ERIK NICOLAI JOHNSON
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
Teaching ESL/EFL Writing to the Facebook Generation
What I teach
First Year Composition Hybrid Writing skills for success in college
Persuasion Research Analysis Documentation Audience
Writing skills for success beyond college Formal letters Digital correspondence Social Media Presentation skills
Where and Who I Teach
Arizona State University Largest U.S. public university campus (55, 552—2009-
2010) Research I university
International Students Lines blurred between EFL/ESL students Very diverse (15-20 different countries) Engineering, Business 18-20 years
The Facebook Generation
Have grown up with MySpace/Facebook
Seem like social media experts
Often unaware of how they present themselves in social media
Often unaware of the permanent nature of social media
Why use digital tools?
Class sizes
Time constraints
Financial constraints
Physical constraints
Why social networks?
Studies show that students that connect with other students are more likely to do better in their coursework
(Heiberger and Harper, 2008)
Teachers can leverage the digital generation’s favorite social media to enhance that sense of connection
Facebook Facts
More than 400 million active users
50% log on to Facebook every day
More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
Average user has 130 friends on the site (sends 8 requests per month)
Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each
month Average user is a member of 13 groups
International Growth
More than 70 translations available on the site
About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States
BBC recently spent tens of thousand of dollars to train its employees to use Facebook (Revoir, 2010)
Significance?
The digital generation spends a great deal of the day on Facebook.
By connecting students to their courses, they may spend more time connecting to the course, content and ideas.
Readily available peer support
The technology is relevant
Everyone is on Facebook
Possible Downsides
The informal nature of Facebook may cause some disconnect from scholarship when posting ideas and questions on the Facebook course wall
(“Yo dude, ’sup with the low grade?”).
A subcurrent of conversation will arise around a course, often with faculty uninvolved and unaware of the activity.
Creates yet another electronic site for instructors to learn, check, incorporate into pedagogy and support.
Important Reasons for Teaching Facebook
Workplace
Activism
Workplace
Social Media and the workplace are becoming integrated.
Many employers expect young college graduates to be experts in social media.
Students must learn the difference in writing a news release, a blog post, a Twitter update, or generating content for a Facebook fan page.
Businesses are filling social media knowledge gaps by hiring students with these skills
(Young, 2009)
Print Activism
Digital Activism
Get on board!
References
Course App: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2791815712
EDUCAUSE (2008). 7 things you should know about...Facebook. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7017.pdf
Heiberger, Greg and Harper, Ruth (2008). Have you Facebooked Astin lately? In Reynol Junco and Dianne M. Timm (Eds). Using Emerging Technologies to Enhance Student Engagement. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Meta-Activism (2010). http://meta-activism.org/ Revoir, Paul (2010). BBC lavishes thousands of pounds to teach
employees to use Facebook. Daily Mail.com. Retrieved March 10, 2010 from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257487/BBC-lavishes-thousands-pounds-teaching-staff-use-Facebook
Young, Elaine (2009). Teaching the Facebook Generation. Businessweek. http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/nov2009/bs2009115_016982.htm