facebook as a course management tool

Your Biggest Fan

Using Facebook Pages as a Course

Management Tool

Jeremy SarachanSt. John Fisher College

May 20, 2009

Why Facebook Matters for Academics

Where the students• Communicate• Find information

Useful for professors• To reach students• To find a community of scholars

• Other academics• Groupshttp://www.facebook.com/friends/?id

=64802090&view=everyone#/profile.php?id=64802090&v=info&viewas=64802090

What are the features?(Do you have a Facebook account?)

• Profile Picture• Status Line

• News Feed• Friends• Applications

• Photos

• Instant Messaging

• Who’s Onlinehttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=64802090&ref=profile

Course Management Tool

Pages…

• Memorial Art Galleryhttp://www.facebook.com/s.php?init=q&q=CIT+2009&ref=ts&sid=af1a86f85d20861d40b8a1e9319c2f57#/pages/Rochester-NY/Memorial-Art-Gallery-of-the-University-of-Rochester/40766030693?ref=ts

• George Eastman Househttp://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Rochester-NY/George-Eastman-House-International-Museum-of-Photography-Film/8163167834?ref=ts

• SUNY-Oswegohttp://www.facebook.com/pages/Oswego-NY/SUNY-Oswego/19148818048?sid=92666b288d48315c8d3545247c03a62f&ref=search

• Making a pagehttp://www.facebook.com/advertising/?pages

• Can be used by colleges or individual departments.

Course ManagementExamples

Web Design

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=668716965#/pages/Web-Design-COMM369/45561207117?ref=ts

Introduction to Digital Media

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Web-Design-COMM369/45561207117?ref=ts#/pages/Digital-Media-COMM260/55290698763?ref=ts

Blackboard vs. Facebook:The Battle for Our

MindsFacebook Benefits Blackboard Benefits

Easier-to-Use

Easy-to-access

More fun

More convenient(for almost everyone)

Open to Everyone

More Features

Better for Content-Intensive Courses

Easier to Organize

More Familiar to faculty

Closed to Everyone

Some HTML: Formatting

<b>I’m bold</b> I’m bold

<i>I’m italic</i> I’m italic

<h1>I’m a big headline</h1> I’m a big headline

<h2>I’m a slightly smaller headline</h2> I’m a slightly smaller headline

Some HTML: Links(I wish the Apps were better)

Posting:

• Place documents in the public folder within your faculty server space-or elsewhere where you can host web documents.

• <a href=“URL”>syllabus</a>

The Big Question?

Do I friend students?

Absolutely? Never? With rules?

You don’t have to.

The Creepy Tree House Effect

Do students

resent the intrusion?

Facebook Use in the Academy

• J.P Mazer et al. suggests that Facebook use by teachers (and some form of self-disclosure) creates a more “comfortable classroom climate,” if the Facebook persona matches the teaching style.

• In a study of college library use, students were split on whether the would welcome “friending” by library staff. Groups were suggested as one way to circumvent this issue. (Connell)

The Effects of Facebook Use

by Faculty

Sturgeon studied the effects of faculty use of Facebook:

• Friending creates “additional connectedness,” more significantly among students.

• More “open line for communication.”

• Students wish to have relationship with their professors, even if there isn’t a specific academic advantage.

• Difference between small colleges and large colleges

Anecdotal Evidence

• Julia Goode (pseudonym) in the Chronicle of

Higher Education: Facebook use with students

makes you closer with students, but also easier to contact.

• A professor at Dartmouth

How do you use Facebook?

One Identity? Or More?

Professionally? Carefully?

Use Security Settings!Faculty Ethics on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2229343363&ref=ts

My Survey Results IIntroduction to Digital Media

My Survey Results IIWeb Design

We have a group.

Please join.

• Look up CIT 2009 Attendees

• This presentation is available:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=89698656299#/group.php?gid=89698656299

References

• R.S. Connell, “Academic Libraries, Facebook and MySpace, and Student Outreach: A Survey of Student Opinion.” Portal: Libraries and the Academy. Vol. 9, No. 1, January 2009, pp. 25-35.

• J.P. Mazer, et al., “I’ll See You on ‘Facebook’: The Effects of Computer-Mediated Teacher Self-Disclosure on Student Motivation, Affective Learning, and Classroom Climate.” Communication Education. Vol. 56, No. 1, January 2007, pp. 1-17.

• J. Goode, “Let’s Just Be Friends” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Washington: June 20, 2009. Vol. 54, Iss. 41; p. A.28.

References Part II

• C.M. Sturgeon, “Faculty on Facebook: Confirm or Deny?” 14th Annual Instructional Technology Conference, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN, March 29th-31st, 2009

• J. Young, “How to Lose Face on Facebook, for Professors” The Chronicle of Higher Education. Washington: February 6, 2009. Vol. 55, Iss. 22; p. A.1.