Dave Morin, one of Fb's developers posted the following comment on July 25, 2007:
Education Application Opportunity
Published by Dave Morin
Now is the time to build education applications on Facebook Platform! Facebook will be phasing out its Courses feature in early August, and we wanted to make sure you were the first to know. Collaboration services and applications are a big part of the world of Education. Especially on college campuses, where we first found our roots. Many of you have probably used some kind of collaboration software as a part of your courses. Our courses application was a great way to connect with new friends, and find your classmates. But, we think Facebook Developers can create even more robust ways to create, connect, and collaborate around teaching and learning in the classroom.This is a great business opportunity, with vast distribution potential, and a great way to fundamentally affect an important part of the lives of students worldwide. http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=24
Others are supporting Fb efforts by encouraging people to create their own educational applications:
"Higher Ed Experts' Webinar Series"
Webinar Series - Facebook Applications 101 and Beyond: How to develop Facebook apps to engage students.
http://collegewebeditor.com/blog/index.php/archives/2008/02/06/want-to-learn-what-it-takes-to-build-a-facebook-application-to-engage-students-sign-up-for-facebook-applications-101-and-beyond-a-3-webinar-series-on-march-4-6-2008/
Here is a COURSES application created by non-Fb developers:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2791815712&b&ref=pd
- Add Your Courses and Activities
- Manage and Share Your Weekly Schedule
- Search For Your Classmates
- Create Class Discussions
- Upload and Share Files
- Bring Your Class Together on Facebook.
As these new applications improve and become more functional, I believe that faculty who select to use Fb could benefit from learning about other faculty - who have already used this tool/thinking about using it - feel about it, as well as what are some of its pedagogical implications.
Here are some articles and comments by instrutors on Fb and social network tools in general:
- Online social networking sites can provide teachable moments to talk with students about audience, discourse communities, intellectual property, and the tensions between public and private writing.http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/search/label/Michel%20Foucault
- By using social media …, I think teachers are making a more student-centered environment in the classroom. … I learned that because students can generate content, comment on the content, and carry the discussions outside the classroom, they could be more engaged learners in the classroom.http://onelearnersjourney.wordpress.com/category/social-media/
- As an educator, to me, social media is a way to connect our students with others outside the classroom. When we open the doors of the classroom to others, wonderful things can happen. During the past academic year, I started a blog with my students, and we were able to use it to connect with students in Argentina to share movie reviews; we listened to voice recordings of people in various countries talking about their favorite sweets, and we interacted with experts in the fields of graphic design and wedding cake design. http://onelearnersjourney.wordpress.com/category/social-media/
- Why use Facebook for course management? One obvious reason for using Facebook as an alternative to Blackboard is that most students already use Facebook or are at least familiar with it to some degree. If an instructor chose to use a free system like Moodle, all of his or her students would have to create accounts at the site and learn how to navigate it and its features... Another reason that Facebook makes an attractive alternative both to proprietary sites like Blackboard and open source sites like Moodle is the popularity of the site. This popularity, combined with the functionality of the Facebook Platform, encourages developers to add more features to the site. http://complexrhetoric.blogspot.com/2007/08/using-facebook-for-course-management-pt.html
- ...Princeton's own English prof Jeff Nunokowa has taken Facebook to the other extreme, using it for educational purposes... All thing's considered, Nunokowa's Facebook page is pretty chill. He writes notes (207, last we checked, all of educational value) ... The best part, though, is that you get to see the Professor's trains of thoughts, as he posts questions to himself on his wall in the "Dear Jeff" format. http://www.collegeotr.com/princeton_university/teachers_on_facebook_3190
Jeff Nunokowa
Bibliography:
H, M. (2008, January 25). Voices And Ears. Retrieved March 2008, from One Learner's Journey: http://onelearnersjourney.wordpress.com/category/social-media/
Jones, J. (2007, August 22). Using Facebook for course management. Retrieved March 2008, from Complex Rhetoric: http://complexrhetoric.blogspot.com/2007/08/using-facebook-for-course-management-pt.html
Morin, D. (2007, julio). Facebbok Developers. Retrieved March 21, 2008, from Facebook: http://developers.facebook.com/news.php?blog=1&story=24
Vie, S. (2007, June 30). Rhetorical Practices in MySpace And Facebook. Retrieved March 2008, from Friends: Social Networking Sites for Engaged Library Services: http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/search/label/Michel%20Foucault
Joly, K. (2008, February 6). News And Tips for Higher Ed Pros. Retrieved March 2008, from Collegewebeditor.com: http://collegewebeditor.com/blog/index.php/archives/2008/02/06/want-to-learn-what-it-takes-to-build-a-facebook-application-to-engage-students-sign-up-for-facebook-applications-101-and-beyond-a-3-webinar-series-on-march-4-6-2008/
Quinn. (2007, September 4). Facebook Faculty. Retrieved March 2008, from Princeton OTR: http://www.collegeotr.com/princeton_university/teachers_on_facebook_3190
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