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USES AND GRATIFICATIONS OF WHATSAPP: A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST

2015, SES AND GRATIFICATIONS OF WHATSAPP: A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST

This study examined the uses and gratifications of WhatsApp as a social networking platform among Communication Studies students in the University of Cape Coast. The population of the study was 399 with a sample of 150 respondents derived from the convenience sampling procedure. The measuring instrument was questionnaire which contained 9 items – closeended and open-ended questions. The data for the study were analysed through the use of tables and were expressed in simple percentages. The study found out that Communication Studies students in the University of Cape Coast are active users of WhatsApp and they use WhatsApp for various purposes and gratifications. It also established that the students are not always fulfilled in their expectations of WhatsApp usage, although they made use of it daily. The study recommended that Mobile Network Providers should provide better network services to their customers to reduce frustrations that limit students‘ usage of WhatsApp.

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Musa B A R A ' U Gamji Ph.D , Habiba Junaid

This research is about the role of WhatsApp in enhancing students' academic performers with the aim of establishing the acceptability and usage of WhatsApp as an important tool of learning using 300 and 400 level students of mass communication, ABU Zaria as an area of study. Specifically, the study explores the level of their WhatsApp use, correlation between WhatsApp use and academic performance as well as knowing if they share material via the application. The researcher made use of Connectivism and Uses and gratification theories as a justification for the research work. To address the issue of the research, survey method was employed by administering 200 copies of questionnaire to the participants who were selected via simple random sampling technique. Findings from the research reveal that students of Mass communication undergraduates use WhatsApp on a medium level. It also shows that they utilize the application to share material among themselves and finally it reveals that there is correlation between academic performance and the use of WhatsApp. However, the correlation was neither positive nor negative. The researchers recommend that students should try as much as possible to utilize the application to assist their academic and not to be an agent of distraction.

International Journal of Advanced Trends in Computer Science and Engineering

WARSE The World Academy of Research in Science and Engineering , Rahu Zeeshan

Today's world technology plays a crucial role and rapid development of internet help the growing of messages processing using digital devices. These movements leading us towards the connecting and maintaining the relationships. This paper aims to investigate WhatsApp usage among students. The theoretical framework for current study is the "Uses and Gratifications theory", is called "Needs and Gratifications Theory". The current study covers qualitative feature of the research. This segment pact with examination of the usage of WhatsApp in everyday survives for students. The detailed meetings of 8 energetic WhatsApp users, three boys and five girls of the university were directed. As the students are the male student their explanation is to some extent is same they revealed that, they use WhatsApp application for the calls purpose and for sending notes and online study purpose. They use Facebook messenger for the purpose of joining different sort of study circle pages and for informal purpose.

Akintola Mubarak

Social media has become a tool for socialization among undergraduates. There are various social media platforms that are used by undergraduates. One of the widely used social media platform is Whatsapp, a mobile messaging platform which makes communication easier and faster thereby enhancing effective flow of information and idea sharing. This study examined Whatsapp as a favorite social media platform for educational purpose among undergraduates in Kwara State. The research type employed was a descriptive survey. The population were all undergraduates in universities in Kwara State while all 300 level undergraduates were the target population. 387 undergraduates were proportionately sampled and responded to a researcher-designed questionnaire with a content validity and 0.87 reliability index. Percentage, mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while bar-chart was used to present the results. Findings revealed that Whatsapp is the favorite social media platform among undergraduates in Kwara State. The study recommended among others that undergraduates should see Whatsapp as an avenue to connect with fellow students to facilitate learning beyond classroom walls.

International Journal of Current Humanities & Social Science Researches (IJCHSSR) ISSN: 2456-7205, Peer Reviewed Journal

Radha Bathran

Any website that facilitates social interaction is considered social media. The use of social media is quickly expanding over the world. Adults and teens are using social media sites including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter. In many respects, social media has altered the world. WhatsApp is a messaging programme that is handier than email, phone calls, and text messages. It allows you to exchange text messages, photos, videos, and make phone calls, among other things. It is secure and simple to use. It is only necessary to have internet connectivity to connect to a Wi-Fi network. This study should be considered a user study. This study will also look at how Tirunelveli college students use WhatsApp groups.

