The history of facebook
Facebook, developed by Mark Zuckerburg, originally started out as "Facemash". The site was used to compare pictures of girls and rate who was hotter. This idea turned into thefacebook.com which was a bare bones version of the facebook we know today. Originally the site only allowed students at Harvard to join. The clip below from "The Social Network" illustrates the exclusivity that facebook originally had.
Since his inception in 2003, facebook has evolved and is now open to anyone over the age of 13. People across all domains are using it to stay in contact, advertise, share ideas, take a stand and learn. While the original plan of facebook was not to be this mainstream, the world was changed when facebook debut. With that change, the classroom has to change as well or risk getting left behind.
Why use facebook? Benefits to using facebook in the classroom
So why would you use facebook in your classroom? Just because it seems like it is the new cool thing and everyone has one, including your best friend's dog, is not a valid argument. When facebook is implemented effectively in the classroom, students can learn a lot about themselves, fellow peers, and social interactions, as well as writing and online safety.
ENGAGEMENT
The age old question of teaching is "How do I keep my students engaged in the material?". The answer is that you as the educator have to make your material relate to the material they have to learn. Facebook provides a great media to keep things interesting for students. Students already love facebook, so when you couple it with learning, the learning becomes more interesting and relatable. Facebook also reflects current cultural trends, opinions, and beliefs, which allow students to be exposed to more information and opinions than a bias textbook presents. Students also have the ability to express and share their own opinions in a format that may be more comfortable than raising your hand in a classroom. Elizabeth Delmatoff, a teacher in Portland, Oregon, started using social media in her classroom and saw a 50% increase in grades. To read more about her success click here.
ANYONE CAN USE IT
Facebook could not be any simpler. There is no cost to join and as long as you are 13, anyone can have a profile. The set-up to get an account only takes a few minutes, depending on how detailed you want your profile, group or page to be. The site is user friendly and provides tutorials and facebook help for any questions you may have.
DYNAMIC
Facebook is just like your students: dynamic. Facebook is always changing, updating, and expanding to meet the needs of its users just like you as a teacher do each year, semester, month, week and day. Facebook provides up to date content and information on everything from what happened during the olympics to what your best friend did last night. It allows you to communicate with people across the globe in a matter of seconds. If gives students the opportunity to explore global perspectives in a format that is comfortable and interesting to them.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The real focus has to be on the learning though and facebook provides many opportunities to learn. By running a portion of your classroom using facebook, you are teaching your students skills they need to be successful in the 21st Century. We as teachers need to prepare our students for the jobs that have not been created, the products that have not been invented and the skills that are currently not needed. The students that have these skills will be more marketable for a future job and career. Facebook also fosters a collaborative environment. It allows students to comment on each others ideas, share posts and compile information.
ENGAGEMENT
The age old question of teaching is "How do I keep my students engaged in the material?". The answer is that you as the educator have to make your material relate to the material they have to learn. Facebook provides a great media to keep things interesting for students. Students already love facebook, so when you couple it with learning, the learning becomes more interesting and relatable. Facebook also reflects current cultural trends, opinions, and beliefs, which allow students to be exposed to more information and opinions than a bias textbook presents. Students also have the ability to express and share their own opinions in a format that may be more comfortable than raising your hand in a classroom. Elizabeth Delmatoff, a teacher in Portland, Oregon, started using social media in her classroom and saw a 50% increase in grades. To read more about her success click here.
ANYONE CAN USE IT
Facebook could not be any simpler. There is no cost to join and as long as you are 13, anyone can have a profile. The set-up to get an account only takes a few minutes, depending on how detailed you want your profile, group or page to be. The site is user friendly and provides tutorials and facebook help for any questions you may have.
DYNAMIC
Facebook is just like your students: dynamic. Facebook is always changing, updating, and expanding to meet the needs of its users just like you as a teacher do each year, semester, month, week and day. Facebook provides up to date content and information on everything from what happened during the olympics to what your best friend did last night. It allows you to communicate with people across the globe in a matter of seconds. If gives students the opportunity to explore global perspectives in a format that is comfortable and interesting to them.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The real focus has to be on the learning though and facebook provides many opportunities to learn. By running a portion of your classroom using facebook, you are teaching your students skills they need to be successful in the 21st Century. We as teachers need to prepare our students for the jobs that have not been created, the products that have not been invented and the skills that are currently not needed. The students that have these skills will be more marketable for a future job and career. Facebook also fosters a collaborative environment. It allows students to comment on each others ideas, share posts and compile information.
