ELTWeekly Vol. 5 Issue#5 | February 11, 2013 | ISSN 0975-3036
Abstract
This paper reports on the use of Facebook for educational purposes in two different university communication courses. It discusses the decision-making processes concerning what type of Facebook page to use, the design, form and content of the Facebook pages, guidelines for lecturer and student use, as well as the means by which lecturers can encourage students to increase participation in courses using Facebook as an educational tool. Detailed survey feedback from a pilot study of students who used the two courses’ Facebook pages is also discussed. Finally, it demonstrates how using the Facebook pages facilitated greater student engagement and understanding of concepts, and encouraged what Adhihari (2011) calls “conversations,” which were often carried back and forth between cyberspace and the classroom.
Introduction
According to the social media statistics portal Socialbakers.com, Facebook has a market penetration of almost 70% with Singapore’s online population. Given that Facebook was designed for college students, it is not surprising that 27% of the Singaporean market is made up of college-age users aged between 18 and 24 years old. This near ubiquitous use of the social networking site by users in this age group has led to educators and students using Facebook in a number of ways. Indeed, Barseghian (2011) cites 50 reasons for using Facebook in the classroom, including increased collaboration, knowledge sharing and feedback to name just three.