Dr. Shahid Minhas

This paper has analyzed what Pakistani students do when they use the messaging tool i.e. Whatsapp. To carry out this study a questionnaire was used as research instrument to gather data from the population of students of university of Peshawar. A total of 100 questionnaires were distributed among the students. The response rate was 84% which is considered very effective. The result shows that Whatsapp is a vital tool of communication used mainly for one to one or group communication. The various other functions performed by the respondent were sharingacademic information, chat, picture and video sharing, texting to family members living abroad and current affairs.

The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of whatsapp messenger usage among students in Mangalore University. To achieve this, 200 questionnaires were distributed to students of various departments. Out of which, 188 filled questionnaires were received back. The survey method was employed. The findings of the study show that majority of users familiar with Whatsapp messenger and use Whatsapp for academic purposes on this basis, perception could be created between all the individuals irrespective of their age, academic background, sexual category, profession etc. If this may possibly be done, not only the higher education institution students but all the individuals could follow the advantage of using Whatsapp Messenger.

Dr. Anand Kenchakkanavar

The main purpose of this study is to examine the use of WhatsApp by the social science research scholars of the Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka State. A structured questionnaire was designed and distributed to 145 regular research scholars, out of which 139 duly filled in questionnaires were received back with a response rate of 95.86 %. The results of the survey reveal that majority, i.e. 91.36 % respondents are aware of Facebook, followed by Google+ and Youtube; the research scholars are not only using WhatsApp for general use but also for academic / research purpose; though the access is denied for Social Networking Sites (SNSs) in the Karnatak University. But still the respondents are using these SNSs for their academic purpose.

International Journal of Commerce and Management Studies

IJCAMS Publication

The purpose of this study is to identify the student's perception towards whatsapp. To achieve these 150 questionnaires were distributed to students of various departments. Out of which, 100 filled questionnaire were received back. The survey method was employed. The findings of study show that majority of users waste their time in whatsapp rather than taking its advantages for academic purpose.

Doris N Morah

[ T y p e t h e c o m p a n y a d d r e s s ] [ T y p e t h e c o m p a n y a d d r e s s ] RexCOMMPAN©2015 Abstract The advent of social media which is commonly accessed through mobile devices has brought about unprecedented opportunities in the society. These opportunities have also been attended by fundamental concern around safety of young users. The concern appears genuine enough particularly in Nigeria, a country with a preponderant youth population. The reason is because the engagement of young Nigerians with diverse perspectives and from diverse social and cultural backgrounds on social media has expanded the dialogic space with its attendant tension, behavioural changes and, more importantly, civic vitality which is a critical component of modern democracy. But the usage pattern of Whatsapp by the Nigerian youth and their presence on social media must be put on the scholarship radar in order to determine how much influence it exerts on their educational development. Hinged on Technological Acceptance Model and the Uses and Gratification theory, this study is an investigation of how young people in two universities in Anambra state – one of Nigeria's 36 political subdivisions use Whatapp social network on campus. A total of 300 students from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and Madonna University, Okija were surveyed and results indicated that many students do not recognize the potentials of Whatsapp in educational development; a finding which highlights the necessity for the inclusion of Social/ New Media literacy in the University curriculum to educate Nigerian students on the educational benefits of the social media.

IJAERS Journal

— With the advent of whatsapp, information has been spread worldwide easily. Higher learning institutions such as IIUM have been using whatsapp as a mean of communication between the students and their instructors. The use of whatsapp at IIUM has been inevitable. Despite the positive impact of whatsapp as social media to the users, it has also negative impacts on student learning such as: time consuming for student's study time, exacerbating student's grammar and spelling, distracting student's concentration during lecture etc. this study explored the impact of using of whatsapp among postgraduate students' learning at the Kulliyyah of Education (KOED), at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Interview which consisted of fourteen (14) questions were employed with two informants. The study found that using whatsapp as learning tool is beneficial to both students and instructors though it was suggested that electronic etiquette should be applied when using whatsapp in learning.

