El Mustapha Imouri ^{1 *} , EL Addouli Oussama ¹

AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 6, Issue 2, pp. 207-219

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/12212

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Abstract

The integration of social networks in Moroccan higher education has noticed significant practices ever since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak to the present time. Apart from entertainment and informational purposes, social networks have accessed many classrooms, affecting their practices in a way or another. The aim of this study is to emphasize that social networks have managed to reach the Moroccan university and turn professors into influencers and networkers despite all the challenges. This study investigates the feedback of 20 students who have used social networks during COVID-19 pandemic with their professors as a substitute for face-to-face learning. Their responses focus on the influence of social networks on their learning in a virtual environment. Three research questions have been used, namely (i) what are the students’ attitudes towards the use of social networks? (ii) to what extent has the course content delivered via social networks influenced their learning practices? And (iii) what are their opinions about their professors’ pedagogics after taking the course via social networks? The study adopts a qualitative approach, making use of semi-structured interviews with 20 respondents. The content analysis and data coding process have also classified the themes in relation to the research questions. The findings have disclosed that the impact of the course content on students is very limited. They have also yielded very positive views about social networks. The results have stressed the fact that the use of social networks by professors is very informal, which makes students fail to commit themselves to the course.

Keywords: Social networking sites, e-learning, education 4.0, COVID-19.

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