Facebook for Learning

What is Facebook?

Facebook has been on of social media's most popular sites for a little over 10 years now, so if you haven't heard of it, I would be shocked. The purpose of Facebook is to post and see you friends posts about what is going on in their lives. These posts can consist of just a sentence or can include photos and videos. From when it was originally created in 2004 to now, the website has really expanded into a key social media network. I started using Facebook in middle school. Now when I use Facebook it's just to catch up on people that I am distant from and stay up to date with anything happening in the world. I also use Facebook as a way to network with organizations I am involved in like what is happening on my college campus or keeping what with important things involving my sorority. Facebook created these things called pages, which can consist of whatever you would want it to be as well as can as private as you want it to be. These pages I have either liked or been invited to have been my main resource for any information for anything I am involved in. Almost every organization I am involved in has a Facebook page to stay connected. The pages are where most educators use Facebook for teaching purposes. In high school I had multiple teachers who created Facebook pages that we were required to join. The pages often had reminders and assignments as well information that is just fun for the class. Facebook is easy and free to join. Anyone who is 13 years old or older can join which is why it has become the most popular social media resource. It can also be easily accessed online as well as a downloaded app.

Why Should You Use Facebook in Your Classroom?
The first and most obvious answer is because almost everyone is connected to Facebook. Many educators are skeptical about using Facebook in the classroom because of privacy between them and their students but Facebook has created ways to where you can still connect with your students without having to be Facebook friends with them. Using technology and networking skills is becoming a bigger teaching concept in schools today. Kelly Walsh who works at the College of Westchester reviewed research on social media and retention rates and came to the conclusion social media is a useful tool for engaging students and reducing retention (The Innovative Instructor Blog). Facebook allows your students to learn from you by using social media. Who knew social media is great source for learning?

Not only is Facebook a useful source for your students to be using their social media skills for learning purposes but it also is better way to communicate with your students, parents, and have them communicate with each other. I know many educators when they leave the school day, are shut out of the school world until they have to go back to teach the next. While it would be nice if that actually was true every time you left the school for the day, it most likely isn't. Facebook makes it easier for you to answer simple questions regarding assignments or content information without having to email or make phone calls outside of school. Especially when you use the app, it's a great portable way to communicate outside of school.

Ways to Use Facebook in the Classroom
There are endless ways to use Facebook specially for your class as well as communicating with other educators. One is that teachers can follow along with other lectures as well as your students following along with yours. Facebook has this great feature called Facebook live which allows you to record yourself on a live stream. Teachers can provide this for days where there is no school or follow along other educators lectures to increase their own knowledge. Teachers can also use Facebook as a way for their students to get personal use of content being taught at the time, for example, politics. while this most likely won't be a reliable example until high school, it is important for the younger generations to stay up to date on local news. I know for myself, I do no watch local news stations, but social media, like Facebook, has allowed be to be informed on pressing issues happening in our world today. As a teacher you can gather informational articles and place them on your class page, to spark your students interests. Another way, which could be a useful reason to use Facebook in the elementary classroom, is documenting growth. For the elementary students, the parents would obviously be the ones seeing the page, but can show their kids. an example of documenting growth would be when the class is studying the stages of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The teacher can posts pictures of the progress as well as keep a live video of the process going on their page at all times.

Facebook is great to use in the classroom because it allows you to connect to your students, their parents, and other educators in an easy way. Students also will love connecting their knowledge of social media networking and applying it to your class. This makes it easier for the students to get involved in your class as well easier way for create engagement for your classroom.

References
100 Ways to Use Facebook in the Classroom. (2017, June 27). Retrieved from https://www.onlinecollege.org/2012/05/21/100-ways-you-should-be-using-facebook-in-your-classroom-updated/


Nations, D. (n.d.). What Is Facebook? Here's What You Should Know. Retrieved from https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-facebook-3486391
(n.d.). Retrieved from https://ii.library.jhu.edu/2014/08/07/using-facebook-in-the-classroom/