Barriers to faculty and students’ use of social network sites in agricultural higher education

Identifying the obstacles limiting the level of use of social network sites (SNS) in educating activities by the stakeholders of the educational system can help in informed decision-making and planning in this field. The aim of this study was to identify the barriers to the use of SNSs in agricultural higher education from the perspective of faculty members and students. The statistical population included 1215 faculty and 36132 students of public agricultural colleges of Iran. Using multi-stage random sampling method, 211 faculty and 400 students from different universities were selected and studied. Data were collected by a questionnaire taken from the results of previous studies with a five-level Likert scale. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed discriminately and reliability with a composite reliability coefficient. Data were analyzed by t-test, Mann-Whitney, and structural equation modeling using partial least squares method. The results showed that the rate of educational use of SNSs by students is more than professors and their attitude towards the use of these networks in teaching and learning is more positive than faculty members. The modeling results also indicate that the factors related to students, type of lessons, and characteristics of SNSs have a negative and significant relationship with the educational use of faculty members of these networks. Also, factors related to faculty members, educational organizations, and software and hardware inhibitors show a negative and significant relationship between students' use of social networks in education.