Abstract:

Facebook has become a dominant social networking service in today’s society. In this study, we contribute to the growing research community on social network systems by focusing on the attitudes and opinions of pupils on the deployment of Facebook in their school environment. In particular, we present the results of a survey that is part of a project to investigate the usability of Facebook for learning purposes. The research is a collaboration between the Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB) and the Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg (KHLIM) in Belgium.

Application of the Uses and Gratifications theory as well as the technology acceptance literature resulted in a number of constructs and survey questions. In particular, the study includes concepts such as Facebook attitudes, subjective norm, the learning potential and the perceived (educational) usefulness of Facebook, as well as the respondent's preference for using Facebook in a class setting. Next, it aims at understanding specific use patterns as well as the reasons for using Facebook. Although also pre-service teachers have been targeted, we focus on pupils’ answers in this paper, using a sample of 322 pupils of Flemish secondary schools.
The paper starts with a concise literature review. After presenting the research objectives and the measured constructs, the results of the survey are revealed.

The first part consists of descriptive statistics, presenting the profiles and the scores on several variables of the sample under scrutiny. Latent variables are only deployed following a statistical reliability analysis. In a second part, relationships between individual characteristics – such as gender, age, type of school, and perceived computer self-efficacy - and several attitudes and acceptance dimensions are investigated. Finally, using dependent variables such as the learning potential and the preference for using FB in class, an explanatory acceptance model is tested. The analysis uses conventional statistical methods such as ANOVA, correlation analysis, and partial least squares (PLS) regressions.

The first results indicate that pupils use Facebook for a variety of private reasons such as contacting existing friends, for entertainment and to be informed in general. The respondents generally do not prefer the use of Facebook to better understand their school courses, or to contact teachers. Pupils do not really attribute a lot of learning potential to FB, although the individual scores are quite dispersed. Nevertheless, Facebook is being conceived as a suitable means to make school tasks, and to get to know peers better.
More detailed analyses and practical implications are presented in the full paper.

Keywords:

Social media, Facebook, education, e-learning, Uses and Gratifications theory.