FACEBOOK + MOODLE: ENVIRONMENTS TO FOSTER STUDENTS’ INVOLVEMENT IN DISTANCE LEARNING

Web 2.0 has changed our daily lives, and is now part of our society, both professionally and for entertainment. As Education changes, accompanying society, it has evolved to become more personal, focused on knowledge, reflexive, socially connected and involved, as to include not only the digital natives, but also the digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001). Students are now acquiring skills and competences that allow them to use digital tools to research, select information and reflect upon it, work collaborative and share their created knowledge online.

As the use of Web 2.0 tools increases in Higher Education Institutions for learning and knowledge creation, to be connected is now a relevant skill, especially for students in Distance learning, not only to overcome isolation, but also to help create online informal communities using 2.0 tools, giving a sense of belonging, fostering involvement and collectively create and share knowledge.

According to Forbes, in December 2013, Facebook is still the online social network with more users “Facebook continues to lead the pack in terms of number of active monthly users (1.15 billion at last count).” (DeMers, J., 2013). As for Moodle, it is the most used open source LMS in Higher Education Institutions. This paper reflects on the possible implications that the use of formal and informal learning platforms can bring to online distance learning in higher education, and discuss how the complementary use of these two platforms (Facebook and Moodle) can contribute to the students’ involvement and effective learning.