Using Facebook to teach Communication and Academic Literacy Skills: perceptions of University students in Botswana

Abstract

Social media such as Facebook and twitter are now widely used by students to communicate with friends across the world. These social networking technologies have now infiltrated into education. However, there are different perceptions regarding whether Facebook should be used for teaching and learning purposes. To further explore this issue, this study investigated perceptions of students (n=209) learning communication and academic literacy skills at the University of Botswana. Data was collected using a paper questionnaire adapted from (Roblyer, 2010), and interviews conducted on six of these students. Findings show that 87.1 % (n=182) of these students used Facebook. 96.2 % of these (n=200) used Facebook daily. They mainly used Facebook for socialisation and other purposes such as networking, seeking information, entertainment, communication, and shopping. However, 63.2 % (n=406) of the 642 responses show that students agreed that Facebook should be used in education to teach communication and academic literacy Skills. These findings support previous recommendations that Facebook should be used in education because it facilitates communication, and it is accessible and cheaper to use.