Classes incorporate varied online aspects

In a wired society, almost every college campus uses an online component to manage classes and work.

However, though the majority of students are logging onto systems like myUCF to submit an assignment, UCF junior digital media major Alanna Honigman is logging onto Facebook.

"My French professor had us join a class Facebook group where we would create a photo album and upload pictures," Honigman said. "Then we were also expected to comment on photos uploaded by other classmates by the end of the semester."

Honigman is not alone. She is just one of many students whose professors have chosen to join the social network in order to enhance classroom learning.

"I feel like it helps student learning because it keeps the class interested," Honigman said. "Since everyone is online anyways, why not incorporate it in the classroom?"

Honigman's professor, Elizabeth Giltner, has been implementing Facebook in her French classes for several semesters.

"The way I saw it was the majority of students were already on Facebook, I was just adding to it," Giltner said. "It helps the subject matter change from a classroom setting to a more personal one. Getting French to resonate with them in that way was one of the benefits."

Thomas Bryer, an assistant professor in UCF's Department of Public Administration, conducted research on educators who use social media websites in college classrooms. Bryer believes the use of websites like Facebook in the classroom will continue to grow.

"The tools allow for easy sharing of information and ideas, and also low-cost bridging between the student and the community," he  said. "Social media can allow people from the community to come into that setting as opposed to something like Webcourses, where they can't do that."

Bryer said the results of their study were across the board. Younger instructors typically were the ones who used the technology. Facebook was also the No. 1 site that was used, both personally and professionally.

"Everyone's online now," senior exceptional student education major Jamie Kahn said. "I definitely feel the majority of college students are using some type of social media. I can't think of any of my friends who don't have at least a Facebook."

Kahn uses Facebook in her American Sign Language course at UCF.

"A lot of the assignments are videos we record of us signing, and having Facebook to upload them makes it a lot easier," she said. "Then we make comments on each other's videos and give tips about how to improve our signing."

About 72 percent of young adults in the U.S. use social networking sites, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center in February.

Many professors are now joining the social networks and adding to the 47 percent of adults who already use them.

However, according to Bryer, this raises a host of concerns — mainly a privacy issue.

"One respondent said she didn't want her students to necessarily see the pictures of her kids on Facebook,"  Bryer said "Another respondent said she didn't really want to know what her students did on spring break. They wanted to protect the boundaries that exist between professor and student."

"Professor Giltner even said ‘I don't want to check Facebook and see inappropriate status messages, so if that's the case, just make another account for class," Honigman said. "[Creating another Facebook account] has the potential to rub people the wrong way."

Bryer disagreed with a method of separation.

Instead, he said that full access opens up opportunities for students to better their learning in a safe way.

"In U.S. culture, we have our workday self divided from our family self, our Saturday-night self divided from our Sunday-morning self," Bryer said. "They're different personalities so we try to keep them separate. I feel there are benefits to allowing students to see the full personality of the professor. Social media in the classroom allows that to happen in a safe environment."

As for Honigman, having to employ social media for assignments doesn't bother her.

"I like using it for class because it's pretty simple; college students know how to use it," she said. "Easy assignments shouldn't be complained about."

Bryer said there is longevity in using the technology as a teaching tool.

Though he said there's more research he wishes to conduct on the effectiveness, he said his findings have produced favorable results — not just in the classroom, but beyond college.

"As we study service learning, we find that using social media allows for highly productive interactions between community partners and also potential employers for students," Bryer said. "I think it could really help students in the long run, and that's what is most important."