Students' learning styles and their effects on the use of social media technology for learning

Students with varying different learning styles approach learning differentlyhave different approaches in learning activities,. and wWith the emergence rise of social media technologies, investigating the effect of these styles on their intentions to use social media for learning it ishas become all the more importantpertinent to investigate if their styles affect their intentions to use social media for learning. This study investigated explored the factors that affect affecting students’ intentions to use social media for learning based on their learning styles (i.e., participatory, collaborative, and independent), using the Ssocial Mmedia Aacceptance Mmodel. By Convenience convenience sampling, resulted in the recruitment of 300 Malaysian students were recruited via an online survey (Nparticipatory = 116; Nindependent = 97; and Ncollaborative = 87). The survey was prepared based on by drawing on the Ssocial Mmedia Aacceptance Mmodel. It was piloted before the final data collection exercise step was that was carried out conducted in August 2013. The students’ demographic details of the students were analyzed using Statistical Program for Social Sciences 21, whilst while path modeling and multivariate analyses were administered conducted using SmartPLS 2.0. The Results results revealed the significant effect of Self and Performance to significantly affect on students’ intentions to use social media regardless of their learning styles. A pair-wise comparison showed revealed that Self to was more significant be significantly more important toin participatory style students compared to than to in collaborative students. Effort is was found to be the least significant factor, indicating the popularity of social media among studentssuggesting existing widespread use and familiarity of social media amongst the students. Further insight into Understanding the different driving factors of that drive students with different learning styles to use social media for students with different learning styles will help educators use this technology to assist learning more effectivelybe beneficial for educators to effectively use social media to assist students in their academic endeavors.