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Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies (JETERAPS) (Vol 1 No 1)
| Abstract: Most universities in South Africa, with the exception of one, relied in the past on face-to-face sessions to deliver lectures to their students, but the novel corona virus brought into sharp focus and attention the fact that there may be a time when face-to-face sessions may not be possible. This implies university lecturers only delivering remotely through online technologies. The hard lockdown brought about by the rapid spread of the corona virus meant gathering was no longer possible, hence most university lecturers started to explore different distant methods of communicating and delivering their lectures to their students. Consequently, one of the useful methods explored by most university lecturers was online social media WhatsApp groups. The current study takes a critical look at how the potential use of an online social media WhatsApp group can contribute positively to mathematics score performance of first-year, under-prepared university students. This study followed a qualitative research approach to divide WhatsApp group discussions into themes so as to explain the way online WhatsApp group discussions can contribute positively to under-prepared first-year mathematics students. The study is underpinned by the theory of social constructivism and connectivism with the population of the study being first-year, under-prepared, first-year university mathematics students studying mathematics and using WhatsApp group discussion as one of their learning tools in the midst of a situation when face-to-face sessions are not possible in South Africa. The sample comprised 192 first-year students who were purposively sampled from a university in South Africa. The main data-collection instrument was the Online WhatsApp group discussion platform. The study relied on the advanced technology of the Online WhatsApp platform to validate the data collected on the platform, and triangulation to check for reliability to corroborate the data the instruments provided. The main source of data for this study was mainly messages in the form of text, audio, videos and pictures posted by both the students and the lecturer. The data gathered were analyzed and grouped into themes that highlighted and explained how a social media WhatsApp can group contribute positively to the learning of mathematics at first-year university level. The study found that an online WhatsApp learning platform can be a valuable resource tool that offers 24-hour, 7-day-a-week support for first-year, under-prepared university students in mathematics giving students the confidence to take ownership of their own learning through active engagements with fellow students and their lecturer and has the potential to translates to mathematical knowledge construction and the transfer of mathematics knowledge between student and student and between student and the lecturer. In conclusion, the study identifies and recommends factors lecturers should look out for when delivering mathematics lessons through an online social media WhatsApp group that can positively impact the mathematics of performance under-prepared, first-year university students. |
| Keywords: Online WhatsApp teaching group, under-prepared university students, first-year university students |
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