Use of Facebook in Collaborative Learning to Enhance Learning Outcome in a College of Bangladesh *

Introduction

The government of Bangladesh has endorsed the ‘National Education Policy, 2010’ to build an educated, self-reliant, scientific-minded and dynamic nation. Higher Education is the critical section of this part to achieve the SDGs in the long term. Higher education aims to grow the students ‘as creative, rational, tolerant to others’ opinions and liberal who can lead the country towards inclusive development’ (Economic Review, 2018, p. 191). The Government colleges are assigned to provide a large segment of the country’s higher education. These colleges apply traditional delivery of instructions. Recent changes and technological progress in learning pedagogy are not practiced here (Mannan, 2016). High dropout rates, low attendance and large class sizes are crucial problems that colleges are dealing with. Students often miss class for different reasons. Teachers deal with many students at a time, and students learn individually. From this perspective, ensuring student engagement and achieving desirable learning outcomes is challenging.

Therefore, it is high time that modern pedagogy, such as, collaborative learning, is employed to ensure the system’s effectiveness. The role of social media, specifically Facebook, in this setting must be evaluated further to attain the system’s efficiency. Evaluating Facebook as a supportive tool of effective collaborative learning can engender new ways to achieve student satisfaction in these institutions and will explore ways to reach the desired goal of Bangladesh’s national education policy.

Collaborative learning is an extensively used instructional method that encourages students to learn together to achieve a specific learning goal. Here, students participate in groups to share their knowledge and expertise, and teachers act as facilitators (Scager et al., 2016). However, ensuring the effectiveness of collaborative learning is a challenge, and the potential of learning this mode is often underused (Scager et al., 2016). The theoretical lens of social constructivism best explains collaborative learning theory, where the learning atmosphere cannot be split from its socio-cultural background. The social context learners bring to their learning environment is important (Isaacs, 2013). Here lies the significance of social networks and connectivism. Facebook, as the most popular social networking site, has the high potential ‘to connect with current and prospective students and also to deliver instructional content’ and thus can be used as an innovative and ‘effective pedagogical tool to improve the academic performance of students’ (Al-Rahmi et al., 2014). However, social media, especially Facebook, is often considered a disruptive technological innovation, and ‘there is a dearth of literature that articulates the positive educational incentives activated by disruptive technological innovation in higher education’ (Rambe, 2012). This is why Facebook is often prohibited in educational institutions despite its enormous popularity. This fact entails the necessity of examining the effectiveness of Facebook in support of collaborative learning.

This study, in general, intends to explore the influential role of Facebook in the collaborative learning approach. More specifically, it seeks to identify the crucial factors that mostly influence the effectiveness of collaborative learning, addressing the major collaborative practices along with the obstacles and challenges of the system. Then, it will investigate the influence of Facebook on this connection. This investigation will be based on the perceptions of teachers and students. The guiding research question is ‘What are the influences of Facebook on Collaborative learning?’ The study findings will give advantages to academicians, faculty and practitioners of the corresponding institutions to enrich and enhance the horizon of their teaching and learning area. It will contribute to education policy at the national level by providing important instructions for pedagogical advancement. Finally, this study’s findings will guide future researchers for further investigation and research in the educational environment.

Literature Review

Studies based on the use of Facebook in collaborative learning are very sparse. Only a few studies have attempted to evaluate Facebook as a pedagogical tool for collaborative learning overtly. The inherent theoretical perspective of collaborative learning is embedded in Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky’s idea of ‘the zone of proximal development’ in which individual learner is expected to achieve cognitive gain beyond their ability if they are allowed to interact with more advanced peers (Fernández et al., 2014). However, research exploring the true association between Vygotsky’s thought and online education is very scanty. Vygotsky’s idea helped to construct the famous social constructivist theory of learning, which stated that knowledge is co-constructed via social and cultural interaction across learners sharing academic ideas (Gamble & Wilkins, 2014). Technology expands the horizon of social constructivist theories, appending collaborative learning with new technology and introducing the new ‘area of computer-supported collaborative learning’.

In this connection, this study investigates the evidence of how the integration of Facebook cooperates or diffuses these features in proceeding with a collaborative learning approach. The heterogeneity of the participants, degree of participation and quality of interaction are evidenced as crucial for achieving the effectiveness of the approach (Scager et al., 2016). Another crucial factor that affects the effectiveness of collaborative practice is the complexity of the task. The success of collaborative learning depends on active regulation and sufficient effort allocation for coordination, planning and organising of joint actions and group tasks (Vuopala et al., 2016). The collaborative learning approach can achieve desired learning outcomes through participation and interaction and by necessitating instructors’ intervention in the collaboration process through an optimal level of feedback. Coll et al. (2014) found that instructors could contribute to ‘both elaboration and verification feedback’ about the three learning dimensions: learning content, academic task and social participation in an online collaborative learning approach. As a supportive instrument of a collaborative learning approach, Facebook can augment students ‘motivation, participation and depth of knowledge’ (Johansson, 2016). Linh and Suppasetseree (2016, p. 1) found that some instructional models developed for helping university students enhance their English writing skills collaboratively using Facebook groups bring broad changes and enhanced interaction between teachers and students. Sarwar et al. (2019) extensively covered the potential practice of social media as a dominant resource of ‘information’ for collaborative learning. Social media, according to them, are feasible and potential mediators of collaborative learning for ‘easy accessibility, direct interface’ and some other expedient facilities

