 The effects of using Facebook as a discussion forum in an online principles of economics course: Results of a randomized controlled trialOskar Harmon () and Paul A. Tomolonis International Review of Economics Education, 2019, vol. 30, issue C, - Abstract: This paper makes a comparison between using social media or traditional Course Management System (CMS) discussion groups in a fully online Principles of Microeconomics course. Students were randomly assigned to a discussion forum in either Facebook or CMS to discern a difference in the level of engagement and learning outcomes. The popular hypothesis is that students using social media have greater engagement with the class and higher learning outcomes relative to students using a CMS platform. Reasons for the positive effect include the ease of use and student familiarity with social media, which allows them to make more connections and gain a deeper understanding of the course material through discussions with others. Contrary to the widely held view, the results of this study suggest that participation in the treatment Facebook group is associated with declining student engagement and a reduction in the semester course average of 3 to 5 points on a 100-point scale. Keywords: Online; Social media; Facebook (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ireced:v:30:y:2019:i:c:5 DOI: 10.1016/j.iree.2019.100157 Access Statistics for this article International Review of Economics Education is currently edited by Guest, Ross More articles in International Review of Economics Education from Elsevier |
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