‘Screw Blackboard... do it on Facebook!’: an investigation of students’ educational use of Facebook

Annotation

Facebook is such a wildly popular Web2.0 social networking community (site) where university students spend much time that it deserves research attention about how it fits into an educational setting. In fact, on its face (excuse the pun), it has many of the desired qualities of an effective educational technology, (viz., feedback mechanisms, good social fit, conversation and collaboration facilitation, and it’s encouraging of active participation.) Also, it fosters discussion, summary and analysis, which we know leads to increased levels of learning.

Consequently, this study asks three questions, one of which is pertinent to my own research. “What can be said to be new about the nature and outcomes of students’ FB use?”

In this “Non-participant Ethnographic Study” from Neil Selwyn, a sociologist working at the London Knowledge Lab, text analyzes 612 Facebook profiles of university students using the Glaser & Strauss model, primarily looking at 2,496 educationally related out of 68,169 (4%) “Wall” postings over a 5 month period.

Of that 4%, five themes emerged.
1. Recounting the Univ. experience
2. Exchange of practical/logistical info
3. Exchange of academic info (this was VERY limited)
4. Displays of supplication &/or disengagement (rampant anti-intellectualism)
5. Simple banter

Disappointingly, very little usage of FB supported traditional academic learning. However, Selwyn concludes that however mundane the content, FB provides a valuable social element to the university experience. Alas, it doesn’t sound like FB can replace an LMS, but it shouldn’t be precluded from the campus experience.

Two other pertinent learnings can from this article.
1) It reconfirms the Boyd et al. notion that FB primarily supports preexisting relationships, not forming new ones.
2) Students bring to the social network their own preconceived notions of self and act upon those notions even if it means not engaging for fear of being thought a nerd.

Selwyn, N. (2007, November 15). ‘Screw Blackboard... do it on Facebook!’: an investigation of students’ educational use of Facebook. University of London. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/513958/Facebook-seminar-paper-Selwyn.