Wang et al. (2012) delineated some limitations of using Facebook groups as a learning management system, even though they did not deny the inherent built-in functions of Facebook for pedagogical and social contribution. Facebook allows the sharing of abundant information without concern for its quality, standard and suitability from a learning and academic point of view (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010). The unrestrained and easy accessibility of social media leads students to consider them a tool for leisure activity and entertainment, engenders unwanted fascination and trends and eventually hampers the execution of collaborative learning (Sarwar et al., 2019). ‘Cyberbullying’ is another concern in the practice of using social media as a support of collaborative learning. It dampens the positive relationship between collaborative learning and learner performance (Sarwar et al., 2019, p. 1). Johansson (2016) identified lack of motivation, experience, location, interest and Internet access as the negative factors or challenges of retaining the full potential of using Facebook in a collaborative learning approach.

Individual research on the collaborative learning approach is numerous, and individual research on Facebook as a learning issue can also be observed. However, research on Facebook as a collaborative learning tool is less frequent. Moreover, perceptions of students and teachers have not been found in this regard. Evidence from the teachers is very scanty; there was no persistent trend in research approaching students and teachers together regarding this issue. Finally, very few of the studies have gone through the in-depth qualitative investigation that this study has intended to start.

Methodology and Data

This study adopted an interpretive and qualitative research paradigm to investigate educators’ and learners’ experiences in their narratives. The researcher chose her workplace—the Department of Economics, a leading government college of Bangladesh, Government Rajendra College, Faridpur—as the sample source because it was convenient regarding time and cost. The department comprises 13 teachers and 250 students in each batch from the first year to the master’s level. The target batch of the study was the second-year regular attending students. The sampling technique was a non-random, convenient one. The research went on with two consequent interventions—applying a collaborative learning mode in the first place and then using Facebook simultaneously to support collaborative learning. There are two groups of respondents here. The first group comprises six department teachers and the second group comprises 16 students, forming two FGD groups among the second-year regular attending students. The intervention data for FGD was collected in two phases. After conducting the first intervention of collaborative classes, the study accumulated the first phase of FGD data. Then, a virtual interaction started inviting all students to a Facebook Group. This virtual interaction went on through announcement sharing resources simultaneously with collaborative class. After conducting simultaneous intervention of collaborative class and Facebook intervention, the study collected second phase FGD data from the participants.

Clear and specific interview schedules and protocols have been constructed as instruments of the research mapping with the research question and satisfying the interview protocol refinement framework. Before applying those in the field, a pilot study in a limited space was also organised. Data triangulation, or the participant’s triangulation method, was followed to check the data validity. Thematic content analysis method has been used to analyse interview and FGD data. The thematic content analysis method has resulted in three broad themes from the research question under three subsections in the data analysis chapter. Each subsection produced sub-themes from interview data according to the content analysis method.

Findings and Discussion

Findings

While investigating the research question ‘What are the influences of Facebook on Collaborative learning?’ This study uncovered the discussion among teacher and student participants addressing the influence of three main themes explored from the designed questions. Table 1 shows the three main themes which are—organisation and theoretical issues, effectiveness and benefits of the collaborative class and possible potential to meet the disruptions and challenges of collaborative class. Fourteen subcategories or subthemes emerged under the three main themes designed in the interview schedule and FGDs.

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Table 1.

Research Question: Influence of Facebook on Collaborative Learning (Three Main Themes).

Influences on the organisation/theoretical basis of collaborative class. Influence on effectiveness and benefits of collaborative class. Influence on disruptions and challenges of collaborative class.

Influences on the Organisation and Theoretical Basis of Collaborative Class

To explore how Facebook exerts influence on the organisation of collaborative classes, respondents talked about ‘limited class time’ (four students and Teacher E), ‘large class size’ (four students and Teachers C and D) and ‘awkward class arrangement’ (one student and Teacher D). Teachers also produced important opinions about the matter’s ‘theoretical practice’ (Teacher A). Table 2 shows the two sub themes under the main theme of organizational and theoretical basis of collaborative class. All students stated that it was difficult to accommodate a complete collaborative class within their scheduled time for a single class of forty minutes. Students felt they could not physically meet outside class for collaboration because they reside in different places. However, they can interact on Facebook. Some groups informed us that they created their messenger groups to make the group conversation first and then used the Facebook group for the final submission of tasks, discussion and evaluation.

