1.4 Adapting personal Facebook use for education

Students wanting to use Facebook as part of their student life tend to join specific groups relating to many aspects of student life. Those surveyed at The Open University said they found that seeing content related to their studies pop up in their timeline was motivational and made them feel part of a student community (Mallon, in press).

As you saw in the previous section, because anyone can create a Group there are many, many Facebook groups. There is no limit to how many groups you can join, but content will potentially clog up your timeline. It is therefore important that you learn which are the best to join for your needs. This may include joining a group to see if it works for you, and then leaving if you find that the tone or content are not motivational or helpful to your study.

Another way of working through the choices is to consider what you want out of the Group. For example, a quick search of Facebook today (22 April 2023) revealed that in Manchester there were Facebook groups relating to specific modules, degree courses qualifications, finding a student flat, halls of residence, freshers’ week, etc. It is safe to say that there is likely a Facebook group for most aspects of student life.

It is important to remember that while some of these Groups may be associated with universities or other organisations related to education, such as the Student Room, most Groups may be more casual and unofficial. In the next section you will learn more about how to assess a good Group.