Staff Ed: Facebook in schools a step in the right direction

Thursday night has arrived again, and senior Evan Ye is quickly running to his computer. Nothing needs to be typed or printed. Instead, he logs into his Facebook account, seeing dozens of notifications from the school AP Biology group: students asking for the date of the next exam, for the definition of an allosteric enzyme and if they need to print out the Chapter 6 lecture notes before next class. Ye is one of the administrators of a user-made AP Bio group on Facebook, which was created during the summer.

In a world in which people sometimes seem to communicate more with technology than in person, the intersection of Facebook and school has been a long time coming. Facebook can and should be used as an additional study tool to help students learn and understand material. Additionally, teachers should take advantage of Facebook by using it as a teaching tool and means of communication with students.

For the 2011-2012 school year, Facebook groups exist for all of the AP sciences, save AP Environmental Science, plus groups for AP Calculus AB and BC.

Additionally, groups exist for each of the AP US History classes. All of the aforementioned groups are created and maintained by students, each with one to three administrators who function as “moderators” for the discussions that take place.

Online study groups allow students to pose questions to anywhere between 30 to 100 of their classmates simultaneously, often yielding immediate response and discussion. Students ask each other about difficult problems, and this discussion improves understanding of the material.

For the benefit of teachers, Facebook can be used as a place for teachers to post links to lectures, diagrams and any websites that could help students further learn material that was taught in class. Follow-up comments and clarifications for test dates also make students more aware of the happenings of the class.

Using Facebook is much more reliable than sending emails to students because students usually check Facebook much more often than email.

By linking students to sources, teachers eliminate persistent problems, such as students neglecting to print notes and offer another source for students to immerse themselves in the given subject.

For this reason, certain teachers like Trig/Precalc Honors and Algebra 2 teacher P.J. Yim have created Facebook groups for their classes themselves. Not only does this allow an instructor to regulate what types of conversations go on in the group, but it also allows the teachers to make announcements, follow up on lectures, and offer help to any students who may need or request it.

Some believe that members of an online Facebook group also must be Facebook friends; however, this is not the case. Yim, for example, is not a Facebook friend of any of his students.
Additionally, the problem of “trolling,” or posting inflammatory comments, is an issue that can be easily handled if the administrators do their jobs properly, regardless of whether or not the group is student- or teacher-run.

Because Facebook makes it easier for students to learn and understand material, schools should embrace it as a 21st century learning tool and utilize it to its fullest potential.