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Table 2.

Main Theme 1: Influences on the Organisation and Theoretical Basis of Collaborative Class.

Time of class/sitting arrangement/organisation/class structure/class size. Theoretical issues.

Teachers also confirmed Facebook’s role in creating such an asynchronous learning environment, and some teachers stated that Facebook can provide synchronous and asynchronous learning environments simultaneously. Teacher E mentioned:

‘We can start a collaborative class within this scheduled forty minutes, but we cannot complete the effective collaboration within this time frame’.

Carrying the class to the next session on the next day or week mostly discontinues the topic. In this connection, Facebook may provide support to expand the collaborative class into a virtual stage and thus facilitate teachers’ retention of the class continuity.

Students also expressed their unhappiness with the existing seating arrangement. They asserted that they usually sit four to five students together on a long bench and lack the modern class arrangement for conducting group work. Thus, isolated collaborative classes without using Facebook have brought the feeling of discomfort. Teacher D also mentioned:

‘Arranging benches for face-to-face collaboration and discussion is disturbing and time-consuming also’.

Facebook use can remove these limitations of arranging collaborative classes in our existing setting design. This is because Facebook is beyond any such requirement of the physical organisation of collaborative discussion.

Another theme that emerged relating to the organisation of collaborative classes is to work with large class sizes. All student respondents remarked that isolated collaborative classes taking so many students were somewhat disordered and hectic. Teacher C remarked:

‘Even though some flexibility of rules allowed us to work with around 60 students at a time, our actual class size is near 200 in every academic year’.

Conducting a collaborative class taking this huge class size is difficult within our designed time and class pattern. Facebook has allowed interaction with students before class and form groups and provided necessary instructions so that physically conducted collaborative classes can be organised nicely.

Some teachers talked about Facebook’s theoretical support for learning and added that Facebook as a learning tool satisfies the belief of social learning theory, which states that learning occurs through observing others’ views and activities and assists students in achieving socio-cognitive gain. One student supported this evidence, saying.

‘On Facebook, we learn from others through watching others’ logic and ideas, writing style and in-depth knowledge about the content, and we can enrich ourselves through constructive evaluation’.

As both types of participants agreed, Facebook can provide the theoretical support for a collaborative learning strategy.

Influence on Effectiveness and Benefits of CL

Table 3 explains the sub themes under the main theme of influence on effectiveness and benefits of CL. The sub themes are-nervousness, feedback pattern, interaction, time spent, engagement and competition. Students mentioned feeling nervous and hesitant when collaborative class was conducted without Facebook support. They felt physically inadequate, less informed and less confident in face-to-face conversation. One student said:

‘In face-to-face conversation, I felt hesitant and afraid to ask my teacher and peer any question. I often feel anxiety about what others will think about my approach’.

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Table 3.

Main Theme 2: Influence on Effectiveness and Benefits of Collaborative Class.

Nervousness, hesitation and fear. Pattern and degree of feedback. Higher level of interaction. Considerable time for reading. Engaged and motivated. Competition.

Teachers also mentioned that sometimes psychological factors retard students from exploring their full potential and ability. Shy and introverted students suffer a lot from such inappropriate fear and frustration and thereby remain less focused and less concentrated in classroom collaborative learning. However, Facebook removes the fear and allows flexible comfort zones for asking relevant questions.

Students again pointed out the ‘degree of feedback’ from teachers and stated that when teachers asked them to think more on Facebook regarding a topic, they gave more importance and attention. They found that the teacher asked questions on a topic instead of direct point-to-point replies and corrections. Teachers admitted this finding stating that consistent and asynchronous assistance over Facebook leads students to respond more constructively. This is confirmed by a student saying.

‘When my teacher asked me to read more and comment, I went through the text again, conceived the content intensely, and then commented on the group’.

Both teacher and student participants agreed they experienced a ‘higher level of interaction’ at Facebook. Students were informed about higher levels of peer interaction. Students explored their experience of higher interaction with peers through peer review and evaluation of each other’s work on Facebook. Teachers in this connection mentioned that Facebook uncovered the heterogeneous ideas of a larger number of students and thus enhanced the core beneficial aspect of the collaboration process.

Students confirmed that they found substantial time to read and reply in Facebook collaboration. They could properly utilise their leisure time to learn on Facebook. One student mentioned

‘The time I spent badly before is now used for learning’.

Teacher B also supported this view, saying,

‘I usually put greater effort in Facebook collaboration to keep students engaged and motivated for intense reading outside class’.

