INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES FOR ENGAGING SOCIAL MEDIAADDICTED LEARNERS IN BUSINESS CLASSROOMS

Abstract

Students staring vacantly into the oblivion, chatting,playing games, yawning and taking bathroom breaks are common in many business classrooms. Such behaviors are signs of disengagement and indicate boredom.Indeed, students who spend a lot of their private time connecting with people through social media and technology could be bored in classrooms where they are required to do something entirely different – just sit down and listen.This has contributed to the graduation of people with low academic achievements and who are unemployable. This study was conducted to investigate the delivery practices that engage social media-addicted students. A descriptive survey design was used for the investigation. Subjects were 381 students of business administration and business education in two universities in South East Nigeria, who responded to a 45-item questionnaire. The questionnaire was validated by 5 experts and pre-tested. The pre-test result produced a Chrombach Alpha Reliability Coefficient of 0.822. Data were analysed using frequency, percentage and mean. Results revealed that social media addictedstudents would be engaged in class activities if teachers use methods that allow students share their knowledge and experiences and if teachers integrate social media in their instructions.These observations, among others, underline the need for business educators to improve their capacity to integrate technology and media as well as create and manage collaborative classrooms.