Educational use of social networks: Facebook case study - IASSR

Available Online at http://iassr.org/journal 2013 (c) EJRE published by International Association of Social Science Research - IASSR ISSN: 2147-6284 European Journal of Research on Education, 2014, Special Issue: Educational Technology and Lifelong Learning, 16-21

European Journal of Research on Education

Educational use of social networks: Facebook case study İ.Ümit Yapıcı a *, Murat Hevedanlı b Ass.Prof., Dicle University, Faculty of Education,Diyarbakır, Turkey Ass.Prof., Dicle University, Faculty of Education,Diyarbakır, Turkey

a b

Abstract Nowadays, a lot of social networks have emerged and the usage of social networks has rapidly increased especially among young users. Social network sites (SNS) affect the way that people communicate, interact and even a learning process. In this study, a sample application was carried out for the educational use of Facebook and student opinions were received. The study group was made up of 30 senior students attending the Department of Biology Education at the Z.G. Education Faculty of Dicle University. The application phase of the study was carried out in the course of “Cryptogamic Plant Systematics” in the Fall Term of the academic year of 2012-2013. Within the scope of this course, lesson notes, announcements, presentations, videos, animations, links and assignments related to the course content were shared in the Facebook group called Cryptogamic Plant Systematics. As the data collection tool, the Facebook Instructional Use Scale (Mazman, 2009) and open ended questions were used. The findings obtained revealed that a course supported with Facebook provided students with a number of benefits such as increasing sharing and cooperation, strengthening communication between student-student and between student-faculty member, visualizing the content, drawing the attention and increasing the students’ interest in the course and that there were students with negative thoughts about these subjects, though. © 2014 European Journal of Research on Education by IASSR. Keywords: Facebook, education, biology.

1. Introduction The developments experienced in information and communication technologies in the twenty first century, known as the information age or the digital age, have shaped individuals’ habits of establishing communication and social environment as well as influenced a number of fields such as economy, politics, culture and education. Individuals now prefer communication in an online environment to face-to-face communication, and friends in the virtual environment have taken the place of schoolmates, neighborhood friends or workmates. The most important factor in shaping individuals’ habits of establishing communication and social environment is surely considered to be the Social Network Sites (SNS) (Erkoç and Erkoç, 2011). SNS, which allow its users to share information, to establish and develop private or professional relationships, to take part in various activities and to communicate, has a considerably increasing number of users today. Considering the fact that a substantial number of teachers and students are members of SNSs, use of SNSs in educational processes is a subject thought to be worth researching. SNSs are websites which provide multimedia support as well as which allows individuals to create their profiles with their personal information, to make new friends, to maintain their current friendships online, to share their experiences, to make comments on others’ sharings and to carry out activities (Hargittai E., 2008; Boyd & Ellison, 2008; Hargittai & Hsieh, 2010; Jones, Gaffney-Rhys, & Jones, 2011). SNSs, like Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, Hi-5, Twitter and Netlog, known worldwide with their interfaces developed more in the last few years, have now

* E-mail address: [email protected]

Educational use of social networks:Facebook case study

become a habit and a life-style within the routine/pace of daily life besides such purposes of use as finding new friends or maintaining the current habits. Facebook, which has undoubtedly the largest population of users and which has become the most popular social network in recent years, has caused researchers to focus on the use of these environments in educational processes. Facebook, now the fastest-growing network of all social network sites, is the most popular one among university students all around the world (Genç, 2010). In Turkey, approximately 34% of 32 million Facebook users are young users attending higher education institutions (SocialBakers, 2013). Reportedly, it is important for students to use and understand social networks in their learning processes, to develop their own academic identities in online communities and to interrogate and criticize the social dimensions of such networks (Özkan and McKenzie, 2008). It is also stated that an unconstrained learning environment in which students’ experiences are constantly organized with social network applications can be established just by removing access to the content in social networks (Mejias, 2005). Several studies revealed that these tools provided a number of features fairly important for education such as interaction, cooperation, active participation, sharing information and sources and critical thinking (Mason, 2006; Selwyn, 2007; Ajan and Hartshone, 2008). Since social network sites are flexible and user-friendly, they can be used more easily compared to other learning management systems. The fact that a number of students and researchers form a community by taking quite simple steps and that they share among themselves provides facilities in terms of communication and feedback (Gülbahar, Kalelioğlu and Madran, 2010). Social network applications which play an important role in students’ lives and which allow students to spend most of their time online are of great significance for learning and teaching environments. Possible applications of social network sites in education are as follows: (Selwyn, 2007; Grant, 2008; Özkan and McKenzie, 2008; Mazman and Usluel, 2009)  Increasing students’ participation in discussion boards created in social network sites  Opportunities for students to customize their own profiles  Using such multimedia elements as videos, texts, pictures and audios for an effective instructional environment  Students’ taking the role of both the producer and the consumer in creating content  Establishing effective communication and providing feedback thanks to such features as making comments, instant messaging and sending messages  Sharing information, ideas and sources with various groups formed in line with common interests and needs  Allowing individuals to create their own worlds and achieving social learning Not only moving in the way of use and access to the content via the Internet and via traditional methods into more cooperative environments in which individuals, especially adolescents and young adults, use social networks to create as well as to share information but also application of social networks in educational settings could be said to help establish a more effective communication between students and teachers and to increase the opportunity for teachers to get to know their students better (Grant, 2008). It is reported that the number of studies on the use of social network applications in education is limited, that the focus of studies conducted so far has been more on the identity, network structure, privacy and technology; and that there is a need for research on the use of these tools in education (Lockyer & Petterson, 2008). In this respect, the purpose of our study was to carry out a sample application regarding the instructional use of Facebook, a social network site, and to determine students’ views. 2. Method 2.1. Study Group The study group was made up of 30 senior students attending the Department of Biology Education at the Z.G. Education Faculty of Dicle University. 17

