to be a worthwhile activity for a number of reasons. From an educator’s perspective, the Facebook pages are easy to set up, administer and maintain. From a student’s perspective, they are convenient to access and a non-threatening means of becoming more familiar with classmates. From a pedagogical perspective, the pages are an effective way for students to be motivated to source for their own course content-related materials, to share that content and their ideas on it in a public forum, and just as importantly, to interact and engage each other in an informal way outside of the classroom. As supervising teachers, we have experienced how this process facilitated greater student engagement and understanding of concepts, and we noted how relevant content “conversations” on Facebook were often carried back and forth between cyberspace and the classroom.
Social media platforms such as Facebook are now readily available as teaching tools, ones that language and communications teachers should seriously consider for augmenting their teaching practice, providing students with a greater sense of the learner’s community and yet another channel for taking charge of their own knowledge development, and finally, for connecting formal and informal learning.
Adhihari, A. (2011, October 10). Universities must rethink their approach to student digital literacy. The Guardian. Retrieved October 12, 2011, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/higher-education-network-blog/2011/oct/10/digital-literacy-collaboration?CMP=twt_gu
Arrington, M. (2005, September 7). 85% of college students use Facebook. TechCrunch. Retrieved September 30, 2011, from http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-Facebook/
Barseghian, T. (2011, August 5). 50 reasons to invite Facebook into your classroom. Mind Shift: How we will learn. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from http://mindshift.kqed.org/2011/08/50-reasons-to-invite-facebook-into-your-classroom
Blackstone, B., & Harwood, C. (2011). Pedagogical blogging for university courses. Global Perspectives, Local Initiatives: Reflections and Practice in ELT (Selected Papers from the Third CELC Symposium for English Language Teachers), Centre for English Language Communication, National University of Singapore, 2011.
Blackstone’s World Without Walls. (2012). Retrieved October 11, 2011, from https://www.facebook.com/BlackstoneWorldWithoutWalls
Burt, R. (2011). The why and how of using Facebook for educators – No need to be friends at all! The Edublogger. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from http://theedublogger.com/2011/05/11/the-why-and-how-of-using-facebook-for-educators-no-need-to-be-friends-at-all/
Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. Black Bay Books.
Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. elearnspace.org. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm
Socialbalers.com. (2012). Singapore Facebook Statistic. Retrieved January 5th, 2012, from http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/singapore
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning as a social system. Systems Thinker. 9(5).
@ Biz Comm. (ES2002). Retrieved October 11, 2011, from https://www.facebook.com/pages/-Biz-Comm-ES2002/142920579099400
Appendix 1: ES2002 Student feedback
|ES2002: Sharing Information|
Appendix 2: ES2002 Student feedback
|ES2002: What are the strengths of having a course Facebook page?|
Appendix 3: ES2002 Student feedback
|ES2002: What problems might there be in using a Facebook page for this course?|
Appendix 4 ES2007S Student feedback
|ES2007S: Sharing Information (20 respondents out of 30 total students)|
Appendix 5: ES2007S Student feedback
|ES2007S: What are the strengths of having a course Facebook page?|
Appendix 6 : ES2007S Student feedback
|ES2007S: What problems might there be in using a Facebook page for this course?|
About the authors
Chris Harwood has taught EF