This study provides an updated critical review of the literature on Facebook as a technology-enhanced learning environment based on papers published between 2012 and 2015. It adopts a revised classification of the categories identified in a previous study, which emphasized three main Facebook affordances – mixing information and learning resources, hybridization of expertise and widening context of learning. The aim is to investigate to what extent studies using Facebook as a learning environment exploited these affordances. Literature has been also analysed according to three types of educational use of Facebook – formal use in formal learning settings (FUF), informal use in formal learning settings (IUF) and use in informal learning settings (UI) – to highlight if and how Facebook affordances have been exploited in these learning settings. Literature search identified 147 articles published in peer-reviewed journals. The results show that most of the articles can be classified as dealing with FUF (N = 69; 46.9%) or as IUF (N = 68; 46.3%); only a minority concerns the UI (N = 10; 6.8%). Overall, the study found that Facebook pedagogical affordances are still partially implemented, although different types of educational use of Facebook exploit these affordances to different degrees. It also provides indications for future research.

Lay descriptionWhat is currently known about the subject matter:
Facebook still stands as the most popular social network site
There is an abundant research literature on Facebook
Studies on the educational value of Facebook have grown exponentially in the last years
A review on Facebook as a technology-enhanced learning environment was published in 2013


What this paper adds:
This study is an update of the critical review published in 2013
It takes into account studies published between 2012 and 2015
It refines the methodology adopted in the 2013 review
It introduces a classification of educational uses of Facebook according to the formal/informal continuum


Implications of study findings for practitioners:
Facebook is still mostly considered as an open alternative to traditional learning management systems
Facebook pedagogical affordances are still partially implemented
Teacher guidance and forms of assessment are claimed according to degrees of formality and informality
Cultural issues in the use of Facebook in education should be further investigated

Is Facebook still a suitable technology-enhanced learning environment? An updated critical review of the literature from 2012 to 2015

https://findresearcher.sdu.dk:8443/ws/files/146646041/AN_EVALUATION_THERMOMETER_FOR_ASSESSING_CITY_SUSTAINABILITY_AND_LIVABILITY.pdf

An evaluation thermometer for assessing city sustainability and livability

The habits of university students today have changed drastically thanks to the technological tools at their disposal and the access to an enormous amount of information on the web, which they can copy, use and reference in their assignments. Unfortunately, the line has become blurred about what is and what isn’t permitted by their professors and their universities, sometimes resulting in students committing plagiarism. Research has shown that many students arrive at university unprepared. They lack the informational skills needed to research and choose the information relevant for their assignments, the writing skills necessary to properly integrate the found information with paraphrases or quotations, or the referencing skills to provide their sources in order to write their assignments with integrity. In this research, we aimed to examine how professors in six different universities viewed their role in the teaching of academic integrity by means of educating students on informational, writing, and referencing skills as well as teaching their students about plagiarism prevention. Forty-nine professors and lecturers were interviewed about their role in the teaching of various skills. Results show that there were four types of information searching assignments required by the professors: searches for published information, searches for authentic contextual information, searches limited to the handouts given to the students and no information research required. Seven roles emerged from the data, from the Ambassador professor who takes full responsibility for the teaching of skills to prevent plagiarism to the Detached professor, who completely dissociates from this responsibility for different reasons. Recommendations are presented on how to encourage professors to adopt the four roles of the “Integrity Ambassador”: the intermediary who promotes the discovery of all services available to students; the awakener, who encourage students’ appreciation of learning for the sake of learning; the accompanist, who guides and supports students with direct interventions in class so that they develop the skills and knowledge necessary to write their assignments with integrity; and finally, by being a model, the Integrity Ambassador cultivates a climate of integrity in class and in the university, showing how one can lead an academic life with integrity.

