Perceptions of the Usage of WhatsApp for Instruction: A Study of Teachers in Senior High Schools in Ghana.
- January 25, 2022
- Posted by: rsispostadmin
- Categories: IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue I, January 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
Frederick Owusu-Boakye; Abednego Kofi Bansah; Justice Armah
University of Cape Coast, Central Region, Ghana
Abstract: The free education policy at the senior high school levels in Ghana resulted in an increase in enrollment numbers which subsequently lead to the adoption of the double track system which necessitated the need to divide students into two tracks. This meant that while one track was in school, the other was on vacation. As such, an innovative way is needed to keep students’ engage especially a track that is on vacation. The purpose of this research was to determine the perception of teachers on the usage of WhatsApp messenger for teaching and learning. A cross-sectional design was employed in this study among 125 senior high school teachers within Tema Metropolis of Ghana. The research revealed that, perceived cost had an effect on teachers perceive usefulness, perceived convenience, perceived effectiveness, perceived trust and perceived intension to use WhatsApp Messenger for teaching and learning. Perceived convenience had a more pronounced effect on perceived usefulness. Implications of the results for scaling up or developing reforms on regular stakeholder’s consultations to understand the concept of using WhatsApp messenger for teaching and learning in high schools with similar context are discussed.
Keywords: WhatsApp; Instruction; Perceived Usefulness; Perceived Convenience; Intention to Use
I. INTRODUCTION
For the past decade, the world continues to encounter correspondence insurgency through technological headway and the education sector is no exception to this insurgence. Tools such as WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn Learning, and YouTube continue to impact teaching and learning. This has compelled teachers to re-think their instructional methods to enhance the way students learn (Mynbayeva & Sadvakassova, 2018). The 21st century teacher is able to connect with students utilizing any accessible online networking channels at their very own pace (Mynbayeva & Sadvakassova, 2018). One important social networking tool that has received significant usage in the learning environment is the WhatsApp Messenger (Devi et al., 2019; Jadhav et al., 2013). The integration of WhatsApp in teaching can greatly enhance the quality of learning (Susilo, 2014) and has been viewed as a compelling correspondence and community-oriented tool for teaching and learning due to its favourable circumstances over different types of online networking devices (Willemse 2015). WhatsApp is viewed as a tool that can encourage critical discussion, information sharing among students and teachers, improve students’ manipulative abilities, encourage the learning procedure and cultivate assessment process (Barhoumi, 2015; Lauricella & Kay, 2013). It also helps students build their very own insight (Namaziandost & Nasri, 2019), improve correspondence,
