A case study on integrating a Facebook group into a computer programming course

Abstract

The researchers conducted a study in a computer programming course of three engineering departments (civil, industrial, and mechatronics) in a Turkish private university (n=240). A closed Facebook group was set up for serving as an LMS for the course. At the end of the semester, the students were given a survey of three sections: demographic questions, three opinion-based questions on Facebook group use, and 32 Facebook-in-education perception-related 5-Likert scale. The mean scores showed that the majority of the students liked using a closed Facebook group. The two most important reasons were accessing the shared lecture notes ubiquitously and keeping themselves updated on anything related to the course. Additionally, the students agreed on the idea of keeping the Facebook group secret and the importance of establishing group rules. The students also reported that the Facebook group was not a waste of time or uninteresting for them. Lastly, comparison tests showed that there were certain items yielding significant differences based on gender, school year, and department variables.