Mobilizing Faculty into the Future: Using Online Technology as Teaching Tools

Methodology 3 – Practical Issues:
It is fairly easy to set-up a private Facebook page and add members who requested to join it. Content was simple to
come by and, as participation was minimal, moderating the page took no more than 20 minutes a week.
Methodology 4 – Effectiveness:
Limited effect for the vast majority; however, this project was very meaningful for, at least, two of the students who
told me that the Facebook page helped them feel more engaged with the course and their classmates.
Methodology 5 – Disadvantages:
Many students are not on Facebook or, even if they are, they may not want to join a Facebook page that their classmates/professor
is on. As such, participation was sharply limited.
Additional Information:
I am able to get far more participation on Desire2Learn because everyone has access to it and, as such, I can require
participation. Still, every student is important and the Facebook page was very meaningful to, at least, two students.
As such, it was worth an extra 20 minutes or so that I put into it every week.
The Facebook page also served as another avenue for me to make announcements about guest speakers, emails, etc.
It seems that some students do not always attend class or check their emails, so the Facebook page helped reach a
few of the hard to reach students.
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