Blog #5

Bibliography 5

McCarthy, J. (2010). Blended learning environments: Using social networking sites to enhance the first year experience. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 26, 6, 729-740.

This article focuses on the social and academic interaction between peers at the university level.  The study was done to determine if social network sites are meaningful in the learning environments.  The researchers studied to see if engaging students with their peers on the online site Facebook was just as effective to learning as traditional teaching mechanisms.  In the article, 120 students had to create an account on Facebook, interact with their peers and build relationships with each other.  Additionally, students had to submit work online and take an assessment on Facebook.  Students then had to attend an in class lecture to discuss their experience on Facebook.  The students had to take a survey to answer various questions to their experience on Facebook.  The questions assessed the students attitudes towards ‘on-line’ and ‘in class’ communication with their colleague. 

The article found that many of the students thought the opportunity to interact with their peer on Facebook was an effective tool for the learning experience.  They preferred the online interaction instead of being singled out in a classroom.  Furthermore, students thought the assessment was a good learning tool.

In general, I thought the article was meaningful for Facebook.  However, this article does not provide adequate generalizations for all social networking sites.  To be more comprehensive, more research should be completed on the other social networking sites.