Students' attitudes towards using social media WhatsApp and Telegram messaging platforms

During COVID-19 pandemic, students were trained virtually. Messaging platforms are effective tools for communication between students and professors. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating students' attitudes towards the use of social media in education.

This was a descriptive study with 58 nursing, midwifery and public health students from Qaen School of Nursing and midwifery as the participants. At the beginning of the academic semester, WhatsApp and Telegram groups were formed separately for each course, and at the end, the participants were asked to fill out a researcher-made questionnaire with twenty items on students' attitude toward using WhatsApp educationally. Based on a 5-point Likert scale, the range of scores was 20-100.

The mean score of students' attitude towards using WhatsApp and Telegram in the education process was 4.31 out of 5 points. All the students (100%) believed that through using WhatsApp and Telegram teachers could provide advice and guidance faster and easier. 96% were generally satisfied with the educational use of WhatsApp and Telegram, and 93 percent of students think that these platforms are good supplements of educational systems.

Considering the expansion of social media in addition to students’ appropriate attitude towards their educational utility, it is important to take advantage of such capacity for improving the quality of education, promoting participation, providing quick information and sharing science.