Comment on a Teaching Idea: Faces of Facebook
The following article is concerned with a teaching idea I found on lehrer-online.de: Faces of Facebook - Faces de Facebook (click here to download!). This website is an online platform for teachers offering a wide range of helpful information, teaching materials, and ideas - similar to 4teachers.de. Faces of Facebook is a teaching concept of four to five lessons created by Prof. Dr. Inez Florio-Hansen, a professor of language and literary studies at the University of Kassel. In particular, it revolves around social networks such as Facebook and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Social networks like Facebook have become an indispensable part of our daily life and we as teachers are stipulated to address the facets of Web 2.0. Furthermore, our students need to be made aware of both the advantages of new media and possible risks they might be exposed to when dealing with personal data on the web in order to become responsible and critical users. Hence, covering various aspects such as the opportunities and the downsides of Facebook, this topic puts itself forward for the general topic New Media in FLE.
The Teaching Concept, Competencies and Teaching Aims
Facebook Logo (Forbes.com)
The teaching unit was conceptualized for students in the third or fourth year (B1) of English or French. All it takes is a projector and internet-enabled computers for every second student. An approach towards dealing with Web 2.0 in class, this unit aims at raising awareness of this phenomenon in order to educate students in terms of media literacy and self-reflection when working with ICT. Taking into account the potentials of the world-wide-web with regard to foreign language learning, social networks do not only serve as mere pastime, but also offer ways and means to enhance the students' communication skills and word pools. Moreover, the following competencies are considered:
Faces of Facebook is a rather open sequence, that is teachers can set their own priorities and students may choose individual topics they consider important in this regard. In other words, the actual results partially depend on the findings the students come up with. It offers various interdisciplinary topics and a creative collection of exercises referring to the implications of social networks for everyday life and sociopolitical aspects. For instance, the so-called 'Webolution', i.e. the impacts that Facebook and Twitter have had on politics in Tunisia and the Arab Spring, is thematized. Other topics are cyber-bullying and possible ways to protect oneself from the risks and dangers of social networks, reasons why social networks are that popular, the difference between virtual and real friends, and the question whether Facebook turns life into a database. Each task is explained in detail and comes with possible ideas, approaches, and suggestions.
With respect to teaching methods, the unit suggests alternating approaches such as partner work, group work, presentations, and online research. Thus, it takes different learning types into consideration and leaves room for creativity. Furthermore, the topics allow for several sorts of new media (creating comics, podcasts and videocasts) to ensure that the students engage themselves both actively and practically with media. One activity for creative textual work, for instance, is to create blogs where students get the opportunity to reflect more intensively on their experiences and behavior. On top of that, additional links, information and further teaching materials are included to complement and extend the topics.
- professional competence (appropriate verbal expression in the target language, self-reflection on social networks, implications for private life, etc.)
- media competence (using social networks in a constructive and creative way, being aware of possible risks, looking up information, presentation skills, etc.)
- social competence (teamwork, providing information for other students and the public)
Faces of Facebook is a rather open sequence, that is teachers can set their own priorities and students may choose individual topics they consider important in this regard. In other words, the actual results partially depend on the findings the students come up with. It offers various interdisciplinary topics and a creative collection of exercises referring to the implications of social networks for everyday life and sociopolitical aspects. For instance, the so-called 'Webolution', i.e. the impacts that Facebook and Twitter have had on politics in Tunisia and the Arab Spring, is thematized. Other topics are cyber-bullying and possible ways to protect oneself from the risks and dangers of social networks, reasons why social networks are that popular, the difference between virtual and real friends, and the question whether Facebook turns life into a database. Each task is explained in detail and comes with possible ideas, approaches, and suggestions.
With respect to teaching methods, the unit suggests alternating approaches such as partner work, group work, presentations, and online research. Thus, it takes different learning types into consideration and leaves room for creativity. Furthermore, the topics allow for several sorts of new media (creating comics, podcasts and videocasts) to ensure that the students engage themselves both actively and practically with media. One activity for creative textual work, for instance, is to create blogs where students get the opportunity to reflect more intensively on their experiences and behavior. On top of that, additional links, information and further teaching materials are included to complement and extend the topics.
Evaluation and Conclusion
Excerpt from Faces of Facebook
All in all, dealing with social networks such as Facebook in class is a highly motivating and authentic topic as it clearly has a bearing on our students these days. It is as up-to-date as it can be and definitely something that attracts their attention since most of them use social networks daily in their spare time. From a teacher's point of view, Faces of Facebook offers a lot of interesting teaching materials and ideas concerned with new media that are suitable for Foreign Language Education. Students work with online tools and, thanks to the implementation of various speaking and writing activities, enhance their foreign language skills simultaneously. Clearly structured, comprehensive, rich in variety, and easily accessible (no registration required, free of charge), teachers can choose from a creative collection of activities and select topics they consider worth dealing with so that students come to grips with the mechanisms of Web 2.0 and acquire a level of knowledge beyond the understanding of average users. That way, students become more critical and aware of the pros and cons of the world-wide-web. At the same time, teachers as so-called 'digital immigrants' can benefit from their 'digital-native' students, their knowledge, and experiences. The teaching plan makes use various sorts of media and does not require a lot of effort on the part of teachers since everything is well-explained and easy to implement. What I found really helpful was the attached language scaffolding explaining the most important terms and topics with regard to new media, Web 2.0, and so forth. Both teachers and students, however, require a certain standard of technical competence when using new media and web tools to create blogs, podcasts or comics. Though, everything is relatively easy to learn and handle so that the focus can be laid on gaining experiences and critical self-reflection. To round off the unit, I would suggest watching the movie 'The Social Network' and then deal with the activity "Generation Why?", respectively Zadie Smith's movie review (task 6, p.11). One activity that needs further explanation, in my opinion, is 'Dancing Auschwitz' (p.12) as its reference to social networks and the intended goals remain unclear to me. Possible questions in this regard might be whether or not it is appropriate to publish a video on such a sensitive topic on Youtube or other online platforms and if students would do the same considering possible consequences.
Links and further information
- Cyber-Bullying (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberbullying
- Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants (Marc Prensky 2001): http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf
- Digital Natives (neues.spezial, 3sat): http://www.3sat.de/mediathek/?display=1&mode=play&obj=16669
- Faces of Facebook (Prof. Dr. Inez De Florio-Hansen): http://lehrer-online.de/facebook-fsu.php?sid=37738977266828000432666886688850
- Information and Communication Technology (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_communications_technology
- The Social Network (Movie, 2010): http://www.thesocialnetwork-movie.com/