Value of the Facebook and Twitter for Learners in Educational Settings | W6 Q1 | Forum

This weeks’ reading pack was valuable for me to see the ongoing conversation about how use of Facebook and microblogging sites as Twitter would impact students’ learning and how do they align with the educational purposes. When I consider my own learning experiences with these sites, as well as the findings from the readings, I would argue that these media outlets have some merits and challenging aspects in terms of supporting students’ learning experiences. In relation to that point, Junco (2011) raised the question of how Facebook use is connected to academic performance of the students. The author (2011) also provided findings from number of studies by focusing on the constructs of students’ engagement and academic outcomes (GPA and standardized test scores). The research shows that there is a lack of consensus about Facebook use and students’ academic success mainly in terms of cognitive aspects (p.189).

For instance, Junco’s own (2011) finding shows that while time spent on Facebook and checking Facebook were negatively related to overall GPA, time spent on Facebook is slightly negatively related to time spent studying (p.197). In contrast, some other studies suggest that specific uses of Facebook are related to positive outcomes, such as sharing links and checking to see what friends are up to are positively related to GPA. These two-sided findings are aligned with my argument and my own experience with Facebook and Twitter. I believe it is hard to argue that these social media outlets are solely beneficial or disruptive in a clear-cut way. I think when these sites are used in educationally relevant ways, it could support the learning process. For instance, providing students a platform to build relationships with their peers and teachers, and providing them a socially and culturally relevant online context that they can socialize about course content would be really beneficial to learning. As Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe (2007) also pointed out through the construct of social capital, students’ active interaction in Facebook might leverage their ability to stay connected with members of a previously inhabited community.

Finally, Gao, Luo and Zhang’s (2012) arguments about the use of microblogging in education resonated with me and underlined the pros and cons of these microblogging sites for the learners. They (2012) provided a detailed review about the potential of the microblogging to promote learning in terms of supporting students’ participation and engagement, reflective thinking and collaborative learning. Besides these potentials, they also highlighted the challenges of using these sites on learning. For instance, microblogging can sometimes lead to an unwieldy information flow, known as information overload (p. 792). As a result of that some students might feel it is a waste of time reading posts containing less useful information. More importantly, these sites sometimes pose challenges for learners, because it required the ability to focus and express oneself explicitly in a limited number of characters. I also feel the same way about Twitter to some extent. While it is helpful for me to follow hot and newest discussions around the world, it stresses me out when try to express my thoughts and feelings in a form of tweet. I believe the reason is that it is hard for me to write concisely and meaningful way.

Overall, all these arguments and research findings about social media and microblogging sites made me think of the beneficial and challenging aspects of them. However, I think that especially with the pandemic, these are the most accessible and unavoidable learning and interactive sources for us as learners and consumers of knowledge.