Ways to Use Facebook Effectively in Class | ZDNet

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ays to use Facebook effectively in class

By Charlie Osborne | April 2, 2012, 8:30am PDT

Summary: How to use Facebook as a classroom resource rather than a gimmick.

Can social media be used effectively in class?

There is a growing number of education professionals that believe the answer is ‘yes’. Although you may

scan your Facebook or Twitter feeds in the morning and see nothing more interesting than what

someone had for breakfast this morning, there are many valuable education resources that can be

exploited by teachers in the classroom.

Facebook as a communication platform can be used to present ideas, for online discussions, to share

interesting and relevant material — including websites, video and images — and as a way for educators

to connect with their students.

There is concern from school administrators and teachers that connecting to students online may have

more detrimental effect than benefit — due to inappropriate communication or content, privacy

exploitation or cyberbullying. However, if the correct strictures are put in place and content is

monitored, then social media can become a valuable an interactive teaching tool.

Here are ten ways to use Facebook in class:

1.) Set up a dedicated Facebook group for your class

A Facebook group can allow your students to create discussion boards, communicate with each other

and their teacher, and can be linked with online projects & other classroom groups. Teachers can use

these groups to send out mass messages, reminders, and potentially even post homework assignments.

Rather than link your personal account as a teacher, it may be more appropriate to create a ‘class only’

profile instead. It may be worth discussing digital citizenship with your students beforehand; and

ensure they friend this account after updating their own privacy settings.

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Links of interest:

How to create a Facebook group for your class

2.) Use Facebook Apps

Facebook is more than a place to tag photos from last night’s not-so-clever encounter with tequila. It is

now a platform that runs on mobile devices, and can be integrated with applications designed for

learning. From news to learning a new language, there are many apps that allow searches and sharing

across the platform.

Links of interest:

Facebook Study Groups

We read

Fun educational apps

3.) Follow news feeds

If your students are working on a project involving anything from current affairs to piracy, Facebook

news feeds can be an alternative to Twitter in order to enrich a project with real-time opinion and

commentary. Not only this, but you can sign up and join groups focusing on certain areas; such as

student education, U.S. healthcare, or politics.

4.) Practice foreign languages

As a traveler and advocate of language learning, I found Facebook to be one of best resources in which

to find ‘language buddies’ to practice your writing skills in a secondary language. There are groups that

are dedicated to this — and you can get feedback on your attempts. It is also possible to find events and

links to language-based resources.

Links of interest:

Practice languages via Skype

Practice Spanish

Daily French practice

5.) Follow figures of interest

This can be done on both Twitter and Facebook, especially since the Timeline roll-out and subscription

service began. You do not have to be friends with the person you wish to follow — as long as they allow

subscriptions to their profile, any public updates will appear in the news feed.

Links of interest:

Facebook and public figures

6.) Use the Facebook Timeline for class projects

The Facebook Timeline feature may not be the site’s most popular update, but it can be used to create a

project more interesting than a traditional Power Point presentation.

Links of interest:


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Facebook Timeline tutorial

Example: The school food project

7.) Use Facebook Questions and polls

Why not upload a photo to your class Facebook group and ask your students to comment? There are

cases of this feature being used as a way to ask questions or set a class task — such as identifying a

species of animal or important figure. Polls can be also used for research, opinion, or to generate a later

classroom discussion.

Links of interest:

Example: Bishop’s University

8.) Use Facebook to send messages, communicate and collaborate

Facebook is an alternative to sending mass emails out to your students — so why not use it? Join them

all as a group, and post messages, homework, reminders and updates.

Links of interest:

How teachers can use Facebook safely

9.) Share multimedia

As a means to enrich learning, resources can be shared across the social networking site. Videos,

website links, images and real-time updates from relevant groups, publications or figures can all be

exchanged and commented on. For classroom projects or revision purposes, these features can be

invaluable for students.

10.) Collaboration

All of these tips hinge on one element that is becoming more important in modern student learning

methods — the need to collaborate on projects. This is why social media is an important educational

resource; by allowing real-time contribution to projects, discussion and communication through a tool

that many students already use and are comfortable with.

Image credit: Johannes Fuchs

Related:

Your grammar is terrible. Get off Facebook

Beware Facebook while studying?

How do students use tech to cheat?

Irish data protection watchdog rules on Facebook

Can Twitter be of use to academics?

The Facebook Timeline’s anti-drug campaign

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Facebook, Educaton, Student, Learning, Twitter, Charlie Osborne 5 Comments Add Your Opinion


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Join the conversation!

The Social Media Bandwagon

mpage@... 16 hrs ago

Using social media for education is currently a big topic. Oftentimes teachers don't take the time to fully

grasp the pros and cons of using tech in their classroom. The bandwagon effect seems to... Read Whole

Comment +

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0 Votes + -

Great article

facebook@... 3 days ago A refreshing read.

PreviousNextPreviousNext 1 Vote + -

Facebook - An Unstable Environment

LollyB13 21 hrs ago I would suggest that Facebook is not the way to go. The suggestions in the blog are

fantastic, all of which can be accomplished in Google. The environment is terribly unstable. The

potential of non-educators getting access to information about students and sending unfavorable

photos their direction (happened!) makes me encourage teachers to stay clear of Facebook.

1 Vote + -

Facebook as a teaching tool - you're kidding, right?

Sonja L 20 hrs ago An educator encouraging students to join facebook in a school setting so businessescan mine data is absolutely insane. We don't need to help facebook create a huge customer database at

the expense of our privacy. There are other ways to connect with kids using internet without giving

away our personal info. I don't send my kids to school to use facebook or twitter.

This "sexy" new "trend" of "digital learning" is merely an opportunity created by outside businesses who

have discovered how to steal public education funding for their private profit: http://motherjones.com

/politics/2011/10/jeb-bush-digitial-learning-public-schools

We need to put more funding into teacher training and make it a well-paid, respectable profession (like

the Finland model) and get these business guys out of the picture. Until academics are respected and we

are properly funded (California pays $50,000 per inmate in jail as opposed to $8667 per student inK-12) we will see our public school system destroyed by those who only see our children as a "business


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opportunity". Our children are not "widgets" and only have one chance at an education.

0 Votes + -

The Social Media Bandwagon

mpage@... 16 hrs ago Using social media for education is currently a big topic. Oftentimes teachers

don't take the time to fully grasp the pros and cons of using tech in their classroom. The bandwagon

effect seems to topple all common sense. Social media can be used in the classroom, but teachers need

to focus more on primary source content as opposed to reposting or short "sound bites". The are many

collaborative tools that fit the bill far better than Facebook, such as Google Apps.

With all that said social media sites can be used to take a pulse of current themes or to propagate a

message or resources. http://edtech2day.com/index.php?main=view_articles&type=blog&view=32

0 Votes + -

Free Facebook Resources

newteacherhelp 16 hrs ago Facebook may be unstable, but it does house some of the best free

educational resources on the Internet. You can find lesson plans, videos, website links, and other stuff

related to the new Common Core State Standards at this link: http://on.fb.me/ccssmainmenu

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