Action Research done on a group of students who were studying Marketing for the very first time, and who had either little or no experience of using Social Media tools.

1. Utilizing the Internet and Social Media Tools to improve student learning and
development.
C. Dumont
College of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
cdumont@cct.edu.za
1. Introduction
The College sector has been recognized as an important role-player to train and equip
young people with the skills required by the modern South African economy. The National
Vocational Certificate courses introduced in 2006/7 have been designed with outcomes that
align with industry key performance areas. One major shortcoming of the implementation
of the curriculum is that these courses are still largely theoretic in nature. And it has lead to
an unfavorable impact on college graduates’ readiness for the place of work. The Business
department at the city campus of the College of Cape Town has made steady inroads in
aligning course outcomes with industry skills and exposing students to industry trends.
In the Business Centers where skills are developed and practiced, students are able to utilize
computers and the internet for course purposes. In the Marketing Communication
classroom, I have introduced Social Media as an important subject to the teaching and
learning of marketing. It took careful planning that involved research, identifying course
outcomes, and integrating the trends in Social Media and marketing with it.
2. Case Study (Implementation)
A case study approach was used to examine the effects of the internet and Social Media
tools on student learning. Students were exposed to the use of computers and the internet
in the Business Centre (Practical Work-based Room) in aid of completing their projects.
Secondly, a projector and laptop with internet connection was used in the Marketing
Communication classroom. The internet was utilized to show visuals and demonstrate how
marketing is being done on Social Media networks like Facebook and Twitter.
The population recruited for this case study was from the College of Cape Town, in the
Central Business District of Cape Town. The people surveyed were first year marketing
students from various townships on the Cape Flats. A total of 46 first year marketing
students were surveyed by completing a questionnaire.
Most of them had either none, or very little knowledge of what marketing is all about. Many
of them had a cell phone and used it to either make calls or to send a sms (text messaging).
Some of the students did also use Facebook and MIXT to keep in touch with their friends.
They were curious to see how companies such as CellC and PicknPay use Facebook and
Twitter to engage with their customers.

2. Through the use of the Internet, students were showed how marketing communication
occur on Social Networks. The Facebook Page of PicknPay was viewed and students were
showed what type of messages PicknPay is communicating with its fans
(Followers/Customers/Potential Customers). The purpose of these messages were analyzed
and linked to the subject, so that they could make the connection with the theory found in
their textbooks. The challenge was that none of the Social Media tools such as Facebook
and Twitter are referenced in student textbooks.
The feedback from the companies’ fans were also analyzed so that students could see how
followers or customers interpret and respond to the messages by a company. Many lessons
were drawn from these exercises.
The survey consisted of questions that enquired:
 Whether the individuals use the internet and Social Media tools in there course.
 How often they made use of the internet and Social Media tools.
 Whether Social Media improves understanding of the marketing course
 Why or how Social Media tools and the Internet improve understanding and learning
about marketing.
3. Findings
From the 46 students who were surveyed and that responded, a total of 42 said that they
have learned about social media in the classroom. The rest either did not respond or have
said that they did not learn about it. This could be attributed to reasons such as non-
attendance or misunderstandings.
The table below indicates the amount of students who were positively impacted by the use
of the internet and social media in the classroom.
Table 1: The number of students positively impacted
QUESTIONS “YES” RESPONSE PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL
SURVEYED
Does Social Media help you 41 of 45 91%
understand your studies better?
Does the use of the Internet make 41 of 46 89%
learning more interesting?
The above table is an indication of how students were impacted and the potential that the
Internet and Social Media play in improving learning in the field of Marketing in the college
sector.
When students/respondents were asked how the use of the Internet and Social Media
improved their learning, these responses were given.

3. Table 2: Summary of student responses
How the use of the Internet and Social Media improves learning and understanding of the
field of Marketing.
 Getting updates of developments in the field of Marketing
 Makes learning easier and gain understanding quicker.
 The Internet stimulates their brain cells.
 Allows for exploration and thus providing more information.
 Makes the study of marketing fun, cool and interesting.
 Allows students to see what is happening in the world of marketing and gives new
methods of marketing.
 Learning of new things and new skills.
 It is better and faster than the use of books.
 Helping to remember what was learned in class
 Helping them to see the future better in terms of a career in marketing.
 Helping them look differently at the world and life.
 Learning how to promote a product on Facebook.
 Learn how fast communication can be on the internet.
 Help students see things from a business’s point of view.
 Learnt that there are many tools to communicate (business and private)
4. Discussion
The greater amount of students has indicated that the use of the internet has made
learning more interesting. Further, they also mentioned that learning about Social Media
has brought about a better understanding of the marketing field.
From the findings, it can be understood that students have learned and developed through
the use of Social Media tools to learn about marketing related concepts and processes.
References were made to how the studying of marketing were made fun and cool, and that
understanding was improved.
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
The positive feedback from students indicate the “Learning/facilitating role” the Internet,
and more specifically the use of Social Media tools can play in the teaching of marketing in
the college sector. It also presents an opportunity to improve the learning environment and
introduce a “fun factor” to learning. Moreover, it presents an opportunity for colleges to
equip marketing students with skills in Internet and Communications Technology.

4. A short-coming of the action research conducted is that few students were taught how to
use these Social Media tools in a social and marketing context. And because the curriculum
and year plans do not make provision for the teaching of these skills, a creative approach is
needed to integrate these technologies into more lessons. In doing that, the restrictions on
internet connection and limited computers will also have to be considered.