5 Friendly Ways to Use Facebook in Your Teaching

Facebook as icebreaker. Use a structured format and a set of specific questions to get students to introduce themselves in a Facebook group: “Hi! My name is Bob. I’m from Arkansas. I like New York Super Fudge Chunk. Go Razorbacks!” Make the format rich so that students can find kindred spirits.

Team up. Use Facebook as an ongoing study group organizer, so students can post when they’re looking for help. Then encourage students to be responsive to peers. Faculty need to tune in too and look for ways to help when nobody else is picking up the slack.

E-portfolio lite. Have students use Facebook groups to post low-stake reflections (or links to reflections) on what they’re learning. If it’s high-stakes, then use a traditional e-portfolio program. Facebook is for making connections, not being evaluated.

Open office hours. Invite students to post their questions to your Facebook profile, then record a video with your answer to the question. If it worked for Stanford’s (CA) BJ Fogg (bjfogg.com), it can work for you!

Give shout-outs. Provide reflections on your latest class and use students’ names as much as possible: “Thanks to Ashley and Josh for their excellent contributions today in class….” “I want to thank Cameron for his question about yesterday’s topic.” That signals that your relationship with students, their participation in class, and their work in the course are all important.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • SXSW EDU

    Explore the Future of AI in Higher Ed at SXSW EDU 2025

    This March 3-6 in Austin, TX, the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival celebrates its 15th year of exploring education's most critical issues and providing a forum for creativity, innovation, and expression.

  • man working on laptop outdoors

    Digital Leadership Must-Haves for 2025: A CDO's Picks

    Now that he's more than a year and a half into his chief digital officer role at NJIT, we've asked Ed Wozencroft to reflect on his areas of concentration: What work must digital leaders "own" in 2025?

  • From Fire TV to Signage Stick: University of Utah's Digital Signage Evolution

    Jake Sorensen, who oversees sponsorship and advertising and Student Media in Auxiliary Business Development at the University of Utah, has navigated the digital signage landscape for nearly 15 years. He was managing hundreds of devices on campus that were incompatible with digital signage requirements and needed a solution that was reliable and lowered labor costs. The Amazon Signage Stick, specifically engineered for digital signage applications, gave him the stability and design functionality the University of Utah needed, along with the assurance of long-term support.

  • digital artwork of glowing, interconnected neural-like shapes on a gradient background of deep blue and vibrant purple

    Google Announces Upgrade to Flagship Gemini AI Platform, Enhancing Multimodal Capabilities

    Google has launched Gemini 2.0, designed to empower enterprise users and developers with advanced multimodal capabilities and enhanced performance.