Using the Facebook group as a learning management system: An exploratory study

Abstract

Facebook is a popular social networking site. It, like many other new technologies, has potential for teaching and learning because of its unique built-in functions that offer pedagogical, social and technological affordances. In this study, the Facebook group was used as a learning management system (LMS) in two courses for putting up announcements, sharing resources, organizing weekly tutorials and conducting online discussions at a teacher education institute in Singapore. This study explores using the Facebook group as an LMS and the students' perceptions of using it in their courses. Results showed that students were basically satisfied with the affordances of Facebook as the fundamental functions of an LMS could be easily implemented in the Facebook group. However, using the Facebook group as an LMS has certain limitations. It did not support other format files to be uploaded directly, and the discussion was not organized in a threaded structure. Also, the students did not feel safe and comfortable as their privacy might be revealed. Constraints of using the Facebook group as an LMS, implications for practice and limitations of this study are discussed. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic • Facebook has been popularly used by tertiary students, but many students do not want their teachers to be friends on Facebook • Teacher's self-disclosure on Facebook can promote classroom atmosphere, teacher's credibility and student-teacher relationship • Commercial learning management systems (LMSs) have limitations What this paper adds • The Facebook group can be used an LMS as it has certain pedagogical, social and technological affordances • Students are satisfied with the way of using the Facebook group as an LMS

Students in higher education: Social and academic uses of digital technology

“…Based on the students' responses, it appears that most students use social networks as a means of communication. This result is consistent with studies carried out in Singapore (Wang et al, 2012), which have shown that Facebook enables students to communicate and interact with their peers easily, as it appears to be a good tool for supporting communication and social interaction.…”

“…Finally, the results of this study are consistent with findings in other studies (Beurer-Zuellig & Meckel, 2008;Clough et al, 2008;Thirunarayanan et al, 2011;Uys et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2012), as they highlight the advantages provided by technologies: a) for collaborative work, given their potential for use almost anywhere and at any time;…”

“…According to the responses of those interviewed, mobile phones (WhatsApp) and Facebook appear to facilitate Facebook is the most popular of all the social networks, and there is no doubt that like many other new technologies it has considerable potential for teaching and learning based on the integration of its functions, which have educational, social and technological potential (Wang et al, 2012). According to Wang et al (2012), like any And the university's intranet … where you get all the functions of the courses and stuff.…”

“…According to Wang et al (2012), like any And the university's intranet … where you get all the functions of the courses and stuff. Academically, for that I suppose, to search for information and … to upload the information you're working on as well.…”

Technology, time and transition in higher education – two different realities of everydayFacebookuse in the first year of university in the UK

“…The use of Facebook for learning and its educational value has received much attention (see review by Manca & Ranierit, 2013). This debate shifts between the more formal approaches of Facebook as a proxy Learning Management System (LMS) (Wang et al, 2012), to the informal use of the site for collaborative classroom activities . Research on student views of Facebook as a learning tool has primarily found that it is first and foremost used for social purposes, sometimes used for informal learning or student-to-student discussions of academic matters but rarely (if ever) for formal teaching purposes between staff and students involving formal assessment (Madge et al, 2009).…”