What is Online Class

The case study focused on the motivation behind usage of social media as alternative tools to the institution's eLearning program, by online classes' facilitators, at a local private university in Kenya. The case study involved 45 faculties involved in facilitating online classes. The survey applied questionnaires generated using Google docs, one of the social media tool used by the same faculty to communicate with students enrolled in the online classes. The primary reasons why facilitators used social media tools were; the learners were already using social media for non-academic purposes and therefore the need to factor in tools which students are conversant with and comfortable to use; social media tools were seen to offer a fast real-time communication; some social media tools enabled group discussions on the go; and, social media are informal tools for general instructions and guidance with regard to the course requirements.