/pdf/teaching-academic-integrity-in-quebec-universities-roles-3wj1yba9kt.pdf

Teaching Academic Integrity in Quebec Universities: Roles Professors Adopt

A clear understanding of terminology is crucial in any academic field. When it is clear that complex interdisciplinary concepts are interpreted differently depending on the academic field, geographical setting or cultural values, it is time to take action. Given this, the Glossary for Academic Integrity, newly developed by the European Network for Academic Integrity project, served as the basis for compiling a comprehensive taxonomy of terms related to academic integrity. Following a rigorous coding exercise, the taxonomy was partitioned into three constituent components – Integrity, Misconduct and Neutral terms. A review of relevant literature sources is included, and the strengths and weaknesses of existing taxonomies are discussed in relation to this new offering. During the creation of these artefacts the authors identified and resolved many differences between their individual interpretative understandings of concepts/terms and the viewpoints of others. It is anticipated that the freely-available glossary and taxonomy will be explored and valued by researchers, teachers, students and the general public alike.

/pdf/enhancing-the-taxonomies-relating-to-academic-integrity-and-5g003uipph.pdf

Enhancing the Taxonomies Relating to Academic Integrity and Misconduct

Finding a way to improve students' learning performance is a crucial concern in education reform. Many researchers have investigated possible predictors of student learning performance, including personality traits, learning styles, self-efficacy, and so on. Nevertheless, there is limited research that examines the effectiveness of the interaction between students and teachers, achievement sharing, and the classroom environment. This study investigates the impact of effective communication between students and teachers, achievement sharing, and a positive classroom environment on learning performance through an empirical analysis. We found that when teachers create a sense of community, respond to students and foster positive relationships, students are more engaged and enthusiastic about learning and tend to perform better academically. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Impact of Effective Communication, Achievement Sharing and Positive Classroom Environments on Learning Performance

By design, Facebook is a social networking facility. The writer, as a part-time teacher in management subjects, adapted his Facebook account into an e-learning facility to support his students in business studies. This paper reviews the current venture by the writer of using Facebook-based e-learning system to support his students. Seventeen academic forums on various management subjects have been set up to provide the learning resources to students on a virtual basis. Such forums are also intended to foster interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning and research by their users. The experience of this e-learning system venture is reflected on in terms of a few contemporary systems thinking notions in general and in terms of the Multi-perspective, Systems-based (MPSB) thinking in particular. The MPSB research was mainly conducted in the mid-1990 by the writer and was reported in refereed journals at that time. The present research paper provides an illustration on one of the MPSB concepts, known as ‘Enlightening management education’—a concept that was least discussed in the published MPSB research. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Research Paper: Providing E‐Learning Support to Part‐Time Students in Business Disciplines Using Facebook from the Multi‐Perspective, Systems‐Based (MPSB) Perspective

Plagiarism is a hot topic in the education sector. Mainly focusing on the business education sector, the paper reviews the literature on plagiarism and exposes the soft complexity underlining the plagiarism problem. The complexity of the plagiarism theme is further depicted using the cognitive mapping technique, which can be considered as an attempt to enhance the multiperspective, systems-based cognitive filter in the multiperspective, systems-based research. Finally, the paper recommends the employment of systems thinking that endorses the employment of multiple perspectives and multiple methodologies in future research works on the topic of plagiarism. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An Exploration of the Problem of Plagiarism with the Cognitive Mapping Technique

MPSB frameworks and decision support systems studies

Literature review skill as covered in the subject of Research Methods is not only useful for doing dissertation projects in academic programme study but also valuable for informing practising managers to cope with actual workplace management issues and concerns. To make literature review easier for practising managers to carry out, the writer proposes the agile literature review approach (ALRA), primarily for applied business research and practices. The main ALRA aim is to promote a complicated understanding of a management topic and its associated management concern by the ALRA user. Although the agile approach is lightweight, its effective application requires endorsement of contemporary systems thinking; this thinking is theoretically profound, thus requiring longâ€ term engaging intellectual learning to master. Copyright Â© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Joseph Kim-Keung Ho

Papers

A Research Paper: Providing E‐Learning Support to Part‐Time Students in Business Disciplines Using Facebook from the Multi‐Perspective, Systems‐Based (MPSB) Perspective

An Exploration of the Problem of Plagiarism with the Cognitive Mapping Technique

MPSB frameworks and decision support systems studies

On the Agile Literature Review Approach for Practising Managers: A Proposal