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What’s up with the WhatsApp application in the classroom?

• Published: 25 September 2023

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• Lockias Chitanana   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1211-8308 1  

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This study investigated how lecturers and university students used WhatsApp as an academic tool. The study employed an ANT methodological and analytical framework to investigate WhatsApp as an academic tool in a university set-up in post COVID-19 era. Participants were selected from one state university. The snowball purposive sampling approach was used to select twenty students and five lecturers who provided some deep insight into how WhatsApp was used in academic activities. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews, following actors on the WhatsApp platform and document analysis. Findings revealed that WhatsApp was used in various ways to build students’ networks of learning. The study concluded that lecturers could leverage the WhatsApp platform to enhance students’ academic engagement by expanding the networks of learning to enable students to acquire and share knowledge. Therefore, the study recommends the wider use of WhatsApp to enhance academic performance among students by focusing on a community of learning.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the participants for volunteering to participate in this study just after the trying time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The author did not receive financial support from any organization for the submitted work.

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Chitanana, L. What’s up with the WhatsApp application in the classroom?. Educ Inf Technol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12226-1

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Ex-assistant principal charged with child neglect in case of boy who shot teacher

The Associated Press

Signs stand outside Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., Jan. 25, 2023. Denise Lavoie/AP hide caption

Signs stand outside Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., Jan. 25, 2023.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A former assistant principal at a Virginia elementary school has been charged with felony child neglect more than a year after a 6-year-old boy brought a gun to class and shot his first-grade teacher .

A special grand jury in Newport News found that Ebony Parker showed a reckless disregard for the lives of Richneck Elementary School students on Jan. 6, 2023, according to indictments unsealed Tuesday.

Parker and other school officials already face a $40 million negligence lawsuit from the teacher who was shot, Abby Zwerner. She accuses Parker and others of ignoring multiple warnings the boy had a gun and was in a "violent mood" the day of the shooting.

Criminal charges against school officials following a school shootings are quite rare, experts say. Parker, 39, faces eight felony counts, each of which is punishable by up to five years in prison.

The Associated Press left a message seeking comment Tuesday with Parker's attorney, Curtis Rogers.

Shots - Health News

'say something' tip line in schools flags gun violence threats, study finds.

Court documents filed Tuesday reveal little about the criminal case against Parker, listing only the counts and a description of the felony charge. It alleges that Parker "did commit a willful act or omission in the care of such students, in a manner so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless disregard for human life."

Newport News police have said the student who shot Zwerner retrieved his mother's handgun from atop a dresser at home and brought the weapon to school concealed in a backpack.

Zwerner's lawsuit describes a series of warnings that school employees gave administrators before the shooting. The lawsuit said those warnings began with Zwerner telling Parker that the boy "was in a violent mood," had threatened to beat up a kindergartener and stared down a security officer in the lunchroom.

The lawsuit alleges that Parker "had no response, refusing even to look up" when Zwerner expressed her concerns.

When concerns were raised that the child may have transferred the gun from his backpack to his pocket, Parker said his "pockets were too small to hold a handgun and did nothing," the lawsuit states.

Architecture

With gun control far from sight, schools redesign for student safety.

A guidance counselor also asked Parker for permission to search the boy, but Parker forbade him, "and stated that John Doe's mother would be arriving soon to pick him up," the lawsuit stated.

Zwerner was sitting at a reading table in front of the class when the boy fired the gun, police said. The bullet struck Zwerner's hand and then her chest, collapsing one of her lungs. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has endured multiple surgeries as well as ongoing emotional trauma, according to her lawsuit.

Parker and the lawsuit's other defendants, which include a former superintendent and the Newport News school board, have tried to block Zwerner's lawsuit.

They've argued that Zwerner's injuries fall under Virginia's workers' compensation law. Their arguments have been unsuccessful so far in blocking the litigation. A trial date for Zwerner's lawsuit is slated for January.

Prosecutors had said a year ago that they were investigating whether the "actions or omissions" of any school employees could lead to criminal charges.

