Implementation and observation

Facebook Group13Eco2012

This brief presentation summarises the process we went through as a class to establish a discussion forum using Facebook. During this phase students were being taught on-line with all content delivered as either video or slide presentation.

Whilst digitally active in a social capacity these students were new to having their academic progress supported through social networking. Some progression as highlighted by more sophisticated posts can be observed as you move through the slides.

This is an introductory post providing details of the plan for a three week teaching practicum within which Facebook would be used as the discussion and feedback forum.

I posted regularly by way of prompting and encouragement. My intention was to have the students share their progress and more importantly discuss their questions on difficult areas of theory and application.

Initially some students engaged with my prompts to feed back on their progress. Other students seemed reluctant to do this.

I noticed very few questions being posed even though with experience I knew there would be students not fully grasping the content.

It occurred to me that students might have been simply doing what they have done for years. The good ones telling me what they had done (in a way to please me!), the others saying nothing so as not to expose their lack of progress. I was hoping for a different outcome.

A similar group of students consistently posted their progress. As they became more confident they were willing to provide feedback to me about their learning experience.

This group tended to be those with greater confidence in the material being studied.

I decided to post a question for a number of students to attempt. I was trying to encourage a collaborative approach and students learning from each other. Most students posted, although some preferred to message me privately. I theorised that they felt nervous about exposing themselves to their peers?Overall this worked quite well. The level of engagement certainly improved.

One student used the discussion to ask questions and I was able to provide answers that others were free to share. The occasional LIKE indicated some passive involvement.

Another student posted up a resource they had discovered in self study for others use. This was exciting to see.

Student FeedbackA selection of comments

To be honest I didn't use the 13eco chat thingy but the group page was very helpful as my questions might already be answered by others in the group, or you would answer them really quickly which was very helpful.Na I didn't feel silly posting stuff on the page, so that didn't stop me posting any queries.Roy

i used the Facebook group very often, even if it was just scrolling through, reading classmates' questions and answers and also watching material related videos, i think it is a great thing to do, since we are all on Facebook. whenever i go online and there is a notification that somebody posted in the group i used to check on it and usually stay on the side for a little while. Lilli

I really enjoyed posting to fb i wish i had more so, I didn’t feel in anyway restricted about asking questions because they may appear ‘silly’, it was actually easier to ask questions on fb than in class because you could think about the wording of them so it would come across as less ‘silly’ . It meant as a student you had more time to ask questions instead of interrupting you in front of the whole class and thus slowing the others down. Often it would mean that you would answer your own question anyway by seeing it written down. Emma

Yes, i found when we were answering long exam questions, comparing other people answers to yours was very helpful, as it meant you could see what you had done wrong, and it could allow you to see some particular points that you may have missed, that could have been a difference between an A and a M or M and an E.James

How did the Facebook group help you learn? How did you feel when posting?