A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR INSTRUCTION AMONG PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS IN NIGERIA AND RWANDA

This study investigated student’s use of different social media tools, their perceptions and attitudes towards these tools, their preference of social media for instructional purpose, and acceptance of social media among, pre-service teachers in Nigeria and Rwanda. This study adopted a comparative survey design, and Nigeria and Rwanda were chosen as sample region through purposive sampling. The population of the study included 487 higher education students of the faculty of education; 246 of them were Nigerians and 241 were Rwandese. They comprised of 212 male and 267 females. The findings of the study revealed that pre-service teachers in both countries have adequate knowledge of different type of social media sites. The findings show that the level of preference of social media site is very high in both countries among the pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers in both countries are willing to use social media technology to support learning. Pre-service teachers in both countries have a positive attitude towards the use of social media for instruction purposes p<0.05). Also, Facebook was discovered to be the most popular social networking site among them followed by Twitter and Google+. Rwandese pre-service teachers used Skype more than their counterparts in Nigeria. Based on these findings recommendations were made that establishment of educational technology units in the faculties of education in Rwanda, also curricular underlying teacher educational programs should ensure that these knowledge and beliefs are emphasized when designing educational technology courses as well as modifying the content the courses so that student teachers have greater engagement in technology. Nigeria still has a lot to explore in the use of social media for instruction purpose therefore further in-depth studies should be carried out.   Article visualizations

Assessment of Female University students’ digital competence : potential implications for Higher Education in Africa

Abstract: This study assessed the digital skills of female university students and the implications for higher education in Africa. A descriptive survey was used to sample 100 female university students from four African countries (Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda). The instrument used was the digital competence survey. Two research questions and two hypotheses were postulated and tested. According to the study's findings, most female university students in Nigeria and South Africa have expert and advanced levels of information and digital literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, and safety.On the other hand, Uganda was mainly found at the basic or no levels, whereas Rwanda was mostly found at the intermediate levels. The chi-square analysis reveals a significant difference between the ages of female university students and their DC levels (χ2 =.000; p < 0.05). A significant difference exists between female university students’ program of study and their levels of DC (χ2 = .000; p < 0.05). Students also faced challenges such as a lack of ICT tools, insufficient knowledge and skills, data issues, and poor internet connectivity. The implications of these findings for African higher education institutions suggest that female students, particularly in Rwanda and Uganda, require training to be digitally competent and compete globally with their peers. As a result, we recommend that students from different programs of study with less demand in technology be allowed to take compulsory electives in technology courses while older female students are given adequate support