A review on Facebook as a user-generated content environment in tertiary education

Abstract

In tertiary education, new learning processes, technologies and tools are increasingly applied to encourage and underpin students' involvement. Lately, these include the use of Facebook where users are participators instead of observers. The main aim of this paper is to investigate Facebook's usage for content generation in tertiary education. For this purpose, we review 19 relevant published cases to investigate the tools used and activities realised, the instructors' role as well as benefits and problems encountered. The paper concludes that students use tools like the Wall and multimedia uploading to ask questions, discuss and share resources. The role of instructors remains essential but is conversed to a facilitator initiating discussions and providing course-specific material. Finally, there is evidence that students' participation increases and they learn better. However, Facebook does not provide appropriate tools for educational purposes while privacy remains a main obstacle to its wider adoption.