Using Facebook in the Classroom

Drive Belonging and
Engagement in the Classroom
Using Facebook

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Facebook Stats
•
General Growth
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More than 63 million active users
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An average of 250,000 new registrations per day since Jan. 2007
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An average of 3% weekly growth since Jan. 2007
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Active users doubling every 6 months
•
User Demographics
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Over 55,000 regional, work-related, collegiate, and high school networks
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More than half of Facebook users are outside of college
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The fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older
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Maintain 85 percent market share of 4-year U.S. universities
•
User Engagement
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Sixth-most trafficked site in the United States (comScore)
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More than 65 billion page views per month
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More than half of active users return daily
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People spend an average of 20 minutes on the site daily (comScore)
•
Applications
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No. 1 photo sharing application on the Web (comScore)
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Photo application draws more than twice as much traffic as the next three sites combined (comScore)
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More than 14 million photos uploaded daily
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More than 6 million active user groups on the site
•
International Growth
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Canada has the most users outside of the United States, with more than 7 million active users
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The U.K. is the third largest country with more than 7 million active users
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Remaining top 10 countries in order of active users (outside of the U.S., Canada and UK): Australia, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, South Africa,
France, Hong Kong
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Platform
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Over 12,000 applications have been built on Facebook Platform
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140 new applications added per day
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More than 95% of Facebook members have used at least one application built on Facebook Platform

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Facebook is Social
• Super-ordinate goals should be social in
nature
– Increase a sense of belonging
– Build bonds between classmates
– Increase bond between students and
instructors.

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Create a “teacher”
profile separate from
your personal profile.
There are many questions about
the appropriateness of sharing your
social and family life with your
students. So don’t. Create two
profiles, one for your self, and one
for your “teacher” self.
Create a third for your former
students, as they don’t want to be
spammed about your class but will
also want to stay in touch.

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Ask Students to Create a
Limited Profile with
Controlled Settings,
friend you, and add you
to the Limited Profile List
Students should not show you:
Photos, Videos, Status Updates,
Friends, Posts, or Notes.
Mini-feed and Photo Albums should
also be turned off.

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Make Lists for Classes
Lists can help manage your course
rosters.
You can message an entire list.
Keep a maximum of 20 persons per
list if you want to retain message
capability.

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Create Groups
Groups allow you to manage basic
information, memberships, photos,
videos, links, officers, and a wall.
Name the group something fun.
Use the “officer” position as a
reward for students with exemplary
behavior.

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If you are a High School Teacher
You Might Want to Have Parents
Sign a Permission Slip to Be
Tagged on Facebook
A student could be in the Witness
Protection Program
or could have Reactionary, Vocal
Parents that can make life not so
fun for you.

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Share Photos
Photos are the primary way to
increase a sense of belonging
Have students take pictures with
their mobile phones and upload
them onto your group photos

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Publish Notes and Tag
Students
Notes are like blogs, but are more
targeted toward the personal than
the publicly searchable.
Share anecdotes about good things
that happened in class.
Publish thoughts about class
content.
Tag students in notes, but do not
embarrass them.

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