What schools can (and can't) do to prevent school shootings

Howard Gwynn, the commonwealth's attorney in Newport News, said in April 2023 that he had petitioned a special grand jury to probe if any "security failures" contributed to the shooting. Gwynn wrote that an investigation could also lead to recommendations "in the hopes that such a situation never occurs again."

It is not the first school shooting to spark a criminal investigation into school officials. For instance, a former school resource officer was acquitted of all charges last year after he was accused of hiding during the Parkland school massacre in 2018.

Chuck Vergon, a professor of educational law and policy at the University of Michigan-Flint, told The AP last year that it is rare for a teacher or school official to be charged in a school shooting because allegations of criminal negligence can be difficult to prove.

More often, he said, those impacted by school shootings seek to hold school officials liable in civil court.

• elementary school

Special counsel Jack Smith urges Supreme Court to reject Trump's presidential immunity claim

WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith urged the Supreme Court on Monday to reject former President Donald Trump 's position that he should be granted absolute immunity in the federal election interference case, with prosecutors arguing that criminal law applies to a president.

The 66-page filing from Smith and his team laid out a series of arguments taking aim at Trump’s claim that a president is immune from criminal prosecution. Prosecutors argued that there are no presidential powers that would entitle Trump to immunity in this case and that “history likewise refutes” Trump’s arguments.

“The Framers never endorsed criminal immunity for a former President, and all Presidents from the Founding to the modern era have known that after leaving office they faced potential criminal liability for official acts,” Smith said in the brief, referring to President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.

He also said Trump "suggests that unless a criminal statute expressly names the President, the statute does not apply."

"That radical suggestion, which would free the President from virtually all criminal law — even crimes such as bribery, murder, treason, and sedition — is unfounded," the filing said.

Later, the filing said that "the express text of nearly all federal criminal laws covers all persons, including the President."

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith in 2022 to investigate Trump's alleged role in working to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, as well as allegations that he mishandled classified documents.

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments about Trump's immunity argument on April 25.

Trump's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the filing, which was signed by Smith and three members of his special counsel team.

Trump's team had made the case for "absolute immunity," arguing that ruling that the president is subject to criminal prosecution would "incapacitate every future president." They wrote in a filing to the Supreme Court last month that the presidency “cannot retain its vital independence” if a president can face criminal prosecution after having left office.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the election interference case, rejected Trump's argument in December, saying a president does not "a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass." A federal appeals court also rejected Trump's argument in February, finding that "former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant," and that "any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution."

In Monday's briefing, Smith said, "No presidential power at issue in this case entitles the President to claim immunity from the general federal criminal prohibitions supporting the charges: fraud against the United States, obstruction of official proceedings, and denial of the right to vote."

"The President’s constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed does not entail a general right to violate them," Smith added.

Trump's lawyers argued last month that the "long history" of not prosecuting former presidents "demonstrates that the newly discovered alleged power to do so does not exist."

Smith took issue with that argument Monday, writing that the prosecution of Trump "is a historical first not because of any assumption about immunity but instead because of the singular gravity of the alleged conduct."

"The severity, range, and democracy-damaging nature of the alleged crimes are unique in American history," the filing said.

The Supreme Court's earlier decision to hear Trump's case was a win for Trump, given the further delays it created in his Washington, D.C., case.

Later in his filing, Smith accounted for the possibility that the Supreme Court may decide that presidents have a certain level of immunity.

"Even assuming that a former President is entitled to some immunity for official acts, that immunity should not be held to bar this prosecution," he wrote. "First, a President’s alleged criminal scheme to overturn an election and thwart the peaceful transfer of power to his lawfully elected successor is the paradigmatic example of conduct that should not be immunized, even if other conduct should be."

Trump's team has tried to delay the trial as long as possible , and it has paid off. Trump was originally supposed to go to trial in the federal election interference case at the beginning of last month, a schedule that would have meant a jury could have been reaching a verdict in the coming weeks.

He is now scheduled to go on trial in a separate case, in New York , next week on allegations of falsified business statements related to hush money payments.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges.

Ryan J. Reilly is a justice reporter for NBC News.

Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.