EXAMINING STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS USING FACEBOOK AS AN EDUCATIONAL PLATFORM

In today’s world of connected learning, social media technologies are taking more and more of the students’ concentration and time. Therefore, the impact of these online platforms on education is increasingly being noticeable. Given this fact, our objective in this paper is to investigate the students’ attitudes towards using Facebook as an educational tool. In this respect, on the basis of the survey we carried out amongst higher education students, it was revealed out that 95.5% of the surveyed students are greatly immersed in this online social network and use it for a variety of reasons. Results of the study have, actually, proven that the respondents use Facebook not only to entertain themselves, keep in touch with friends and family, but most importantly to enhance their learning in different subjects. In fact, 89.1% of the informants claimed they resort to this social media platform for educational purposes, and specifically to gain access to valuable educational resources, check for class-related information and homework assignments, discuss different topics with classmates as well as seek help from other students. However, despite the potential role of Facebook in enriching the students’ learning experience, it was noticed that there is very little interaction between teachers and students on this social network.