So, students now spend a ‘considerable time reading’ relevant text than before.

Finally, students found that learning collaboratively on Facebook raised ‘competitiveness’ for learning among themselves, and they fought to give their best. Even students who confessed that they did not do much on Facebook also benefitted.

Therefore, participants agreed that the use of Facebook could afford enormous support to enhance the effectiveness and benefits of collaborative practice by easing learners’ nervousness, hesitation and fear, affording an enhanced level of feedback, ensuring a higher degree of interaction, allowing considerable time for reading outside class, keeping students engaged and motivated and finally engendering competitiveness in learning.

Influence on Disruptions and Challenges of Collaborative Learning

Respondents of this study cited some core problems of collaborative learning techniques in their setting. Those include ‘non-familiarity with the system’ (Teachers A and C), ‘free-riding tendency’ (Teacher D, Student 7), ‘dominating and dictating tendency over poor learner’ (Teacher B, Students 3 and 12), etc (Table 4). Respondents also talked about Facebook’s position on those points. Students informed that they found some members of the collaborative class remained inactive and had a ‘tendency to refrain’ themselves from the assigned task. However, those students were equally evaluated in the final assessment. Teachers also expressed their concern regarding this. They felt this problem would not be alleviated unless each student could be monitored and evaluated according to their isolated contribution to the team. They believe that Facebook can do much to solve this problem as it is easier for teachers to follow and observe every student’s comments and activities on Facebook and thereby evaluate them accordingly.

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Table 4.

Main Theme 3: Influence on Disruptions and Challenges of Collaborative Learning.

Nonfamiliarity with the system. Free riding tendency. Dominating and dictating tendency over poor learners.

Students also affirmed that in some cases, group members were highly ‘dominated and dictated’ by a few group members. One student explored his frustration, saying

‘I feel disturbed when I see some students are getting over-excited while defending their arguments’.

In this connection, students justified Facebook as being free of such chaos and disorder, and Facebook helped them reach the desired consensus without any such dominance and disorder.

Teachers confessed that the most crucial challenge of collaborative technique is our ‘lack of expertise and familiarity with the system’. They thought students should also be accustomed. To reap the technique’s potential, teachers must be trained and skilled. Still, teachers thought they could start with Facebook, taking all these limitations. As Teacher C mentioned:

‘We can implement collaborative techniques, but we are not still ready. In that sense, Facebook can do a lot’

So, teachers supported using Facebook as a means to get familiar and accustomed to the collaborative learning practice.

Conclusion

Colleges in Bangladesh are highly in need of enhancing the quality of learning. The introduction of modern learning theory retains the significance from that point of view. As one of the most promising pedagogical concepts, collaborative learning strategy is necessitated to apply now in these colleges. However, the learning technique requires some particular institutional and instructional design. Its effectiveness also depends on some other preconditions of the educational setup. There is a need to give insight into how the collaborative learning approach can effectively be implemented despite all the barriers and limitations in the learning environment.

Recent technological advancement has endorsed flexibility in sharing information in synchronous and asynchronous communication. The introduction of computer-supported collaborative learning emerged to get technological support in the learning system. The use of Facebook in a learning context is a very recent topic and retains huge prospects if it can be researched and applied properly in learning. The significance lies in the aspects of social connectivity and Facebook interaction, which are thought to be important in collaborative learning systems. From that point of view, this research intends to examine the influential role of Facebook in the collaborative learning approach. It has investigated the perceptions and feelings of teachers and students as study respondents. It has addressed the research question of the influences of Facebook on collaborative learning.

This qualitative research approach is similar to a case study. It used non-random and purposive sampling techniques. It conducted an individual semi-structured interview to explore teachers’ perceptions and two FGDs to get students’ perceptions. Both student and teacher participants explored how Facebook influenced the organisation, effectiveness, benefits, disruptions and challenges of collaborative classes in their institution. The findings are that Facebook supports collaborative organisation of their class in their limited class time, large class size and awkward class arrangement for its advantage of asynchronous connectivity and interaction. Teachers confirmed that Facebook could effectively achieve the socio-cognitive gain of learners supported by the social learning theory. Facebook enhances the effectiveness and benefits of collaborative classes by easing learners’ nervousness, hesitation and fear, providing greater feedback, allowing higher interaction, creating a competitive tone in learning with greater motivation and engagement to learning, and finally, affording considerable time for reading. Respondents found that collaborative learning mode faced some challenges in their learning environment. Those are non-familiarity with the system, free-riding tendency, dominating and dictating tendency over poor learner, offensive words towards opponent group and learner, etc. They admitted that Facebook, in this context, can play a role in exploring opportunities to make the system familiar to the learner and to track and monitor their behaviour and attitude to ease the challenges of an isolated collaborative system.