Social Media Teaching in The New Normal: Private Universities’ Approaches

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, much has been reset in the teaching and learning environment. A new normal has set in that has changed the pattern of education and the processes involved in imparting knowledge without necessarily having physical contact. Skills have been acquired that were not necessary before the new normal. Acting in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions in developing countries particularly in Nigeria, adopted social media platforms to sustain e-learning and continue the education process. Prior the emergence of the COVID-19 virus, it was unimaginable to possibly think that institutions could make lecturers teach from home and students to study from home as well. Currently, this new normal has prompted education stakeholders to consider alternative learning approaches to allow for the continuity of the school calendar, particularly during the lockdown period caused by the need for social distance to reduce the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Online teaching and learning has
encouraged varieties of asynchronous and synchronous digital platforms for interaction between students and lecturers. Some commonly used platforms for real-time video conferencing and interactive media channels such as Google classroom, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp have been adopted for teaching and learning including interactions, and document sharing, amongst lecturers and students. This paper therefore, assesses the social media teaching methods employed by private universities before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the survey method on lecturers in nine private universities in Southwestern Nigeria, data was collected using Questionnaire and Interview methods. The types of social media used in their teaching, the new skills acquired by the lecturers, the class response to social media teaching, and the challenges faced in teaching via social media platforms in the new normal are investigated. Findings are reported and recommendations made on improving the social media teaching methods, now that the new normal seemingly has come to stay.