Week 6: Social Network Site (SNS) “Facebook” and Networked Knowledge Activities (NKA)

While reading this week’s article by Dennen et al. (2020), I was reminded of when I taught Grade 2 as a pre-Junior teacher about seven years ago. During that time, I regularly posted activities on Facebook as part of the summer holiday homework, and all the students were part of the group. The students were excited to use Facebook and engage in activities on digital platforms, which also allowed them to stay connected with their classmates during the break. They actively participated in the comments, sharing their perspectives and what they had learned. My experience aligns well with the authors' findings that “Facebook has a high degree of posting and commenting, with knowledge negotiation frequently visible in the comment-based dialogues” (p.167).

Additionally, Facebook is designed to support direct knowledge construction through various posts and comments. The platform’s structure encourages interactive discussions, making it an effective tool for collaborative learning. Moreover, other apps like Instagram and Threads are well integrated with Facebook, allowing for seamless interconnectedness and flow of information. This integration is particularly beneficial for sharing purposes, as it extends the reach and accessibility of shared content across multiple platforms.

Another useful feature of Facebook for creating knowledge is that, since groups are joined by a limited number of people, there is control over comments, allowing members to keep track of the discussions and ensures a more manageable and focused exchange of ideas.

Based on my experience, I suggest educators engage learners on Facebook to effectively use it in today's world, where social media is an integral part of their lives. By incorporating Facebook into educational activities, educators can tap into students' familiarity and enthusiasm for the platform, fostering a more engaging and connected learning environment. 

Reference: Dennen, V. P., Word, K., Adolfson, D., Arechavaleta, V., He, D., Hsu, C. W., ... & Toth, K. (2020). Using the networked knowledge activities framework to examine learning on social networking sites. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Web-based Communities and Social Media (pp. 165-172).