Face to Facebook: Social media and the learning and teaching potential of symmetrical, synchronous communication.

By: George VanDoorn & Antoinette A. Eklund,

MonashUniversiy

Social media has become an intangible asset in education. It works in creating students engagement and assisting them in assignments. It is found that social media especially Facebook is instrumental for out-campus students. This article ventures on the pros and cons and how effective is social media specifically Facebook as a teaching potential in disseminating symmetrical and synchronous communication. The writers engaged in a study consisted of 20 students for duration of one semester to add the lecturer as a Friend on Facebook. They were provided with Net Time to chat in real time with the lecturer outside regular lecture and tutorial hours. During this Net Time, students were allowed to ask the lecturer any questions that they had related to the unit. At the end of semester, the students were given questionnaire concerning user familiarity, communication, quality of CMC (computer-mediated-communication), quality of feedback from the lecturer and usefulness. The questionnaire also questioned the students on their opinions regarding the potential of the tool for educational use. 90% of the students found that Facebook was an appropriate teaching tool. This platform allows for a sense of anonymity that is absent during lecture or face-to-face time. This allows for timid students to be more frank about asking questions due to its less intimidating environment. The study revealed that students found that the social media platform as being very beneficial for immediate response in assisting them in assignments. My argument is supported by the following data from the article:

I got a quick response so I could quickly move along to the next part of my assignment. Blackboard responses from other students often make me more confused, so a straight answer from the lecturer was extremely helpful. Facebook via chat, message (email) wall posts or comments are found to beneficial for students especially during weekends or holidays and for those out-campus students who are working full time, hence Facebook is found to be effective for long distance students by overcoming or neutralizing distance. The writer however brought out very interesting disadvantage of using this platform. Educators have reasons to be cautious and necessary as the separation between teachers as the higher hierarchy and student as lower hierarchy is blurred through CMC. VanDoorn and Eklund have a similar view with Maranto& Barton (2011) as stated in page 5 of the article. The writers concluded that a more comprehensive study to be followed by this pilot study to determine the effectiveness by employing rigorous qualitative and quantitative research technique. The writers also piqued at the practicality of employing this method due to its resource-intensity nature. Educators need to be adequately resourced with the time to provide this level of learning support (Michael Wong 2009). The article is vastly researched to support the study with the outcome that CMC is highly beneficial for student however fail to implore the quality of education as the outcome of CMC. Were the assignments better with CMC as opposed to the students having to research for materials and applying problem-solving and creativity in order to complete the assignment? Or, were their understanding of the subject more in depth due to being spoon-fed on CMC? I recommend that follow up study to include questions on the quality of their study and performance. The lecturers should also be included in the study to survey the overall sentiment

of having to be adequately present for student even after lecture and tutorial hours as done by Stephen F. Austin (2012). An in depth study needs to be done in order to monitor the actual effectiveness of applying CMC (Facebook) in education. Questions like; Will CMC reduce attention span in the lecture room due to the notion of face to-face lecture time can be compensated by Net Time? or Professional vs. Personal relationship issue, whereby students are your friends?. In summary, this article focuses more on CMC as a popular notion tool in education. This article is suitable to be read by the IT administrators in education institutions. It is detrimental to look into all aspects as to clearly determine that issue like privacy, technology connectivity and timeconsuming endeavor on the part of the educators will not blur the line of win-win situation before implementing this initiative into teaching and learning environment.

REFERENCE Michael Wong (2009). Facebook and Education. Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology. The University of British Columbia. Retrieved on 2 Oct 2013 from

http://ctlt.ubc.ca/2009/01/30/facebook-and-education/

Stephen F. Austin (2012). Teaching with Technology: The Pros and Cons of Using Facebook in the Classroom Workshop. Aaron Milstead, State University . Retrieved on 12 Oct 2013 from http://pwcomp.sfasu.edu/teaching-with-technology-the-pros-and-cons-of-using-

facebook-in-the-classroom-2012-workshop/