Abstract:

The purpose of this oral presentation is to share and discuss our experience of integrating Facebook into face-to-face instruction in three sections of teacher education classes. In particular, we use our own self-reflection and collaborative efforts to discuss pros and cons of using social media as additional means of communication and instruction into traditional face-to-face instruction.

Without a doubt, Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites for college students (Cassidy, 2006; Needham & Campany, 2007 cited in Ellison, et al., 2007; Smith & Caruso, 2010). It did not take long before research community took an interests in studying the effect of facebook use among students (Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007; Heiberger & Harpe, 2008), and between instructors and students (Mazer, Murphy & Simonds, 2007). These existing research findings provided important insights about how social networking sites can promote/prohibit social and academic engagement among students. Moreover, many of such studies only focusing on the effect of using facebook on learning, motivation, or perceived credibility of instructors, none of the study have looked at how and why the instructor decided to use Facebook in place of other possible venues, and their thoughts on utilizing it. This presentation will fill this research gaps by providing instructors’ reflection of pros and cons of including facebook as a part of communication venues to their face-to-face instruction.

In the spring semester of 2012, we have taught introductory Educational Psychology course for teacher education students. Three sections of this course were reserved for Global Education Cohort Program (GECP). At the beginning of the semester, instructors for those three sections decided to integrate facebook as a means to share class-related information to student. Later, instructor’s usage of facebook became much more than information sharing. Facebook class page became a platform for virtual office hours, space for class discussion follow-ups, as well as a scheduling aide for students who wanted to meet outside of the classes. Using a facebook allows students and instructors to communicate beyond the physical and time constraints of the face-to-face instruction. However, using a facebook also highlighted the concerns about the instructors’ workload, as well as the issues of privacy of instructors and students.

Our data sources are comprised from instructors’ meeting logs, personal conversation between and among three instructors, and students’ response. We employed phenomenological self-study to analyze these data to explore instructors’ reflections about pros and cons of integrating facebook to face-to-face class instructions. Our preliminary analysis revealed that instructors believed that use of facebook helped to create a strong sense of community among students and also allowed students to feel closer to their instructors. It also allowed students to announce and share their class-relevant articles and materials. In short, facebook class page promoted the personal relationship between and among classmates. Instructors believed that such personal relationships encourage students to help each other before coming to instructors for help; thus promoting solid sense of belongingness to the class.