being integrated and used in the Zambian educational system by looking at the case of the Copperbelt University (CBU). In achieving this task, this study employed a narrative research design which adopted an interpretivism paradigm. Coding and thematic analysis were employed to analyze qualitative data. Qualitative content analysis techniques were performed over the data collected from 33 participants by means of a semi-structured qualitative survey questionnaire. The established criteria ensured that respondents had already participated in the first survey which was quantitatively conducted in the first paper. Moreover, content analysis results seem to suggest that majority of the students advocate for the official usage of social media technologies in the teaching and learning of mathematics both at the university and secondary school level.