Impact of Social Networking Sites on Student Academic Performance: The Case of University of Bahrain

Statement Of Problem, Objectives, And Scope

The use of SNS by students has been widely debated among educators, parents, teachers and policy makers. As new learning tools, SNS could have positive impact on student academic performance, given that these new technologies are adequately used. Unfortunately, large number of students are abusing the use of these technologies by wasting lots of their time chatting with their friends or watching movies, i.e. they are not utilizing productively these technologies in their academic work.

Students should try to improve their educational outcomes by using SNS to share knowledge, solve problems, conduct research, and gain access to new information. The Internet has become an important source of information to supplement students’ knowledge in solving problems and enhance learning. Educators, parents and university professors should take part of the responsibility in monitoring students and try to help them with their selection and use of SNS.

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of SNS on students’ academic performance. The study attempts to review some of the debate concerning the use of SNS and the potential impact they may have on students’ academic performance. The emphasis on learning in modern education could make good use of the new technologies to strengthen students’ knowledge acquisition and improve their skills. This, however, depends on the collective efforts of all those involved in learning processes and their ability to encourage the use of SNS for improving the quality of higher education.

The main objective of this study was to analyze the impact and influence of SNS usage on undergraduate student’s academic performance at the University of Bahrain (UoB). In order to achieve this objective, the following research questions were raised for the study:

• 1.

  Which SNS are used by UoB students and during how much time?

• 2.

  To what extent do UoB students make use of SNS to help them in their learning process?

• 3.

  What is the perceived influence of SNS on the academic performance of UoB students and the motivations behind their SNS use?

• 4.

  How SNS can be used as a learning platform for UoB students?

• 5.

  Which appropriate recommendations can be extracted from the study?