ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes towards online social networks as modern communication tools in educational administration: A Case Study of the Department of Visual Communication Design Faculty of Decorative Arts Silpakorn University. We set our objectives to develop the guidelines to improve the use of online social networks in educational administration. The total population 210 people consist of 15 administrators/ teachers and 195 students from years 1 to 4. 

We choose 136 samples and use Frequency, Percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation as our statistical indicators.

The findings are as follows:

1. Our 136 respondents are mostly female 17–30 of age, studying fourth year of Bachelor degree, gain their knowledge and experience by self-study from textbooks and various documents.

2. Usage of online social networks for educational purpose: Most respondents have been using the online social networks for more than one year due to recognition of its importance for educational purpose. Venue of use is facility provided in their department with time period of 12:01 to 16:30. Usage frequency is 7 times or more. Sources of accessed information are foreign. They gain fluency by self-practicing and learning the basics from friends, experts and web sites related to educational online social networks, especially Facebook.

3. Attitude towards using online social networks for education is at high level in every aspect and every question, both from administrators/ faculty and students. Top of their wish list on equipment aspect is to see the university running on highly efficient communication system. Next most wanted issue is to have enough multimedia equipment for education purpose and to have sufficient number of computers matched with the number of users.  From usage aspect, quick access to Internet is top priority, followed by smooth access to Internet from residential area of the university. From service side, faster services are the first required followed by accessibility to most new services in online social networks. From educational communication side, most use it to search for information from abroad, followed by submitting work to their teachers and asking questions about the courses. From research side, most use it to seek advices and exchange information about the research, followed by searching the web and transferring data, such as articles, statistic, papers and software. From education aspect, most used for course activities and self-study, followed by reading journal on university network and library services.