One thing is clear after reading about the use of Facebook in Higher Ed: There is still much to do in terms of discovering how this tool fits in learning/teaching at the Higher Ed level.
Some professors seem to be using the tool itself as a research topic: how do young people communicate/meet today?, how are the features in Fb being used?, what are college-age students doing with Fb?, what about privacy issues?, etc.
A few faculty appear to have integrated Fb into the classroom in innovative ways: using it as a CMS, gathering and analyzing data, and advertising course-related events.
Fb itself is trying to facilitate this integration by developing some relevant applications.
The "Courses" tool, according to its developers, is describrd to Display your courses on your profile for college or high school, find classmates, manage your schedule and assignments, create discussions, post notes, and form exclusive study groups. Welcome to Courses on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/install.phpapi_key=1c1cfdfaac3f4492e0034196de2125ff&canvas=true
I found that many students even though they do not want us to invade their "social space" do not mind attending a class where Fb is the main subject/topic of the course.
Stanford University, for example offered such a course and students could not wait to sign up!
This Youtube video showcases this class: http://youtube.com/watch?v=RwpGcfAV9fQ&feature=related
I tend to agree with Dr. Jennifer Golbeck, an Assistant Professor in the Collge of Information Studies, at the University of Maryland who uses Fb in her teaching and plans to continue using it, when she states:
...anyone considering using Facebook or a virtual environment in their class should use it themselves, actively, for several months before the class starts. It is important to be familiar with all the issues, features, and possibilities of the tool you are using. You also should be sensitive to the learning curve and privacy concerns of students. For example, I would never use Second Life for students, because it requires them to learn a lot of new things that have nothing to do with the course material. Facebook, on the other hand, allows them to put in just their name and nothing else, hide their personal information, and work in a very familiar online environment. Finally, teachers should keep in mind that they are borrowing technology from Facebook or another virtual environment. It is not designed around them, and their interests are secondary to the primary purpose of the site. It should be used for the features it brings by default and not forced to support other needs of the class. That's what course management software is for.
http://www.cte.umd.edu/teaching/newsletter/2007-08/Feb_March_HTML/Facebook.htm
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This is a GREAT collection of resources that you've hunted out, Mane! It was very interesting exploring them.
So -- two thoughts that are occurring to me (at least):
1. The Stanford classwork that was described on the YouTube video is atypical. It seems that these students who packed the class are interested in developing FB applications, starting (profitable) businesses around those apps, etc. That's a very different kind of academic application than using FB in a history or mathematics class at the university level.
2. The article by the professor was enlightening! It seemed to me that she was saying that FB can be used successfully *in conjunction with* courses, but not *to support* the academic work in courses. I found this quote to be particularly telling:
"Facebook is not designed for managing a course. I would probably not use it to post class materials or manage things. I also do not use it for official communications with my class because it is a personal, information environment. I see the benefit of Facebook as being a very informal medium for facilitating communication and community among students. ELMS or other official course tools are intended to be formal and official. Facebook is not, and I think it provides an important extension of the classroom environment that is beyond the scope of what course tools can do." (emphasis added)
I think that she has an excellent point about FB being helpful in larger classes for students to get to know one another better than they normally would f2f in class sessions. But the actual use of FB to support teaching and learning directly (beyond being a great tool to help students form study groups, etc.) is not something that she is advocating.
Is that what you deduced at this point in your explorations, too? Or do you see it differently?
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