Identifying factors that influence students performance through social networking sites: An exploratory case study

Social network sites (SNSs) are the most essential communication tools among students, especially at higher levels of education. The purpose of this study is to identify and examine the factors that have an impact on the academic performance of students by using SNSs. The suggested factors that affect student performance are interactions with colleagues, interactions with instructors, engagement, and cooperative learning. The primary research objective of this case study is to determine which factors affect students' academic performance while using SNSs. In this study, i.e., quantitative research, a survey was conducted to analyze the factors associated with student's performance, among undergraduate and graduate students during the 2016/2017 academic session. The survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistical correlations and regression models. The findings indicate that SNSs have a significant positive effect on interactions with colleagues, interactions with instructors, engagement, cooperative learning, and student performance. In addition, interactions with colleagues and instructors while using SNSs simplify the communication between students and instructors, which leads to an enhancement of cooperation, knowledge sharing, and improvement and development of the learning process and also provides many learning chances.