Abstract
Social media platforms like Facebook are designed to facilitate online communication and networking, primarily around content posted by users. As such, these technologies are being considered as potential enhancements to traditional learning environments. However, various barriers to effective use may arise. Our research investigated the effectiveness of a students-as-partners near-peer moderation project, arising from collaboration between instructors and senior students, as a vehicle for enhancing student interaction in a Facebook group associated with a large introductory science course. The quantity and quality of sample posts and comments from Facebook groups from three successive academic years were evaluated using a rubric that considered characteristics such as civility, content accuracy, critical thinking and psychological support. Two of these groups were moderated by near-peer students while the third group was not moderated. We found improved course discussion associated with moderated groups in addition to benefits to moderators and the faculty partner. This suggests that near-peer moderation programs working in collaboration with faculty may increase student engagement in social media platforms.
Highlights
Social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Myspace, LinkedIn, Snapchat, WeChat) are intended to facilitate personal and/or professional online communication, community building, and networking
It is no surprise that instructors have attempted to leverage social media tools to augment the synchronous, face-to-face, print-based learning environments of typical university courses
Students are familiar with the Facebook interface and generally feel it is a judgement-free and less intimidating environment for posing questions than the learning management system (LMS) (Irwin et al, 2012; Schroeder & Greenbowe, 2009)
Summary
Social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Myspace, LinkedIn, Snapchat, WeChat) are intended to facilitate personal and/or professional online communication, community building, and networking. This study highlighted several attractive features of Facebook as an educational technology for students They are notified of recent academic group activity alongside notifications from their personal networks, which they already check quite regularly. More widespread adoption of Facebook as an educational technology has been hampered by incompatibilities with established synchronously face-to-face instructional methods, fears that it will undermine the professional relationship between professors and students, privacy concerns for faculty and students, online incivility, eroding academic integrity, and lack of authoritative content oversight (DiVall & Kirwin, 2012; Irwin et al, 2012; Legaree, 2015; Manca & Ranieri, 2016; Wang et al, 2012)
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