Utilising Facebook: immersing Generation-Y students into first year university

This case study explores the use of the online social networking site, Facebook, in helping immerse first year students into university culture, by furthering the development of academic and social relationships between peers. Facebook was chosen as the host site on account of the uniform strength of its features as compared to other popular social networking sites such as MySpace and Friendster, the image-sharing site Flickr, and the open-source software Moodle. The site’s popularity ensured that many students would be familiar with its layout and operation, while the ‘group’ and ‘event’ applications enabled the creation of an accessible, easily-maintained, and highly interactive online forum. Lastly, the 24/7 availability of the site conformed with the ‘anytime, anywhere’ work attitude of Generation-Y students. 100 first year design students took part in the study, within the course Imaging Our World at the University of Adelaide. Every two weeks, students were required to submit images to an online gallery in Facebook, and to provide critiques on peers’ submissions. The gallery topics were broad in nature, and open to the student’s own interpretations, allowing for a wide range of images in each: this produced a concurrently wide range of discussions. The galleries allowed students to connect with each other in a virtual environment, and thus to develop academic relationships freed from the constraints of the classroom and their own inhibitions. Through the use of such collaborative learning, students were able to engage with their peers and develop a sense of belonging within the learning community. Discussions often evolved from formal academic critiques to informal social interactions as the students became more comfortable with each other. In summary, the study was considered to have been a success, due to Facebook’s engaging and interactive qualities, the students’ existing interest and experience with the software, and their eagerness to connect with their peers. The project will be adapted in 2009 based on the initial findings of this study and the design of course-specific Facebook applications.Joshua McCarth