Teaching with Technology: Facebook extends learning beyond the classroom

Teaching with Technology: Facebook extends learning beyond the classroom

I explored Facebook as a technology to use in teaching practice for a recent research paper for my course. I had originally selected Facebook as one of a few choices available that would be free and easy to access; yet, I did not really believe at that time that I would ever be interested in using Facebook in my teaching practice. After reviewing the literature and the results of several research studies, I actually changed my mind; Facebook can indeed become a very useful form of technology to engage with students and extend learning beyond the classroom.

When setting up a classroom Facebook page, it would be essential to set it is a closed and private Facebook group. Instructors must protect their students privacy and identities and they must also realize that students may be submitting personal interpretations and perceptions in their postings; this class ‘work”, should not be subject to scrutiny by the general public. I would establish myself as the group administrator, facilitator and moderator and perhaps enlist a teaching assistant or peer mentor to co-moderate the page and postings. The class page also must have clear policies and group rules posted on the Facebook page and listed within the class syllabus (Conrad & Donaldson, 2011).

I would use my classroom Facebook page to make announcements such as class updates, due date reminders, extra instructions or examples, pose questions related to that day’s or that week’s study, with the purpose to engage students and extend learning. Another advantage to using Facebook groups is an opportunity for instructors to model and promote digital literacy and responsibility as well as reinforcing concepts associated with online identities (Park, 2011). To this end, I would make it policy to never solicit or accept friend requests from students; we don’t want worlds to collide n Facebook!

Facebook can be used to engage students and extend learning; I would post assignments that are media rich web based tasks such as requests for links to images, videos, and graphic content or I could ask questions and request replies and/or links link to a scholarly resources students find on their own (Esteves, 2012). This approach helps establish a constructivist approach and a learning community to a class Facebook page. Students can build and construct knowledge, support their peers and share information and resources as a learning community (Lam, 2012).

The advantages to using Facebook are that students have the opportunity to ask questions and receive quick answers outside of the classroom, they have anywhere anytime access to information, and many students are already members of Facebook and use it on a daily basis. Some disadvantages of using Facebook are that it will take a great deal of time to moderate the group and make the group engaging. A second problem may be that students are reluctant to use Facebook because of privacy issues and the advertising component of Facebook. I have addressed ways to ameliorate these negative aspects by stating user and privacy policies. Finally and not yet mentioned, Facebook class group work must be connected to in class or online learning and students must receive credit for their contributions as valid forms of assessment.

I have enjoyed blogging for my classroom; it has given me the chance to research topics of interest to me and more practice writing where I can blend scholarly writing, with writing in my own voice. The drawbacks to blogging for me are the extra time it takes to write my blog, review and respond to colleagues and the fact that the blog is disconnected from the curriculum, as if it was an afterthought or loose appendage, and we are not given enough credit for work or time. Although I enjoy writing my blog, I would prefer the extra hours be spent on my main assignments and major research papers.

References

Conrad, R. & Donaldson, J. (2011). Engaging the online learner: Activities and
resources for creative instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Lam, L. (2012). An innovative research on the usage of Facebook in the higher education
context of Hong Kong. The Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 10 (4), 377 – 386.
Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Park, Y. J. (2011). Digital literacy and privacy behavior online. Communication Research. 40 (2), 215-236.

Online Learning Technology Resources

This blog will examine online learning and technology resources and professional development resources at Western Washington University. I am not currently teaching at WWU; however, I was formerly a student and teaching assistant over twenty years ago, and would love to return to make a contribution to online teaching at WWU. I have gleaned insight about their resources from a review of their website (WWU, 2015).

WWU has a wireless network available throughout the campus complex, with strong signals inside all buildings and in out door as well. Faculty, staff and students are granted access to the WWU wireless network with a personal network username and password. If you are currently enrolled in at least a one-credit course, you will have access to Wi-Fi. WCC provides wireless access for our all members of the college community; they do not provide support for personal electronic devices.
WWU technology supports online learning and traditional learning through Blackboard and Canvas Learning Management Systems. Most faculty members make course materials available online through the LMS System so that students can access class discussions, assignments and exams by signing into their myWestern account

The myWestern account hosts email with 10GB of space and provides access to Microsoft Web Apps and 25GB of online storage on their Microsoft-hosted SkyDrive; the university also provides and additional 500MB of network storage for each campus community member.

WWU offers Multimedia Classrooms and 88% of all general classrooms are equipped with modern technology. Technology will include, computer, projector, document camera, media control panel, DVD player, laptop computer connection, audio amplifier & speakers as well as wireless microphone and voice reinforcement in the larger spaces and Smart boards in many classrooms. WWU has classroom response clickers and audio recording of faculty lectures and presentations; WWU also boats four collaborative classrooms on campus which have all the technology listed above as well as multiple interactive smart boards for use by student collaborators.

Each faculty member and student is provided space on WWU’s web servers to create a personal web site. Licensing and professional software tools such as Adobe and Photoshop are available in various departments and the computer labs WWU also offers Microsoft Office 365, connections from Outlook and support for learning with mobile devices.

WWU has an extensive technology help department that provides assistance, support, and training to faculty, staff and students on campus and online. The support includes Microsoft office 356 workshops and tutorials. The WWU technology center offers free web design classes to develop or further skills in web building. The WWU Tech help center has training and support for Canvas LMS and hosts a special web page with instructional links and access to support (WWU, Academic Technology , n.d.).

The Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment (WWU CIIA, n.d.) is a web portal with many helpful links to workshops, focus groups and support for instructors teaching with technology. This is the go to section on the WWU for so many helpful resources as WWU is committed to provide ongoing support and believes faculty as well as students need ongoing education (WWU,CIIA, n.d.).

The Faculty GUR Group at WWU also supports and is affiliated with Faculty Learning Groups and provides external links to resources where instructors can seek additional support. One external link I would access for resources is the Faculty Learning Communities Handbook which hosts the The FLC Program Director’s and FLC Facilitator’s Handbook, Sixth Edition (FLC, n.d.). I have only begun to explore the links and connections to resources at WWU and sites external to WWU; I am encouraged by the support for teaching with technology at Western, it has changed a great deal in the past 20 years.

References

Faculty Learning Communities, FLC (n.d.). The FLC Program Director’s and FLC Facilitator’s Handbook, Sixth Edition. Retrieved from http://www.units.miamioh.edu/flc/handbook.php

Western Washington University, Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment WWU CIIA (n.d.). Retrieved from http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/cii/default.asp

Western Washington University, Faculty GUR Group, WWU FGG (n.d.). Faculty Learning Community Resources. Retrieved from http://www.wwu.edu/depts/facultygur/resources.shtml

Western Washington University (2015). Retrieved from http://www.wwu.edu/

Western Washington University , Academic Technology (2015). Canvas: WWU Instructor Quick Start Guide. Retrieved from http://west.wwu.edu/atus/canvas/index.shtml