[via mashable.com, the original study]
A study published in the journal “Computers in Human Behavior” by Reynol Junco, professor at Lock Haven University, PA, shows that college students who use Facebook primarily for posting status updates and chatting tend to have lower grades, and students who use Facebook to check to see what friends are up to or share links with peers tended to have higher grades. Overall, however, the relationship between the number of times a day a student checks Facebook and their overall GPA is weakly correlated, and even the amount of time spent on Facebook doesn’t impact GPAs significantly (although it is negative).
The most interesting part of the study was the disaggregation of activities. So, the researchers asked students to report about what they do on Facebook, not just approximately how much time they spend. So, while in general, heavy Facebook users have slightly lower GPAs than moderate Facebook users, “…posting status updates and chatting on Facebook chat were negatively predictive of GPA, while checking to see what friends are up to and sharing links were positively predictive.” How could this be? It goes back to other studies of technology and learning, which find that the way technology is used is just as, or more, important than the technologies themselves. This has been shown with interactive white boards, laptops, online courses, you name it. So, like certain drugs, there may be a responsible and even beneficial way to use Facebook.
What to avoid: “…chatting on Facebook chat may involve multitasking and may have had a direct effect on schoolwork because of learning impairments due to cognitive overload.” “Posting status updates…is an activity that is more focused on broadcasting personal information than it is on sharing knowledge or engaging with friends.”
What to embrace: “Sharing links on Facebook seems as close to an academic activity as any others because links usually refer to blog posts or news stories, while checking to see what friends are up to may be related to the construct of student engagement leading to greater academic gains.”
I do not advocate the use of Facebook in class, at least not yet. This study discusses the benefits of using Facebook in a certain way when you’re not preparing for class. People who use Facebook for intellectual or engaging purposes are already in the right mindset – they are high NFC (need for cognition), they are engaged with world already. And the key here is, they aren’t using Facebook for class. I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, I’m just pointing out that the study doesn’t call for it.
A point well made in the study is that it is all about engagement. Whatever we do, whether it be with technology or with pedagogy or with other motivators, it should increase student engagement. This is the bottom line. The mixed results of studies of the academic impact of technology in classrooms are not surprising – I think that too often, teachers and schools approach technology for its own sake, without considering the mode of use or the potential for engagement that will lead to academic gains. It is the lure of the new and shiny that blinds educators to the realities. A rapid upswing of student engagement initially could be due to the new tech tool, not the material, or even the group of people in their community. Technology, if it is to have a positive impact on student learning, has to be deeply embedded, it can’t be the motivating factor on its own.
My concern about Facebook in the classroom is that it would become the motivating factor, and its increase in engagement would actually distract from the academic goals of a curriculum.
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