STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION ON THE UTILIZATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AS TOOL FOR INFORMATION DISSEMINATION

Social media utilization increases in the midst of a pandemic, especially in the education sector. Social media was boosted as a new communication tool to deliver information to different stakeholders (Conole, & Alevizou as cited on pinto & Leite, 2020). Social media is utilized for numerous reasons and purposes in educational settings, and it is exploited for enhancing teaching and learning by providing both teachers and students with academic support services, including e-mentoring, e-feedback, information dissemination, and other e-facilities (Mugahe, et.al as cited on Ansari & Khan, 2020).

The main purpose of the study was to assess the satisfaction of the students on the utilization of Social Media Platforms as a Tool for Information Dissemination. Students enrolled in one private HEI in Bulacan enrolled during the academic year 2021-2022 were the respondents of the study. The study made use of a researcher-made instrument which underwent the reliability-validity process. It is a 10-item instrument with 3 subcategories, namely: (1) Interactivity, (2) Engagement, and (3) Usefulness with a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.90. The study employed a concurrent parallel mixed method.

Results revealed on quantitative phase analysis that the overall students’ satisfaction on the utilization of Social Media Platforms as tools for Information Dissemination was very satisfactory, as evident by the 4.49 weighted mean average. The very satisfactory weighted mean was manifested by the following indicators namely: interactivity, 4.45 (very satisfactory), engagement – 4.37 (very satisfactory), and usefulness – 4.65 (excellent).

Moreover, qualitative phase analysis made on the interview conducted with the key informants with regards to their suggestions for the improvement of the Utilization of social media platforms as a tool for information dissemination revealed two (2) emerging themes namely: (1) Proper scheduling of posting of announcements, and (2) Faster feedback mechanism. The key informants suggested that a timely manner of posting the announcement that does not go beyond school hours and faster feedback mechanism can further improve the utilization of social media platforms as a tool for information dissemination.

Keywords: Student’s Satisfaction, Social Media, Internet-Based Technology, Communication, Educational.