The Experience of using Facebook as an Educational Tool

Abstract

Social Networking Sites (SNS) such as Facebook are widely used by student populations and are increasingly used by the population generally. Researchers have considered the benefits of using SNS for educational purposes. This qualitative study involved interviews with seven academic members of staff at one UK university who currently use Facebook in their teaching. The study provides a unique insight into the views of teaching staff who use Facebook in their classroom, gaining an understanding of their experience and views of using SNS as part of their teaching.

Keywords:

• teaching
• Social Networking Sites (SNS)
• Facebook
• informal learning

Acknowledgements

We thank the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at UCLan for supporting this project. None of the authors have any conflicts of interest in writing this article.