Short messaging services and educational information sharing by students in Nigerian universities, Dr. Williams Nwagwu
Dr. Williams E. Nwagwu
Africa Regional Centre for Information Science
University of Ibadan
Nigeria
Email: willieezi@yahoo.com
DOI: 10.1108/20425941211250561
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to address how media gratification variables and constraints of global system for mobile communications (GSM) technology promote or inhibit use of short messaging services (SMS) for sharing educational information by students in Nigerian universities.
Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire was used to collect data from 1,676 undergraduate and postgraduate students randomly selected from three major Nigerian universities. Data were analysed using factor and regression analyses.
Findings: The instrumental gratifications of SMS capability to enable persons to escape face-to-face communication, and its convenience and low cost explain the popularity of the use of SMS to make contact for educational reasons, although this activity is constrained by the difficulty to decipher the intention of the messages and the confusion arising from unclear acronyms used by texters.
Research limitations/implications: Further research might focus on content analysis. What exactly is the information the students share with themselves and others?
Practical implications: The result of this research is critical in the design and deployment of mobile learning technologies in Nigerian universities.
Originality/value: There is no empirical evidence of how students use SMS despite the existence of mobile learning projects in Nigerian universities.
Keywords: Short messaging services; SMS; Nigeria; Mobile communication; Texting; Learning; Mobile communication systems.
Citation: E. Nwagwu, W. (2012), "Short messaging services and educational information sharing by students in Nigerian universities", World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 235-253. https://doi.org/10.1108/20425941211250561
