Mobile devices and Gen Y (also known as the Millennials) are virtually inseparable. It’s used anytime, anywhere, often so for social interactions. The Millennials sleep, eat, walk and do almost everything with their phones. Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, GooglePlus are several top social media platforms where the younger generation ‘hang-around’ online. To some educators, these mobile devices have become a huge distraction in the classroom. Others express concerns around the privacy issues.
Rather than putting them on the sideline, innovative educators could explore ways to leverage the social media platforms for the 21st century learners and as learning environment. In my view, social media are powerful and far-reaching. They serve as convenient communication tools to connect with my Gen Y students for in-class activities and beyond.
As a CDAE trainer in eLearning series, I have explored several learning management systems (LMS) e.g. Edmodo, Moodle, Schoology and OpenLearning. Each has its own pluses and minuses. Yet, I am curious about using Facebook (FB) to promote and facilitate social learning among my students. Its ease of use and high familiarity with my students and fellow lecturers (I co-teach courses with my colleagues) have led to my decision to adopt FB as a classroom management tool.
For creating FB banner and posts, I use Canva; it is amazingly easy to use and provides tons of gorgeous ready-made designs. Perfect for busy educators, researchers and students.
Facebook for Educators: 15 Ways to use it in TnL (in-class & beyond):
Below are 15 ways to use Facebook; where possible, I’ve included my own screenshots as examples:
- Ice-breaking activities
- Activate student’s prior knowledge using K-W-L strategy
- Announcements and/or Alerts
- Share learning materials (e.g. FB Doc, PDF, PPTX)
- Share links (webpage, Web 2.0 sites, youtube) and shows Preview
- Students easily share their work (videos, sketches, thoughts, ideas)
- Instant feedback (Formative assessment)
- Live video & text chats via Messenger (students–instructors)
- Create Polls – Ask Your Class about a topic/date (Interactive Lecture)
- Instant check for their understanding (Interactive Lecture)
- Create events – Course Timetable (Lectures, Quiz)
- Live video for tutorials, lectures
- Group Insight: Learn about Your FB Group
- For instructors: An online journaling for the course by year. Quite organic. Allow self-reflection and improvements in the next course.
- Ultimately, the formation of a learning community through creating a powerful yet informal learning environment that encourages and supports online creative, collaborative, interactive and social activities.
In sum, learning how to leverage social media in classroom is perhaps an essential skills for educators in this digital age.
Note: Names and pictures of students and lecturers have been blurred for privacy.
The following is a Sway for the CDAE Microlearning Workshop on Facebook for Educators: A Class Management Tool
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