İ.Ümit Yapıcı and Murat Hevedanlı

2.2. Data Collection Tools As the data collection tool, the Facebook Instructional Use Scale (Mazman, 2009) and open ended questions were used. The scale was a 5-point Likert-type one with a reliability coefficient of α= 0,97. 2.3. Procedure The application phase of the study was carried out in the course of “Cryptogamic Plant Systematics” in the Fall Term of the academic year of 2012-2013. Within the scope of this course, lesson notes, announcements, presentations, videos, animations, links and assignments related to the course content were shared in the Facebook group called Cryptogamic Plant Systematics. 3. Findings A total of 30 participants took part in the study. Of all the participants, 70% of them (21 participants) were female, and 30% of them (9 participants) were male. The participants’ frequency of Facebook use was ‘often everyday’ with a rate of 40% (12 participants), ‘sometimes everyday’ with a rate of 27% (8 participants), ‘a few times a week’ with a rate of 20% (6 participants) and ‘a few times a month’ with a rate of 13% (4 participants). Of all the participants, 80% of them (24 participants) had a friend list including faculty members, and 20% (6 participants) did not have any faculty members as their friend. The mean scores regarding participants’ views about “Facebook instructional use” are presented in Table 1. Table 1- The mean scores regarding participants’ views about “Facebook Instructional Use” SS

Facebook Instructional Use Scale 1. Contributes of the establishment of communication among classmates.

4,20

1,031

2. Contributes of the establishment of communication between students and the teacher.

3,87

1,106

3. Contributes to in-class discussions.

3,73

1,015

4. Allows delivering course materials and sources.

3,90

1,125

5. Allows making announcements regarding the school, class or courses.

4,17

0,986

6. Allows assigning homework or course-related tasks.

4,07

0,980

7. Allows forming groups in line with the common interests and needs.

4,07

0,980

8. Allows sharing information about the lessons and about other instructional studies.

3,97

0,999

9. Contributes to the execution of group works.

3,87

1,042

10. Allows access to rich sources and materials for learning.

3,70

1,022

3,97

0,964

11. Allows rich multimedia support during teaching (videos, animations, audios and so on) Overall Mean Score

X

3,95

When Table 1 is examined, it is seen that the participants had positive views. The open-ended questions and the responses received were as follows: 3.1. Besides these items, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the instructional use of Facebook? 3.1.1. Advantages:  It helped us contact both with our friends and with our teacher. (S) 18

Educational use of social networks:Facebook case study

 We had the opportunity to reach the course-related materials and to study for the lesson in any place at any time.(G)  Especially the animations and the videos used were quite interesting, and they helped us remember what we learnt.(S)  The course-related sources dispersedly found on the Internet were put in order, which made it easier to follow.(P)  I can say, thanks to the comments made, we reinforced what we learnt.(M)  We were able to ask questions to our teacher at any time, and we received rapid answers.(O)  We were instantly informed about the announcements regarding the course.(C)  I can say it contributed positively to the cooperation between friends.(R)  When we saw the course-related activities in an environment that we use every day, this interests us unavoidably. Thus, we became more interested in the lesson. (M) 3.1.2. Disadvantages:  There are too many elements in Facebook that would distract our attention. Thus, I experience problems concentrating on the lesson.(A)  For those who do not have a computer or Internet connection, it is quite problematic to reach the course-related materials via an Internet café or via other similar places. (D)  It leads to a communication gap between students who have Internet access and those who do not.(M)  We have limited facilities at school regarding wireless Internet connection. (E) 3.2. Do you think Facebook should be used for instructional purposes? If your answer is ‘Yes’, what should we pay attention to? If ‘No’, then why? 3.2.1. Yes:  The content should be parallel to the subjects (S)  The faculty member should pay close attention to the administration of the group: preventing unacquainted students from joining the group, approving the correctness of sharings and so on. (M)  Activities should be organized to provide cooperation among students. (C) 3.2.2. No:  It makes it compulsory for non-users of Facebook to have their own Facebook accounts. (A)  Lack of facilities (computer, Internet and so on). (M)  Concentration problems.(D)  A website should be used only for instructional purposes. (E) 3.3. How does a faculty member being in your friend list (if any) influence your communication with him or her?    

