Jeff C. Clements PhD candidate, Instructor Department of Biology plannedparenthood.org

Social media pixshark.com quicksolution365.com

Case study Independent student engagement Extra material, no bonus points, voluntary Background info. w/ link relevant to course; probing question(s) 3 platforms D2L discussions, , Facebook group Quantitative metrics D2L: read/seen, comments, face-to-face *: responses, face-to-face Facebook: seen, likes, comments, face-to- face commons.wikimedia.org * Other metrics possible

Preliminary findings & Facebook used for independent engagement Facebook engagement approx. 4× higher, though still relatively low D2L not used at all Students used FB to share own content FB used to share/interact with material & communicate with each other; used to communicate with me Coming soon… Questionnaire Quantitative results Descriptive results + meaningful correlations

Case study: example posts

Why Facebook? Closed groups control who can join the group, who can view/comment on material, and who can post material Students are already there Minimal effort Chat option Instant communication “FB hours” Synchronize with office hours Useful statistics Instant communication telegraph.co.uk

Instant communication

Educational benefits Social learning theory Albert Bandura Learning: cognitive & in a social context Students/learners benefit from: Engaging with other learners Direct reinforcement Being active recipients/providers of information en.wikipedia.org

Are there downsides? Online multitasking can reduce level of learning Sana et al. (2014) Not all students are social media savvy 33/40 students Make it mandatory? Time consuming If used in synchrony with other platforms “A well-defined class demographic can help educators determine whether or not social media may be a useful avenue to explore with their class.” imgarcade.com

Conclusions Facebook optimized independent student engagement, though engagement was still relatively low Facebook + was optimal for enhancing communication and engagement Facebook can be used in place of D2L as a learning platform and can help increase engagement Instructors should weight pros & cons before using Facebook Understand demographics Cost-benefit for instructor

Next steps Compare results to: Bonus points? Mandatory FB group participation Other social media platforms Different class demographics E.g. year of study, majors, etc. Grade school

THANK YOU!