This month we take a look at the overwhelming favorite SNS (Social Networking System) among college students: Facebook (Jumaat et al, 2019). With over 2 billion monthly active users (Aslam, 2019), Facebook could be considered the Social Networking System (SNS) of choice for adults worldwide. Other SNSs such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram are also popular, but if a college student adopts any of these he or she is most likely already using Facebook. It comes as no surprise, then, that this popularity has drawn a particularly high level of interest in identifying and leveraging Facebook’s features to impact learning outcomes in higher education.
For some time, I’ve pondered the idea of incorporating Facebook into my online classroom. Just because you can doesn’t necessarily mean you should; I wanted to determine if I really should. What are the benefits and the drawbacks? How might it fit into the course design and, equally as important, how would its use be perceived by my students?
The Advantages of Facebook as a Learning Tool
From the connectivist perspective, “the starting point for learning occurs when knowledge is actuated by learners connecting to and participating in a learning community” (Goldie, 2016, p. 1065). Perhaps Facebook’s most appealing strength is its ability to construct those connections and a review of the literature reveals many studies pointing to advantages that it can offer to help drive learning outcomes by connecting learners and facilitating collaboration through the sharing of information. Ractham and Firpo (2011) propose that Facebook can reach learners extensively (as cited in Jumaat et al, 2019). It has been found to promote student-centered learning (Niu, L. L., 2019), encourage students to be motivated to learn, provide an easy-to-use and powerful communications channel to help them connect to each other (Thinnukool & Kongchouy, 2017), and serve as an effective collaborative learning tool “in terms of group learning, collaborative learning and class assignments and projects” (Tiruwa, Yadav, & Suri, 2018, p. 370). Given that most college students already use Facebook on a daily basis, that familiarity is also appealing to educators; the learning curve isn’t very steep.
The Disadvantages of Using Facebook
As noted in most of the studies on Facebook’s efficacy as a learning tool, there are limitations with underlying implications. According to Welan (2005), a lack of information security with Facebook is a primary cause for concern among faculty and students (as cited in Al-Mashaqbeh, I. F., 2015). Understandably, this could diminish students’ willingness to share information about themselves and others, not to mention potentially raise legal issues.
In regard to serving as an effective platform for collaboration and communication, Facebook “does not always deliver optimal quality of learning outcomes, especially when the teaching content requires learning by doing” attributed, in part, to students’ tendency to discuss off topic matters when using discussion to find solutions (Niu, L. L., 2019, p. 1390). Further, anyone who has used Facebook is aware that he or she need not look far for distractions, distractions that could adversely affect net learning outcomes. The power of such distractions may well be amplified by the fact that “many students use Facebook mainly for social purposes and would like to draw a boundary between social and academic usage of the social networking site” (p. 1392). It’s a particularly important point of contention that students who don’t want to merge their personal and academic lives online would be unlikely to embrace and thrive in a learning environment in which they are forced to use Facebook for academic purposes.
It is noteworthy that many of the studies to date on using Facebook as a learning tool center on traditional classroom environments rather than on online classrooms. In my mind, this aspect significantly affects the determination of whether or not to incorporate this SNS into the online classroom. It’s easy to see how extending learning, and connecting students, outside of the classroom is beneficial as it is outside of the classroom where a great deal of learning actually occurs. Students can be guided to continue discussions, share resources and information, and gather around classroom concepts set within an additional digital learning space such as a Facebook group. But when it comes to distance education, a question must first be considered: If the online classroom is constructed upon a learning management system (LMS), do we need an additional digital learning space? Would it be prudent to send students to Facebook when, first and foremost, we want them to gather within the LMS? Might we dilute the learning experience in doing so? Variations in capabilities of LMSs notwithstanding, what do we get from hopping over to Facebook that we don’t already have in the LMS in terms of information sharing and collaboration?
My Perspective
I see this as a fault line in the determination of whether or not to utilize Facebook as a learning tool. Facebook would appear to be effective as a supplement to the LMS, though I am hard pressed to think of it as an outright equal or an element that should garner favor over it. I see Facebook as an opportunity to link students to current issues or events from which discussions could evolve to create relevancy in the learning experience. Still, I would want the nucleus of that experience to exist within the LMS. I would be wary of diluting classroom discussions as a result of some students attempting to conduct the majority of their communication within a Facebook group instead of within the discussion areas of an online classroom. How many discussion and collaborative areas do we really want to create considering that forming a learning community requires a critical mass of students for it to be effective and substantive?
In sum, Facebook clearly offers the potential to enhance the online classroom. However, its efficacy as a learning tool depends, in great part, on how it is used and the degree to which it is incorporated. It can be quite effective as ancillary element to complement the classroom and contribute to learning outcomes; in my opinion, this application best capitalizes on the benefits it affords. Conversely, the idea of creating entire classrooms and conducting learning functions exclusively in Facebook could very well be problematic and insufficient for the adult learning experience. Think of it as a teaspoon of Facebook rather than a full-on cup to maximize its benefits and minimize its disadvantages relative to the online classroom!
Have you incorporated Facebook into your online classroom? What has been your experience in doing so? Do you believe in the power of Facebook as a learning tool? Why? I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can share them below in the comments area or send me an email at the link in the footer.
References
Al-Mashaqbeh, I. F. (2015). Social Media in Practice: The Challenges of Using Facebook in Higher Education. Malaysian Journal of Distance Education, 17(2), 1–16. https://doi-org.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/10.21315/mjde2015.17.2.3
Aslam, S. (2019). Facebook by the numbers: Stats, demographics & fun facts.Retrieved from https://www.omnicoreagency.com/facebook-statistics/.
Goldie, J. G. S. (2016). Connectivism: A knowledge learning theory for the digital age? Medical Teacher, 38(10), 1064–1069. https://doi-org.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/10.3109/0142159X.2016.1173661
Jumaat, N. F., Ahmad, N., Abu Samah, N., Ashari, Z. M., Ali, D. F., & Abdullah, A. H. (2019). Facebook as a Platform of Social Interactions for Meaningful Learning. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 14(4), 151–159. https://doi-org.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/10.3991/ijet.v14.i04.9363
Niu, L. L. (2019). Using Facebook for Academic Purposes: Current Literature and Directions for Future Research. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 56(8), 1384–1406. https://doi-org.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/10.1177/0735633117745161
Thinnukool, O. & Kongchouy, N. (2017). Is Facebook a Suitable Tool in Modern World Technology for Active Learning in as Regards 21st Century Learning? International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 12(10), 173–191. https://doi-org.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/10.3991/ijet.v12i10.6976
Tiruwa, A., Yadav, R., & Suri, P. K. (2018). Modelling facebook usage for collaborative learning in higher education.Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 10(3), 357-379. doi:10.1108/JARHE-08-2017-0088