The video portrays a positive side of using social media tool in classroom. However, research findings showed that students in higher education are not comfortable to use social media for formal learning (Dennen & Burner, 2013). Only 10% of the students felt social media should be required and only 29% think that instructors should be encouraged to integrate social media.
I found the video from here and the author stated that
Facebook is based on real names and authentic identities That’s the reason why Facebook is not only the most popular but also the safest social network for young students. It requires that its registered users represent who they are in the real world. It’s the most basic safety tool of Facebook. On Facebook, the connections are real and authentic. If anyone discovers a user posing as someone else, they can report it to Facebook.
Do you use your real name on Facebook? Do you think it’s really safe? Would you use it for academic or formal learning in the classroom? Perhaps a closed Facebook group? Would you unfriend your professor at the end of the semester?
Honestly, I would not use Facebook as one of my teaching tool in the classroom. However, I might use the tool if I know (not assume) that my students are comfortable and prefer to use it in my classroom for discussion and learning purposes.
At the positive side, I’m currently using Facebook to gain useful information and learn something informally. For instance, I gain good information and resources on writing and statistics from the communities that I joined in Facebook. Thus, I might not be comfortable to to use it formally in academic setting, but I really enjoy learning something from Facebook at my own pace.
Thinking about Web 2.0 
I don’t use Facebook educationally, and I don’t think I ever could. Anything posted on there, unless it is a direct status or photo update, I rarely believe. Things like military pictures with wording overtop, or various pages that friends like that show news updates, I can’t hardly believe. I seriously research these claims before I will believe them off Facebook! I know I’m cynical about these things, but still…I could never learn via Facebook, or expect my students to learn via Facebook, just because of all this cynicism on my part.
Thanks for sharing your insights! I also don’t believe anything that people shared through Facebook, but I still find the communities that I joined in Facebook is sometimes helpful 🙂
I would have to agree with Cassidy. I don’t think Facebook is exactly the most accurate educational tool there is. Nor do I think it’s “safe” as the the authors mentioned. I believe that it could be safe if only people new how to keep things private. If you are not careful about your information, people could find out where you live, work, eat, etc. I find that to be kind of creepy. And teenagers are not exactly known to be safe. So high school education is out. Not to mention that, as you noted, college students do not like using it for education as well. I don’t really see any educational points for it at all. But maybe that’s just me. I never really liked Facebook. The only reason I opened up an account was because my friends really wanted me to. But I am never on it lol.
Thanks for sharing your insights! I’m surprised that you don’t like Facebook! lol
Haha a lot of people are. I don’t know why I never really got into it. I guess we all have our own likes and dislikes haha 🙂 thanks for ur reply
I’m OK with students starting an organization site or a work group on their own, but (as you’ve probably have intuited) I’m very uncomfortable with the idea of requiring it for anyone.
Using a real name is a good thing, but if the options are Blackboard or Facebook, why Facebook? Blackboard is safer, by far. (there may be desirable Fb features, but there are other tools that will allow some of the same interactions)
I totally agree with you that Bb is way safer than Facebook. I guess students who didn’t realize and aware of the risk of stolen identity and copyrights issues will be more comfortable with using Facebook. Perhaps they thought it will be easier to have a Facebook page for learning purposes as they open their Facebook page everyday.