Abstract:

Background:
Social media, Facebook specifically, have been dominating the social lives of university students. It has also been applied in various educational endeavours in higher education with apparent success. However, its educational value is under-investigated.

Aim:
A scoping review was undertaken to determine the value of Facebook in higher education, specifically in the health science disciplines.

Methods:
The databases searched were Embase, Scopus, PubMed and Medline. This review included primary qualitative and quantitative research articles that focused on Facebook applications, benefits, advantages and disadvantages, limitations and recommendations for future use. In addition, descriptive, explorative and statistical analyses of data sets from the research studies were undertaken.

Findings:
Eight (8) studies were included in the review. The positive opinions about Facebook were unanimous. Three key concepts emerged from the review, and these were:
1) Educational content,
2) Engagement with academics, and
3) Psychosocial and emotional well-being. The negative perceptions of Facebook were captured in two themes:
4) Excessive use and
5) Privacy.

Discussion:
The novelty of gaining reflections from Facebook users and exploring how the health science Facebook impacted students generated findings in several key categories.

Conclusion:
The matter of social media has challenged students considerably. The topic was complex and multi-faceted. Both positive and negative perceptions and attitudes about it and several factors influenced these opposing viewpoints. Nevertheless, the benefits seemed to outweigh the harm of the use of Facebook as an educational medium. In most studies, there was an overwhelming recommendation of its continued application.

Keywords:

Social media, student engagement, perceptions, Facebook, scoping review.