ADMINISTRATIVE STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY PRINCIPALS FOR MANAGING SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN IMO STATE

Abstract

The study adopted survey research design to examine administrative strategies adopted by principals for managing social media usage among secondary schools students in Imo state. Two research questions guided the study and the population of the study is made up of 300 principals of public secondary schools in Imo State. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 178 principals for the study. The researcher developed instrument titled Administrative Strategies for Managing the Usage of Social Media among Secondary School Students Questionnaire (ASMUSMASSSQ) was used as instrument for data collection. It contained 20 items designed in two clusters on a 4-point scale was used as the instrument for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from the Department of Educational Management and Policy and one from Measurement and Evaluation in the Department of Educational Foundations, all in the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka. The instrument's reliability was determined using the Cronbach Alpha coefficient which yielded an alpha coefficient of 0.78. In analyzing the data, mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The findings of the study showed that precautionary strategies were adopted while supportive strategies have not been adopted by the principals in managing social media usage among secondary 
schools students in Imo state. Based on the findings, it was concluded that social media usage should be encouraged among the students as it is one of the emerging technological innovations in education but cautions must be applied by the school in the usage among the students to avoid addiction and social media support services should be provided in schools. It was recommended that government should set out rules and regulations that will guide the use of social media in schools and teachers and stakeholders in education should provide supportive service to needy students.