1) The document proposes using Facebook to complement mass lectures by providing a persistent online classroom space to engage students. 2) A study of 321 students found that those who joined the optional Facebook group had better attendance and exam scores than those who did not. 3) The Facebook group allowed for increased contact with course content and peers, providing a "double-dose" that benefited learning outcomes. However, the study design did not rule out self-selection effects.

1. SIX POINTS FOR SIX POSTS:
THE USE OF FACEBOOK TO
COMPLIMENT THE MASS LECTURE
Nicholas David Bowman, Ph.D.
Meagan Bryand, M.A.
Lindsey Carr, B. A.

2. PREMISE
• Mass lectures are an
historical and integral part
of University experience…
• …that often leave
students disengaged and
disenfranchised

3. PREMISE
• Common complaints:
– Lack of cognitive engagement
– Lack of attendance
– Lack of P2P connectedness

4. PREMISES
• facebook might address
these by providing a
persistent classroom
• a „ready space‟ for
engagement and
relationships

5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• How does student membership in a course-
related Facebook group affect:
– RQ1: students‟ cognitive learning?
– RQ2: students‟ class attendance?
– RQ3: student-to-student connectedness?

6. METHOD
Sample Facebook Usage
• N = 321 students (195 • 46% joined (n = 148)
male, 126 female) in an
introductory mass media • Avg. of 6.88 posts (SD =
course 9.50, skew = 4.09); 1.88
• Voluntary enrollment in responses per post
supplemental facebook • Heavy positive skewed,
page
suggesting a few ‘super-
• Page started Day 1 to
present, all students invited posters’ with many lurkers

7. RESULTS - USAGE
Exam Admin Class- Peer Humor Affect Unrelated Instructor Random
Review Related Support Links Support
Links
61 17 16 15 13 8 27
# posts 201 119
1.46 3.41 2.74 .292 .288 .375 1.64
Avg # comments 3.60 2.47
per post
39 0 3 1 5 8 13
# posts initiated by 64 60
Instructor
.923 0 4.33 0 0 .375 2.92
Avg # of 3.66 1.22
comments per post
22 17 13 14 8 0 14
# posts initiated by 137 59
students
2.00 3.41 1.15 4.39 3.75 0 .357
Avg # of 3.54 3.71
comments per post

8. RESULTS – RQ1
• Attendance (assignments)
– In-group: (M = 5.23, SD = 1.79)
– Out-group: (M = 4.43, SD = 2.07)
– t(319) = -3.69, p < .001
• No correlation between number of posts
and attendance (r = .124, p = .144)

9. RESULTS – RQ2
• Cognitive learning
– In-group: (M = 78.55%, SD = 8.54)
– Out-group: (M = 72.64%, SD = 13.60)
– t(319) = -4.71, p < 001.
• “No” correlation between number of posts
and learning (r = .158, p = .061)

10. DISCUSSION
• Students engaging class online scored higher
on their exams
– Increased contact with content
– Increased contact with each other
• A ‘double-dose’ of (persistent) content, from
multiple perspectives

11. LIMITATIONS
• Quasi-experimental design
does not account for self-
selection
• Blunt measurement of cognitive
learning qua memory recall
(exam grades)

12. FOR MORE INFORMATION
PLEASE CONTACT:
Nicholas David Bowman, Ph.D.
Nicholas.Bowman@mail.wvu.edu
onmediatheory.blogspot.com
@bowmanspartan