Published Paper Details:

Social networking among the youth population in the present times is strengthening individuality with social connectivity. In the contemporary world, usage of some form of social media has seen a phenomenal rise. Some of the educators are now also exploring the use of Web 2.0 technologies and services for use among distance learners for academics. With the change of time and need of the society, there has been massive influence of mobile network on learning. This paper is based on the study done to find out the perception on usage of social networking sites for academic purposes by distance learners pursuing post graduate counselling and family therapy programme from Indira Gandhi National Open University. The participants were learners pursuing counselling and family therapy programme from Indira Gandhi National Open University who were enrolled at learner support centers located in Delhi-NCR. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information. For selection of the respondents incidental sampling procedure was adopted. The findings indicate high use of social networking by the respondents for personal interactions and comparatively lesser for sharing of academic information. The paper discusses whether social networking can be a medium for academics and more-so for distance learning to bridge the gap between teacher, learners and peer group.