Pat Sibiya

Using Technology for Educational Support: Educational Support, Learning Technologies Pat Sibiya

The paper outlines the potential of messaging services applications use for educational support in tertiary institutions and the perception of students regarding the use of messaging services applications. Messaging services applications such as WhatsApp, BBM, Facebook, Twitter, Discussion forums, MySpace, and other messaging services can be viewed as a new method of supporting tertiary educational learning. This support is available for both face-to-face institution and; open and long distance learning. With technology rapidly changing, the messaging applications are becoming more relevant to be used as a measure of supporting learning. The researcher conducted two different studies; the first one was conducted in two different Tertiary institutions located in the Metropolitan municipality of Ekurhuleni in South Africa, one being a private institution and the other a public institution. The researcher compared the views and findings of students in the private institution namely CTI Education group Bedfordview campus and public institution Vaal University of Technology Ekurhuleni campus. The researcher used closed-ended questions in the questionnaire method while collecting data.