THE USE OF FACEBOOK AS A MEDIA TO SUPPORT BLENDED LEARNING

A.    Background

21^st century brings another challenge for educational institutions. Technology, which comes in a more sophisticated tool, brings different atmosphere in education. The finding of internet which is used widely all around the world affects the development of education. Internet enables the users to explore many things freely in unlimited amount. This thing makes the process of getting new material to support learning process easier than before.

Another thing that comes along with the finding of internet is social media. Social media are computer-mediated tools that allow people to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks. Social media is defined as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content."

Basically, people use social media to communicate with others and share information in a wider area. People are able to meet other people from all around the world through social media and exchange information. Because of the ability of social media to make communication process easier, people start to see it as a new life style in this 21^st century.

One social media that has been very famous nowadays is facebook. Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. According to statistics from the Nielsen Group, Internet users within the United States spend more time on Facebook than any other website.

Considering facebook potency to gather many people from many areas, this social media starts to be used for educational purposes. Many people, especially teachers, use facebook as a media to conduct discussion. Teachers make a group in facebook and invite their students to join it. They can discuss many topics in the group. Since the amount of face-to-face time in school is limited, students need a new media to enable them communicate with the teachers outside the class.

It is clear that the purpose of using facebook is as a media to support blended learning. Discussion is expected to take place in the group. However, we still need to find out whether all teachers have used facebook to conduct discussion related to the material.

I choose this topic to be discussed in my paper because of some factors. First, it is because facebook itself. People have already been familiar with facebook. Facebook has a high users comparing to other social media. It also has been used for educational purposes by many people all around the world. Me as the writer of this paper have seen many teachers use facebook to communicate with their students. The communication also happens between the students.

Second, blended learning becomes more popular nowadays since technology develops rapidly. The development of technology provides a lot of media to support blended learning. Teachers in many educational institutions start to be trained to get familiar with technology especially computer or laptop and internet. It makes the number of teachers who develop blended learning in class increase day by day.

B.     Objectives:

This paper is written in order to:

1.  Analyze the use of facebook for educational purposes.
2. Find the advantages of using facebook as a media to support blended learning. 
3.  Find the disadvantages of using facebook as a media to support blended learning.

C.    Review of Literature

• ·         Facebook

Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. The site, which is available in 37 different languages, includes public features such as:

1.          Marketplace - allows members to post, read and respond to classified ads.

2.          Groups - allows members who have common interests to find each other and interact.

3.          Events  - allows members to publicize an event, invite guests and track who plans to attend.

4.          Pages - allows members to create and promote a public page built around a specific topic.

5.          Presence technology - allows members to see which contacts are online and chat.

Within each member's personal profile, there are several key networking components. The most popular is arguably the Wall, which is essentially a virtual bulletin board. Messages left on a member's Wall can be text, video or photos. Another popular component is the virtual Photo Album. Photos can be uploaded from the desktop or directly from a smartphone camera. There is no limitation on quantity, but Facebook staff will remove inappropriate or copyrighted images.  An interactive album feature allows the member's contacts (who are called generically called "friends") to comment on each other's photos and identify (tag) people in the photos. Another popular profile component is status updates, a microblogging feature that allows members to broadcast short Twitter-like announcements to their friends. All interactions are published in a news feed, which is distributed in real-time to the member's friends. 

Facebook offers a range of privacy options to its members.  A member can make all his communications visible to everyone, he can block specific connections or he can keep all his communications private. Members can choose whether or not to be searchable, decide which parts of their profile are public, decide what not to put in their news feed and determine exactly who can see their posts. For those members who wish to use Facebook to communicate privately, there is a message feature, which closely resembles email.

In May 2007, Facebook opened up its developers' platform to allow third-party developers to build applications and widgets that, once approved, could be distributed through the Facebook community. In May 2008, Facebook engineers announced Facebook Connect, a cross-site initiative that allows users to publish interactions on third-party partner sites in their Facebook news feed. 

•  Blended Learning

Blended learning is an approach to learning and teaching which combines and aligns learning undertaken in face-to-face sessions with learning opportunities created online. Pennsylvania State University (2009) explains that a blended learning approach combines face-to-face classroom methods with computer-mediated activities to form an integrated instructional approach. In the past, digital materials have served in a supplementary role, helping to support face-to-face instruction. For example, a blended approach to a traditional, face-to-face course might mean that the class meets once per week instead of the usual three session format. Learning activities that otherwise would have taken place during classroom time can be moved online.

