Teachers’ Conception Towards The Use Of Social Networks As A Tool For Professional Development In Tanzania Government Secondary Schools: The Case Of Dodoma Municipality

ABSTRACT

The current study sought to assess teachers‟ conception toward the use of social networks as a tool for professional development in Tanzania government secondary schools the case of Dodoma Municipality. Thus, the specific objectives of this study were to assess the influence of demographic characteristics on the use of social networks or as a tool for professional development. To assess  teachers conception on the available social networks opportunity that can support professional development, to investigate teachers use of social networks available for professional development, to explore the perceived benefits of using social networks opportunity as a tool for professional development and to examine limitation that hinder teachers for professional development.  The study was guided by social-cognitive theory, community of practice model (CoP) and technology acceptance model (TAM). A cross-section  research design  was  used  to  collect  data  that  involved 84  teachers‟  from  ten secondary schools, six head of schools three quality assurers and one respondent from DEO office. SPSS computer program was used to analyze the data. Qualitative data were analyzes through content analysis  and  quantitative  data  were  analyzed  statistically using  descriptive  and  inferential  statistics  by  using  SPSS  Version  20,  and Microsoft Excel were highly used.  Linear regression techniques were used to seek whether there is a relationship between demographic characteristics and the use of social networks. The  survey  results  showed  that  there is  no  significant  relationship  between  demographic  factors  with  the  use of social networks as a tool for professional development. Either teachers have positive conceptions towards the use of social networks as a tool for professional development.  Furthermore, teachers use SNs for communicating with their fellow from different groups but it is not effectively integrated into professional development. The findings indicate that, to a large extent, teachers agreed that SNs make them to be more creative and help them to improve their communication skills. In addition the findings indicated that teachers lack training on how to integrate SNs in TPD. Finally, the researcher recommend that, educational stakeholders should provide financial and material support to teachers in order to overcome challenge that limit the use of technology in teaching and learning.