New Media and Functional Education in Secondary Schools in the Rural Communities
This study is designed to examine how new media use can aid functional education in rural communities. New media use has become a necessity as a result of current dynamism associated with communication. The objectives of the study were to examine the extent of use of new media and find out strategies that could enable effective use of the media in schools. The study adopted survey and multi stage sampling procedure. The study was carried out in Oyo State, Nigeria. Population of the study stood 3523 representing students and educational workers. The study hinged on Technological Determinism and Knowledge Gap theories. Findings show that use of new media in secondary schools in the rural communities of Oyo State, Nigeria are still at the lowest ebb. As such, vital steps that would enable effective use of the media needs to be in place. Recommendations include involving intervention through corporate social responsibilities in equipping schools with new media tools, engaging humanitarian/volunteer services and using adequate counselling services in schools as parameters to enable functional new media use in schools.