Blended learning has four levels. They are: Activity level (learning activity involves face-to-face and on-line activity), Class level (combines between some face-t0-face instruction and some on-line courses), Program level (applied to higher education which provides degree), and Instruction level (responsibility to incorporates face-to-face with on-line learning).

The purpose of blended learning is to intersect best aspects of face to face with online learning. In the class students are served with interactive learning experience. Then, on-line course enriches learning experience with the availability of courses and multimedia wherever students are, wither in computer lab, café, shopping mall, or home. Blended learning offers flexibility because a part of learning is carried out face to face and other part is online. It promotes students responsibility to allocate their time for study, work, and family. It also serve well those who do not want to join regular classroom.

 Blended learning offers some advantages as follow:

a.       Accessibility and flexibility;

b.      Less face to face learning;

c.       Enhancing learning independency;

d.      Retaining social interaction between students;

e.       Promoting participation for introverts.

 

D.    Analysis

Facebook that is commonly used by people all around the world has brought changes to the practice of teaching and learning process. It gives a new form of teaching and learning in educational institutions. Teachers use the group to gather students and conduct discussion. In fact, teachers do not always use facebook as a media to conduct a particular discussion. Some teachers only use it as a media to give the homework or uploading the material. They do not conduct a “real discussion” in group.

If the using of facebook is only to give homework, then it lost its meaning as a media of blended learning. In blended learning, teachers and students use other media to gain extra time of learning process. The students may ask questions that they do not understand. On the other hand, teachers can give additional material or upload new material for the students.

Actually, facebook provides many advantages as a media of blended learning. They are:

1.  Facebook is free : Facbeook can be accessed by people freely. People only need to make a facebook account to be able to share information, photos, or videos. They do not need to pay to be the member of facebook. 
2. Facebook is easy to access: Why can we say it is easy to access? Facebook can be accessed anytime and anywhere as long as there is a gadget and internet connection. Students and teachers may have discussion in any time they want. It also enables them to keep communicating with each other although they are in different place. 
3. Facebook provides private group: The discussion which is conducted in group can not be seen by other people who are not the member of the group. Students and teachers are still capable of having private discussion without any disturbance from outside the group.
4.  No time limit to access facebook: Since facebook is free and can be accessed anytime, it is possible that students have more time to disscuss in facebook than in school.
5.  Access to share video, photo, and other information: Through facebook, teachers are able to share not only written material (text) but also videos and photos. It will enrich the students’ knowledge because they get more input from the teachers although they do not have a face to face meeting. It also can link to another website. Students will get more information about the material through the use of facebook.

Besides its advantages to support blended learning, facebook has disadvantages to be considered. They are:

1.  Facebook can be addicting: Social media is a new style for people all around the world. People can not stay away from their gadget and social media even for just a few times. People spend most of their time using social media including facebook. If students can not e strict in term of limiting the time to access facebook, they may have trouble dealing with other things.
2.  Facebook provides many features: Other features like games, advertisements, quizzes, and news are available on facebook. Actually, it brings both advantage and disadvantage for the users. However, in the case of students, those features bring disadvantage. Students tend to choose games than discussing in facebook.

Most practice that is done by the teacher in the use of facebook as a media to support blended learning is not in proper way. Facebook is still seen as a media to communicate only in term of giving assignment or uploading assignment. When the teacher asks the students to upload their assignment on facebook, it may lead to another disadvantage. This kind of activity facilitates cheating between students. Students can directly download their friends’ work and copy it. Discussion which is the main activity of learning does not happen so often in the facebook.

E.     SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION

Blended learning has been popular since technology develops rapidly. Technology gives abundant media to support blended learning in school. One example is social media. People use more than one social media and they access their social media almost every day. One famous social media that is often used by many people is facebook.

Facebook supports blended learning because it enables people to meet other people from different area and share many things. They can share information, photos, and videos. Facebook also provides advantage and disadvantages to be considered.  Its ability to gather people makes people use it to support teaching and learning process. However, in fact not all teachers use facebook to discuss material or particular topic with the students. Teachers often use facebook as a media to give assignment and ask the students to upload their work through facebook. Without discussion, facebook lost its meaning as a media to support blended learning.

The use of facebook as a media to support blended learning should be improved. Teachers need to conduct more discussion with their students. Teachers also need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of facebook. Try to avoid or minimize the disadvantages and focus on take the advantages as much as possible. Facebook can be really helpful if the teachers and the students can work cooperatively. However, it will be harmful if the users can not be wise.

REFERENCES

Hartoyo. 2012. ICT in Language Learning. Semarang: Pelita Insani

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Facebook

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook