- The document discusses using Facebook groups to implement peer-assisted learning (PAL) for large university classes with many commuting students. Over 40 PAL groups were created on Facebook for various first and second year math, computer science, physics, and engineering courses. - Benefits of the Facebook groups included facilitating academic and social interaction between students, sharing resources and collaborating online, and providing a space for questions and discussions that was always accessible. However, some students disliked using Facebook for academic purposes or having their university experience integrated with social media. - Overall feedback from students was largely positive, with many finding that the groups helped them feel less isolated, get quick answers to questions, and build a sense of community within

1. Sarah Honeychurch: @NomadWarMachine
Shazia Ahmed: @ShaziaAhmed
Using Facebook groups for Peer
Assisted Learning: building
communities and enhancing the
student experience

2. How many of you …
• Use Facebook?
• Use Facebook professionally?
• Know the difference between:
– a profile, page and a group?
• Understand Facebook’s privacy settings?

3. Background
• Problems implementing F2F PAL
– Large classes
– 3 subject system
– Room bookings
– Commuting students
flickr photo by Renato Ganoza
http://flickr.com/photos/rzganoza/5814827282
shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license

4. The beginnings
Year 1
• L1 Maths
• L1 Comp Sci
Year 2
• Groups rolled over to L2
• L1 Maths
• L1 Comp Sci
• L1 Physics and Astro
• L1 Engineering

5. Over 40 groups in CoSE
This year

6. Benefits
• Academic and social interaction
• Sharing resources and collaborating
• Always available (including holidays)
– No need to wait for next week’s session/tutorial
– Can come back to old threads later
• Everyone has equal voice
• Clear articulation forced

7. Examples of conversations

8. Examples of conversations

9. Examples of conversations

10. Feedback
• “Keep going with these Facebook groups and try as hard as possible
to get EVERYONE in the group as early as possible in first year. In
my experience as a student who travels in, it helps feel a part of the
University. Without the Facebook groups I would feel a lot more
isolated and probably a lot less engaged .”
• “A good way to create a community from a large cohort of students.
Really good that it didn’t become cluttered with trivia and non-group
related matters.”
• “It builds a sense of community and you learn people’s faces and their
name.”
• “FB groups have been invaluable.”
• “Often a good way of finding information that is otherwise buried
somewhere on Moodle. Can sometimes be helpful close to exam time
when people post learning resources (e.g. shared Google Docs for
completing past papers together) that wouldn't happen without the
groups.”

11. Feedback
• “Personally it gives me confidence because if someone posts a
question that you were stuck on also...it makes you feel less stupid
because you know that other people are also struggling with some
concepts in the course, it’s not just you.”
• “Reading how people approach different problems.”
• “It’s like being in a tutorial sometimes.”
• “If you're stuck / need to know some piece of information it takes
literally seconds to hop on Facebook and make a post. Also, because
the uptake of the groups, in terms of membership, is so high, you're
likely to get an accurate response very quickly.”
• “During term time things being identified in notes/exercises such as
typos or mistakes were helpful.”
• “Getting other perspectives on topics. Collaborative exam solutions.”

12. Disadvantages
• “Dear Shazia & Sarah
It annoys me that I might be missing out on interesting
discussions. I think that it is great to encourage learning
and to discuss mathematics. However, I refuse to use
Facebook. Moreover, I don't think Facebook is the correct
place for discussing mathematics - University is the
correct place. I don't want my university experience to
become part of Facebook. Kind Regards Anon”
• “Didn't want to join them because I'm not interested in
updates from my classmates, I use Facebook just for
social events, messaging.”

13. Discussion
• Would you use this sort of model
with your students?
• Why (not)?

14. Sarah Honeychurch: @NomadWarMachine
Shazia Ahmed: @ShaziaAhmed
Using Facebook groups for Peer
Assisted Learning: building
communities and enhancing the
student experience