Examples of facebook in the classroom
TEACHING CONCEPTS
COMMUNICATING
MORE OPTIONS
For even more ideas and examples of using facebook in your classroom, visit the following online blogs and resources:
- Students analyze different parts of facebook profiles to learn ideas such as purpose, audience, genre, stance, and design. This is also a good way to teach students that what you put on facebook says something about you.
- Develop a facebook page as a class and have the students determine how the class will represent itself, potential audience concerns and how to use multimedia
- Online book club
- Online exit ticket--- A British Lit Professor looks at his students' post each night after they complete the assigned reading and determines what concepts they understood and what concepts need to be re-taught the next day. Check out Professor Burton's page here
COMMUNICATING
- School clubs or sports teams make a page to post activity information, game times and discuss concerns or cheer each other on
- Teachers communicate with parents---most people have a facebook (as we established above), so it makes it easier to communicate because you are meeting your students' parents in a spot they already go rather than forcing them to come to tour personal blog or website
- College courses choose facebook over blackboard because students already know the format, so valuable instructional time isn't lost on explaining a new forum site
MORE OPTIONS
For even more ideas and examples of using facebook in your classroom, visit the following online blogs and resources:
Making it work in your classroom
Requirements
In order to use facebook in your classroom, your students must be 13 years old to have a log in per facebook's rules. If this situation describes you, than all you need is internet access, an email address and access to facebook.com at school. Sign up now!
Safety
Safety is an obvious concern when doing anything online, especially with the recent cyber bullying and predators. First and foremost, you will need to get a parent's permission before students can create their own account or join a group. In addition to the parent permission, administration should also be aware of your plans just incase anything negative were to happen. The last thing to consider is the idea of privacy. You may want to explore using only first names and last initial or making up a pseudonyms to protect your students.
Options
The video below explains the different options you have with a facebook page versus a facebook group.
In order to use facebook in your classroom, your students must be 13 years old to have a log in per facebook's rules. If this situation describes you, than all you need is internet access, an email address and access to facebook.com at school. Sign up now!
Safety
Safety is an obvious concern when doing anything online, especially with the recent cyber bullying and predators. First and foremost, you will need to get a parent's permission before students can create their own account or join a group. In addition to the parent permission, administration should also be aware of your plans just incase anything negative were to happen. The last thing to consider is the idea of privacy. You may want to explore using only first names and last initial or making up a pseudonyms to protect your students.
Options
- Profile---the type of facebook page most people have. This page allows you to post your ideas, pictures, and videos. It also allows you to comment on other people's posts, pictures and videos. The benefit to a page like this is that it is personal and unique to the one user. Only the user can update or make changes to the profile.
- Group---a facebook page that is made by someone with a profile page. A group can be open to the public, closed or a complete secret to everyone but the members. The benefit to a page like this is that it is a central location to chat, send messages, poll questions and share information with all the members.
- Page---the type of facebook page most bands, celebrities and businesses have. A facebook page allows you to brand yourself. You can create an environment that showcases exactly what you do and share that with all the other users. Everything is in one place and it allows you to out the most important things at the top so they are noticed first.
The video below explains the different options you have with a facebook page versus a facebook group.
Bibliography
Barseghian, T. (2011, August 5). 50 Reasons to Invite Facebook Into Your Classroom [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/08/50-reasons-to-invite-facebook-into-your-classroom/
Funk, S. (2011, December 19). Social Media & Education: Using Facebook for Teaching [Online forum comment]. Retrieved from http://saschafunk.de/teaching/sociale-media-education-using-facebook-for-teaching/
History of Facebook. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Facebook
Walsh, K. (2011, March 27). Facebook In The Classroom. Seriously. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://www.emergingedtech.com/2011/03/facebook-in-the-classroom-seriously/
Wells, J. (2011). They can get there from here; Teaching for transfer through a "writing about writing" course. English Journal, 101(2), 57-63.
Williams, B. T. (2008). "Tomorrow will not be like today": Literacy and identity in a world of multiliteracies. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 51(8), 882-888.