on for this is that we were both “present” and “engaged” with our students on the course Facebook page. It seems obvious, but unless an instructor participates by giving clear instructions and regularly commenting on posts that are made by students, she or he will not be part of the learning process and will therefore be unable to encourage and influence student participation.
Instructors can show they are engaged in students’ Facebook learning by simply “liking” a link shared by a student, writing an encouraging comment in reply to a post or referring in class to an interesting discussion that has occurred on the page. These acts are the modern-day equivalent of “ticking” a well-reasoned argument in a written essay or writing “well thought out rationale” at the end of a paragraph in a business report assignment. They demonstrate to the students that the class tutor is “present” and interested in what is happening online, and that he/she values their contributions. This kind of reassurance is especially important for less confident learners when they are using social media in this way for the first time. Many students need models of appropriate use before they begin to participate.
To sum up possible uses, instructors should make their purpose for utilizing a course Facebook page clear from the start and convey this via specific directions. They should also upload links and make posts and comments that provide good models for the students. However, they must be careful not to dominate the platform, giving students ample time and space to contribute.
The use of Facebook in ES2002
For the purpose of Business Communication (ES2002), it was decided that the class page would be used primarily for sharing resources and encouraging student interaction. The “About” section of the page profile reads,
“@ Biz Comm is a place to share ideas. Feel free to upload articles, links and videos you find relevant and interesting”
In class, it was explained that anything that was shared should be accompanied by a short comment about why the sharer thought it was relevant, interesting or useful. An example is given in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2: ES2002 student posting a relevant article link
This post illustrates the appropriate use of comments by a student about a link that was both useful and on topic. It also shows that the lecturer was “present” and “engaged” because he (“You”) “liked” the post and gave an encouraging comment about it. It is also a good example of Vygotsky’s (1978) social development theory, which advocates learning contexts in which students are active in their own learning. To achieve this, Vygotsky advises that the traditional roles of the instructor and student are altered to enable the instructor to collaborate with students in order to facilitate the construction of meaning.
Figure 3: A former ES2002 student posting a comment
Figure 3 is a good example of a student sharing experience using the class Facebook page. Here, the student who posted is a former one, having joined the Facebook page of his own accord, and in this post he shared his experience using Prezi, an alternative presentation software application. It is worth noting the time stamps on the posts in Figure 2 and Figure 3: both were out of class in the late evening. An analysis of the time stamps of all 40 student posts for one semester in ES2002 finds that 70% were made in the evening or early morning and the remaining 30% were made during the day but outside of class times.
Figure 4 below is an example of an instructor post and a follow up student comment that again illustrates Vygotsky’s social development theory in action. The post is of a link to a news article about inappropriate business communication. A student commented on the article and also contributed further by posting a link to the initial story mentioned in the article.
Figure 4: ES2002 instructor posting a relevant article link
This post is also an example of what Siemens (2011) refers to as a learner “connecting specialized nodes or information sources.” The instructor engaged the student