We get to know each other better.(P) A more sincere atmosphere occurs in the classroom.(G) We can ask questions about any subject without hesitation. (S) We can receive feedback regarding the reliability of the sources.(M)

4. Conclusion and Suggestions The findings obtained revealed that a course supported with Facebook provided students with a number of benefits such as increasing sharing and cooperation, strengthening communication between student-student and between student-faculty member, visualizing the content, drawing the attention and increasing the students’ interest in the course and that there were students with negative thoughts about these subjects, though. 19

İ.Ümit Yapıcı and Murat Hevedanlı

When the related literature is examined, the findings obtained in the present study were consistent with those obtained in other studies (Selwyn, 2007; Ajjan & Harsthone 2008; Mazman, 2009; Kalafat and Göktaş, 2011; Keleş and Demirel, 2011). Depending on the feedback provided by the students, effective and productive sue of SNSs could be said to contribute positively to the instructional process.     

In this process, the following subjects should specially be taken into consideration Only the students registered to the course can join a virtual environment set up for the course, The subjects discussed should not be independent of the course content, The site should constantly be updated, Students should be provided with answers to their questions in time, The faculty member should prevent the sharing of unrelated videos, photos or links.

In addition, the following suggestions could be put forward as well:  The study could be carried out with more participants from different fields.  A comparison could be made between use of SNS and LMS (Learning Management System) in learning environments. For instance, Facebook and Moodle could be compared.  Wireless Internet connection facilities should be improved in university campuses.  Such new social network sites as “Edmodo” could be used for instructional purposes.

References Ajjan, H. & Hartshorne, R. (2008). Investigating faculty decisions to adopt web 2.0 technologies: Theory and empirical tests, Internet and Higher Education, 11, 71–80. Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2008). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 210 - 230. Erkoç, M.F. & Erkoç, Ç. (2011). Değerler eğitiminde etkinlik ortamı olarak sosyal ağ sitelerinin kullanımı: Facebook grupları. 5th International Computer & Instructional Technologies Symposium, Elazığ, Türkiye. Retrieved March 25, 2013 from web.firat.edu.tr/icits2011/papers/27775.pdf Genç, Z. (2010). Web 2.0 yeniliklerinin eğitimde kullanımı: Bir facebook eğitim uygulama örneği. XII. Akademik Bilişim Konferansı, Muğla Üniversitesi, Muğla. Retrieved May 15, 2013 from http://ab.org.tr/ab10/ozet/180.html Gülbahar, Y., Kalelioğlu, F., & Madran, O. (2010). Sosyal ağların eğitim amaçlı kullanımı. XV. Türkiyede İnternet Konferansı, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, İstanbul. Retrieved March , 2013 from http://inet-tr.org.tr/inetconf15/bildiri/10.doc. Hargittai, E. (2008). Whose space? Differences among users and non-users of social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 276–297. Hargittai, E., & Hsieh, Y.-l. P. (2010). Predictors and consequences of differentiated practices on social network sites. Information, Communication & Society, 13(4), 515-536. Jones, J., Gaffney‐Rhys, R., & Jones, E. (2011). Social network sites and student-lecturer communication: An academic voice. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 35(2), 201-219. Kalafat, Ö. ve Göktaş, Y. (2011). Sosyal ağların yükseköğretimde kullanımı: Gümüşhane üniversitesi, facebook örneği. 5th International Computer & Instructional Technologies Symposium, Elazığ, Türkiye. Retrieved March 25, 2013 from web.firat.edu.tr/icits2011 papers 27797.pdf Keleş, E. ve Demirel, P. (2011). Bir sosyal ağ olarak facebook’un formal eğitimde kullanımı. 5th International Computer & Instructional Technologies Symposium, Elazığ, Türkiye. Retrieved March 25, 2013 from web.firat.edu.tr/icits2011 papers 27807.pdf Lockyer, L., & Patterson, J. (2008). Integrating Social Networking Technologies in education: A case study of a formal learning environment. Paper presented at the Eighth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2008. ICALT '08. Mason, R. (2006). Learning technologies for adult continuing education. Studies in Continuing Education. 28, 121-133. Mazman, S. G &Usluel, Y. K. (2009). The usage of social networks in educational context. Proceedings of World Academy Of Science, Engineering and Technology, 37. Mazman, S. G. (2009). Sosyal ağların benimsenme süreci ve eğitsel bağlamda kullanımı, Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Ankara. Mejias, U. (2005). Nomad’s guide to learning and social software. Retrieved May 1, 2013 from http://knowledgetree. flexiblelearning.net.au/edition07/download/la_mejias.pdf 20

Educational use of social networks:Facebook case study Ozkan, B. & McKenzie, B. (2008). Social networking tools for teacher education. In K. McFerrin et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference. 2772-2776. Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Selwyn, N. (2007). Screw blackboard... Do it on facebook! An investigation of students' educational use of Facebook [Electronic Version]. Retrieved April 9 , 2013 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/513958 /Facebookseminar-paper-Selwyn

21