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.