After months of being pressured by my friends and relatives, who tried earnestly to convince me to join Facebook for social networking purposes, I finally gave in and joined a week ago. It took a while for me to jump on the Facebook bandwagon because I didn't know if I would find the time to come home everyday, check my profile and respond to friend requests and posts from friends. Now that I'm a member, I'm really glad I joined. I've gotten back in touch with several long lost friends and relatives, and I've really been enjoying it.
Since I'm a full-time student working toward my Master's in Teaching, I started thinking about a possible place in the classroom for Facebook. I definitely think teachers can use Facebook as a way of sparking discussions on assignments and lessons among their students. Since, I'm hoping to start my teaching career as a Middle School Language Arts teacher, I started to think about specific ways that I could utilize the program in my classroom to help with my Language Arts lessons. I thought that it would be a great way to post poetry and other literary works and have students post their interpretations and provide personal feedback on other required readings. This would allow students to start an online discussion by using a technology platform that they would enjoy using and likely already be familiar with.
I did a little research to try find out if any teachers were currently using Facebook in their classrooms in any way, and I came across an article entitled "Faculty use Facebook as Learning Tool", from The Independent Voice of Central Michigan University, which talks about professors' use of Facebook in their classrooms. One journalism professor uses the program to communicate with his students and provide feedback on assignments, and he said it's a program that students are really enjoying. He and other professors at the school view Facebook as a great tool for use in the classroom, and I'd have to agree with them. Facebook is a really great social networking tool, but it can definitely serve as much more than that in a classroom.
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4 comments:
This is a very interesting subject Francine. I am not a member of Facebook or My Space, but you have inspired me to at least check it out! My concern with this would be the amount of advertising the students would be exposed to, and even more important, the potential for them to be exposed to inapropriate materials. What do you feel are the benefits of using Facebook instead of a blog like the one Professor Luongo has set up for our class?
I agree that Facebook could be a great tool to use in the classroom. It would be great if there were some kind of Facebook-like program that students could use that had all of the benefits of Facebook (social networking, sharing of ideas, etc.) without any of the potential drawbacks (advertising, inappropriate content, etc.).
Take a look at this site:
http://www.imbee.com/teacher
Elena,
In repsonse to your question...One positive for using Facebook instead of a separate blog could be the comfort factor. People who already have Facebook may be more apt to use it (consistently) than use a blog that is new and not related to their "real life".
Any other thoughts?
I agree that the comfort factor would be a major advantage of using Facebook rather than a blog for discussion. In addition, students can also communicate with those in their classroom such as teachers and classmates as well as other friends and relatives all at the same time, which would definitely provide a more appealing avenue for discussion. They are also able to know who is online while they are and rather than create posts, they can also engage in live chats while their facebook friends are online.
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