A Course Facebook Page Increases Student Engagement with Course Content

Deborah J. Good, Ph.D.

Dept. Human Nutrition,

Foods, and Exercise

Jie Li, Ph.D.

Department of Statistics

Virginia Tech

Facebook is too big to ignore01.28 Billion Facebook Users Worldwide 01.01 Billion access through mobile devices083% of 18-24 year olds have a Facebook page050% of this demographic goes on Facebook as soon as

they wake up, and log 100+ minutes per day0 Noyes, D. (2014). The Top 20 Valuable Facebook Statistics – Updated June 2014 -. from

http://zephoria.com/social-media/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/

Students use Facebook during class

0 Distraction to themselves and others!

0 Facebook users have a 20% lower GPA than non-users0 Facebook users spend less time studying per week than non-users

0 Kirschner and Karpinski, 2010

Question0Can Facebook be used as a pedagogical tool?0 If so, what is the best practice for doing so?

•170 joined the page initially (69.4% of the class)•Currently 495 members in its 3rd year.•No grade difference in students who joined versus those that did not

Course Description and Methods

0Metabolic Nutrition-HNFE 30260 Junior/Senior Level Course0 Required for Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise majors.0 Approximately 230-260 students per year

0Methodology0 Pre-survey on Facebook page interest (year 1)0 Facebook metrics (years 1 and 2)0 Post-survey on Facebook page usage (years 1 and 2)0 Statistical Analysis (Dr. Li)

Year 1 versus Year 2

0Year 1: Professor made the posts—usually science daily news articles, fun facts about vitamins/minerals etc.

0Year 2: Professor continued to make her posts, but a Facebook Creative Assignment was added to the course0 Students generated material for Facebook posts

Did you join the Facebook Page?

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• 113 additional members in 2015

• Currently 495 members

• Few “unlike” the page

Do you plan to remain a member after the semester ends?

Student Self-Reported Engagement with the page is similar in both years

N.S.

How often do you read the posts?

Year 1 Year 2

Facebook Metrics tell a different story…

Year 2 Student Posts

Student versus Professor Post Metrics

Students prefer their own posts…

A. B.Do you read the Facebook posts? Do you ever prefer posts by students or the professor?

P = 2.19 x 10-5

P = 3.85 x 10-10

Students were more engaged with professor’s posts in year 2

Student “likes” of Professor Posts

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Future Plans for 20150Assess whether Facebook content can increase student

learning0 Six-12 posts will be made during the course-some will be

discussed in class, and some will not (at least 2 per exam). Two extra credit questions will be added to each exam testing student learning (3 exams).

0Assess whether students gain a perceived increased ability to convey scientific information via social media

0Assess whether learning style impact usage and learning with the page.

Conclusions

0Majority of students were interested in, and joined a Facebook page for the course0 But for 2013, students were passive “friends”, never fully

engaged.0For 2014 class, a creative content assignment is being

used to increase student engagement with the page. 0 Students reporting that it is “fun”0 Lots of “views”0 More “likes” than for posts by the professor last year.