Online Discussion and Learning Outcomes

This paper describes how we used Facebook as a discussion tool in the instruction of a principles level economics course and reports empirical estimates of the affect of that use on learning outcomes. Social media as a tool for promoting classroom discussion has advantages and disadvantages. For exa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International advances in economic research 2014-02, Vol.20 (1), p.33-44
Main Authors: Harmon, Oskar R., Alpert, William T., Histen, Joseph
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Class size
Economic Growth
Economics
Economics and Finance
Educational objectives
International Economics
Learning curves
Learning management systems
Macroeconomics/Monetary Economics//Financial Economics
Microeconomics
Online education
Online social networks
Personal information
Privacy
Social networks
Social research
Students
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper describes how we used Facebook as a discussion tool in the instruction of a principles level economics course and reports empirical estimates of the affect of that use on learning outcomes. Social media as a tool for promoting classroom discussion has advantages and disadvantages. For example, its omnipresence and flat learning curve can promote academic discourse. However social media can promote nonacademic “chatting”, and its omnipresence means the user needs more than a passing knowledge of the privacy settings to have control of their “digital identity”. For a Principles of Microeconomics taught in 2011 we collected data, with permission from our institution’s Institutional Review Board, on student use of Facebook, academic and demographic characteristics, learning style preferences and learning outcomes. Our research hypothesis is that an empirical analysis will find a positive correlation between student in-class use of Facebook and learning outcomes. Among our findings are that students should receive more coaching on the use of privacy settings, and qualified evidence that there is a positive net effect on learning outcomes of using Facebook as a discussion tool.
ISSN:1083-0898
1573-966X
DOI:10.1007/s11294-013-9453-9