The Efficacy of Facebook in Teaching and Learning: Studied via Content Analysis of Web Log Data

Abstract The use of social network sites (SNS) as learning tools has potential advantages to teaching and learning process. This study investigated the effectiveness of Facebook in teaching and learning a computer science course in a university preparatory year setting in Saudi Arabia. Based on the web log data collected, a qualitative content analysis approach is used to discuss the teaching and learning observations with reference to the four themes: Learning Motivation, Academic Communication, Collaborative Learning and Interactive Learning; abbreviated MC2I. Our findings help to effectively develop a comprehensive understanding of the learners’ behaviors and the nature of the learners and lecturer interactions with respect to the above four themes. Our experimental results demonstrate that the students’ positive attitude has been enhanced when utilising Facebook and Web 2.0 tools in their learning activities.

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