Creation of a Course Facebook Page to Increase Classroom Engagement Deborah J. Good, Ph.D. Dept. Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise Virginia Tech

Facebook is too big to ignore 1.19 Billion Facebook Users Worldwide Average time spent on Facebook per day is 20 minutes 34% of Facebook users are aged November 2013 Facebook data

Students use Facebook during class time (among other things…) Visually observed students during lecture 14 Facebook other (Pinterest, shopping, news, Scholar, pictures, non- class documents, weather) 11 talking 6 texting

Course Description and Methods Metabolic Nutrition-HNFE 3026 Junior/Senior Level Course Required for Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise majors. Approximately students per year Methodology Pre-survey on Facebook page interest Facebook metrics Post-survey on Facebook page usage

Pre-Survey Data Facebook page interest

Metabolic Nutrition Facebook Page 170 joined the page initially (69.4%) An average of 162 students during the course were members No grade difference in students who joined versus those that did not

Post-survey data Facebook Membership

Facebook Page Engagement Viewing posts

Facebook Page Engagement Likes, Shares, Comments on posts

Facebook Engagement Facebook Statistics

Post-Survey Data Engagement

Post-Survey Data Selected Student Comments-Positive I think it added to the course by referencing real life examples and making the material we were learning applicable to everyday life ( like the Kevin Ware story) Yes it was enjoyable. Helped to remind me while I was on facebook that I need to study for class. Interesting articles were posted as well I didn't think it was a good idea to have a facebook page initially, but I found that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I did not use the Facebook page as much to help with class but I found many of the posts and articles to be more relevant to everyday life and enjoyed reading them. Some of the posts and articles I even sent to family/friends.

Post-Survey Data Selected Student Comments-Negative Not much was very relevant to the exams, which is why i (sic) didn't use it much. I did not find the Facebook page useful. It was a good idea, and it may work for some people, but I would respond better to it if articles weren't posted. At least when I use facebook, i (sic) scroll through my news feed and look at statuses rather than go on people pages and am less likely to read long articles The facebook page was not very useful. It was unique because it is my only class which uses facebook, but I did not gain anything from the page nor did it help me in the class

Post-Survey Data Interest in staying “friends”

Metabolic Nutrition Facebook Page-2014 Screen Shot taken 12/26/13

Future Plans for 2014 Currently 311 members with the spring 2014 class Creative Content assignment is generating a lot of interest. Dr. Jie Li (Stats) will join me and help to analyze data

Conclusions Majority of students were interested in, and joined a Facebook page for the course But for 2013, students were passive “friends”, never fully engaged. For 2014 class, a creative content assignment is being used to increase student engagement with the page. Students reporting that it is “fun” Lots of “views” More “likes” than for posts by the professor last year.