Why students may want to spend more time on Facebook
May 2, 2009 by Geneva ReidPosted in: Enrollment, Latest News & Views, Tech News
The media’s recently been filled with stories about the link between Facebook and low GPAs.
But now it’s starting to look like students going after good grades may want to spend more time on Facebook.
Wait … what?
It’s true.
That is, it’s true for students who are enrolled in one of the many social networking classes currently offered in colleges across the country.
At West Virginia University, for example, a class called “Facebook: Friend or Foe?” will be offered this summer – online, of course.
The class is officially known as “Instructional Design and Technology 393E” and will focus on how psychology, advertising and technology come together in social networking media.
Its target audience is older students who want to know what all the fuss is about, along with students looking to pick up some extra credits.
Is Facebook a topic worth including in a college curriculum? In spite of its 200 million users, it’s regarded by many as a big waste of time – just as television was when it first arrived on the American scene.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Tags: curriculum, Enrollment, facebook, social networking
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July 22nd, 2009 at 10:37 am
I took an Internet Security class (a subject that should be taught to everyone old enough to click a mouse) and learned about Facebook and other social networking sites that ask for and distribute everyone’s personal information to the world. So I was turned off by them. But upon further investigation of Facebook, I learned that they are very concerned about user privacy and that your profile settings are highly customizable and you can choose what type of information is viewable by the public, your chosen ‘networks’, your chosen ‘friends’, etc. Nearly my entire family is on Facebook and I can now see what they choose to post as their activities, feelings, interests, photos, traveling, etc. I check it daily to see what folks are up to, and post my own thoughts occasionally. It’s a wonderful free tool for keeping in contact with friends and family. As with most social activities, moderation and etiquette apply. Young people, especially, should learn how to behave online.
January 6th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
As a retiree, I have found Facebook to be a wonderful way to reconnect and stay connected to many old and current friends and relatives. I recommend all seniors to consider using the internet and the social networking sites such as Facebook to maintain contact with friends and family. The cognitive and affective simulation can play a very important role in the maintenance of high quality of life. Aging tends to turn seniors into recluses without them really being aware of the regression. The social networking provided by Facebook can play a very valuable part in retarding this process.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I teach a similar class, “How 2 Lrn w ur iPod” (actual course name). Started in 2008 as a hybrid class, I now teach it as a fully online course for over 100 students each semester at San Francisco State University. The highly interactive class uses constructivist methods through Moodle to help students a) learn how to improve their learning and b) learn how to use over 30 technologies to facilitate learning improvement.
In the first three weeks, students learn about learning, take Felder and Solomon’s comprehensive learning styles questionnaire, and begin to assess themselves as learners. The rest of the class is broken into four-week chunks around learning with technology for three purposes:
–sharing content for learning through audio (iPods and mp3 players, podcasts, iTunes U), text (RSS feeds, social bookmarking, Creative Commons, discussion forums, wikis), and video (YouTube, digital storytelling sites)
–interactivity for learning through text (IM, chat, SMS, blogs, Google apps, wiki and forum participation, social networks), audio/video (vlogging, podcasting, Skype,
moblogging, online meetings), multimedia (Flickr, VoiceThread, swickis, ComicLife), and virtual worlds (Second
Life, Whyville)
– assessment / self-assessment through virtual labs and simulations, games and MMOGs, ePortfolios, multimedia (digital flashcards), intelligent tutors, online presentations, and online quizzes and exams
The students learn about the technologies, reflect on which ones might accommodate their personal learning styles through individual essays, and research how specific technologies might accommodate all learning styles through team projects and peer review assignments.
Key external goals for the class are a) to include the student voice in the academic discussions about how to use technology for learning and b) to share learning objects and instructional resources from the class with other instructors via MERLOT, social bookmarking sites, social networking sites, and more.