Curtin University Homepage
  • Library
  • Help
    • Admin

    espace - Curtin’s institutional repository

    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
    View Item 
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item
    • espace Home
    • espace
    • Curtin Research Publications
    • View Item

    Changing the Conversation: Facebook as a Venue for Online Class Discussion in Higher Education

    197387_109959_jolt.merlot.org_vol9no4_kent_1213.pdf (348.6Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Kent, Mike
    Date
    2013
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Kent, Mike. 2013. Changing the Conversation: Facebook as a Venue for Online Class Discussion in Higher Education. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. 9 (4): pp. 546-565.
    Source Title
    MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching
    Additional URLs
    http://jolt.merlot.org/vol9no4/kent_1213.pdf
    ISSN
    1558-9528
    Remarks

    This article is published under the Open Access publishing model and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ Please refer to the licence to obtain terms for any further reuse or distribution of this work.

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/33114
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    In this paper, the author reports on a study of the online activity of students in a final-year unit in the Internet Communications course at Curtin University. Student activity was recorded in the discussion forums of the Blackboard learning management system for three instances of the same unit, in 2011 and 2012. Then, in the latter two of these instances, an additional discussion forum was added, on Facebook, and activity was also recorded. Students’ posts were measured for content, length, and which week of the study period they were posted online. The study found the addition of the Facebook forum resulted in a significantly higher level of student activity, in real terms and across the 13 weeks of the unit. The addition of the Facebook forum did not significantly affect the level of student participation in the Blackboard forum. The use of the Facebook forum also changed the type of interactions by students, with the learners being more involved in discussions about course administration and assignments. Most notably, both students and staff began posting additional links to material that supported learning in the unit, but were not set as part of the unit’s formal readings.

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Adding to the mix: Students use of Facebook groups and blackboard discussion forums in higher education
      Kent, Michael (2016)
      This paper reports on a case study of the use of Facebook in learning and teaching in higher education. Facebook was used as a venue for online discussion to support the existing Learning Management System (in this case ...
    • Facebook for e-moderation - a Latin-American experience
      Hernandez, R.; Guetl, Christian; Amado-Salvatierra, H. (2011)
      Social Network Sites such as Facebook are being now used by many academics for learning purposes, taking into account studies that report that a majority of young students spend more time insocially related online activities ...
    • Mainstreaming Captions for Online Lectures in Higher Education in Australia
      Kent, Michael; Ellis, Katie; Peaty, Gwyneth; Latter, Natalie; Locke, Kathryn (2017)
      Captions can be defined as the text version of speech and other sound in traditional audio visual media such as films, television, DVDs and online videos. Captions are usually provided to enhance audio content and are ...
    Advanced search

    Browse

    Communities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument TypeThis CollectionIssue DateAuthorTitleSubjectDocument Type

    My Account

    Admin

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Follow Curtin

    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 
    • 

    CRICOS Provider Code: 00301JABN: 99 143 842 569TEQSA: PRV12158

    Copyright | Disclaimer | Privacy statement | Accessibility

    Curtin would like to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of our community by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which the Perth campus is located, the Whadjuk people of the Nyungar Nation; and on our Kalgoorlie campus, the Wongutha people of the North-Eastern Goldfields.