Influence and Effects of WhatsApp on Academic Activities of Agricultural Students in College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi Dr. Krishna S. Maraddi Assistant Librarian College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi (UAS Raichur), krishnamaraddi@gmail.com (9481726832) Santhosh Kulkarni Library Assistant University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur santhoshuas@gmail.com (9620150742)
Introduction Usage of WhatsApp by students in higher education institutions Has generated serious anxiety among stakeholders in the education area in the country A lot of opined that influence of WhatsApp usage affects the academic performance of students negatively Some opined that it positively affects
WhatsApp? WhatsApp Messenger is a Smartphone messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. WhatsApp Messenger is available for Android and Windows Phone, WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both former employees of Yahoo!. Now the owner of the messenger WhatsApp is Facebook. “WhatsApp now has 900 million monthly active users.” (Announced in the month of August 2015)
Objectives of the Study To find out type of media used most often by agricultural students. To know, how often the agricultural students using the WhatsApp for common Communication To find out the agricultural students’ preference of usage of WhatsApp To examine the influence of WhatsApp usage on agricultural students’ academic activities
Methodology The study was undertaken at College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi (University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur). Random sampling was used to survey 130 agricultural students for the study. Students of agriculture were randomly selected from second, third and fourth year of B.Sc (Agri.). Questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. Totally 130 questionnaires were distributed to the agricultural students, among them 121 students were returned filled in.
Type of media used most often. (Multiple answers) (N=101) Results Usage of Smart Phones Sl. No. Usage of Smart Phones No. of Users Percentage 1 Yes 101 83.47 2 No 20 16.53 TOTAL 121 100.00 Type of media used most often. (Multiple answers) (N=101) Sl. No. Mobile Messengers Usage Percentage 1 WhatsApp 101 100.00 7 Face Book Messenger 58 57.43 4 Telegram 56 55.45 6 Viber 47 46.53 2 Skype 15 14.85 5 Message Me 5.94 3 Snap Chat 4.95 8 Other
How often the students using the WhatsApp for common Communication Usage of WhatsApp (N=101) Sl. No. Usage of WhatsApp No. of Users Percentage 1 Yes 101 100.00 2 No Nil 00 TOTAL How often the students using the WhatsApp for common Communication
Students preference of usage of WhatsApp
Sl. No. Actions No. of Users Percentage Actions on WhatsApp do the Agricultural students prefer (Multiple answers) (N=101) Sl. No. Actions No. of Users Percentage 1 Chatting 98 97.03 2 Uploading Photos/Videos 97 96.04 3 Commenting 43 42.57 4 Just observing What others doing 12 11.88 5 Academic Activities 25 24.75
Influence of WhatsApp Usage on Agricultural Students’ Academic Activities (N=101) Sl. No. Statements Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Mean 1 WhatsApp divert from carrying out academic assignments 10 9.90% 9 8.91% 52 51.49% 30 29.70% 1.99 2 WhatsApp refreshes mind and prepares for effective study 35 34.65% 46 45.54% 16 15.84% 4 3.96% 3.11 3 It interrupts concentration during class hours 13 12.87% 37 36.63% 29 28.71% 22 21.78% 2.41 It facilitates research work 24 23.76% 51 50.50% 2.85 5 It facilitates networking with other agricultural students 27 26.73% 68 67.33% 1.98% 3.19 6 It enables contact with other agricultural students 32 31.68% 59 58.42% 7 6.93% 2.97% It increases access the teachers 4.95% 38 37.62% 48 47.52% 2.38 8 It helps to have better relationship with teachers 19 18.81% WhatsApp serves as relevant tool in agricultural teaching, research and extension 25 24.75% 41 40.59% 2.77 It helps pictorial and diagrammatic representation of agriculture course 26 25.74% 33 32.67% 18 17.82% 2.66 11 It helps for mining and warehousing information from library 45 44.55% 15 14.85% 10.89% 2.93 12 It eases information access 51 50.50% 43 42.57% 3.39
Findings It is found that, out of 121 agricultural students of College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi, 101 are using smart phones (83.47%). WhatsApp is the most popular mobile messenger rendered by the agricultural students (100%) and is followed by face book messenger (57.43%). Telegram (55.45%). and Viber (46.53%). Majority of agricultural students are using WhatsApp messenger (100%). As found in, 101 agricultural students of College of Agriculture, Bheemarayanagudi are using WhatsApp and among them majority i.e., 95 agricultural students are using the WhatsApp many times in a day (94.06%). It is indicated that all the students prefer interact with friends (100%). also prefer using WhatsApp to contact teachers (64 students (63.37%)). Among the various actions on WhatsApp do the most of the agricultural students prefer is chatting (97.03%) and uploading photos/videos (96.04%). Majority of the agricultural students agree that WhatsApp facilitates networking with other agricultural students (67.33%, X=3.19), It enables contact with other agricultural students (58.42% X=3.19).
Conclusion The attitudes of students suggests that WhatsApp instant messaging makes learning easy, favours problem solving and resolves learning difficulties related to the learning process or to learning content distributed through WhatsApp, knowledge sharing, etc. Also it can be observed from the study that students are more familiar with WhatsApp but with those who other applications, WhatsApp was more preferred, with some reasons such as its convenience and easier usage. And the study concludes that WhatsApp affect the academic activities of agricultural students positively. The study, it was recommended that the positive usage of WhatsApp like collaborative research and study should be encouraged while excessive usage in recreational purposes be reduced to the minimum.
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