ISSN: 2347-7474 International Journal Advances in Social Science and Humanities Available online at: www.ijassh.com CASE STUDY Anastasios Theodoropoulos et. al.|March 2014 | Vol.2 | Issue 3|43-56 43 Facebook as Teaching Tool in Higher Education: A Case Study Angeliki Antoniou, Anastasios Theodoropoulos*, Konstantina Christopoulou, George Lepouras Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Peloponnese, Tripoli, Greece. *Corresponding Author: Email: ttheodor@uop.gr Abstract Social networks (SN) seem to play a significant role in young adults’ and university students’ lives. Since students already use them in their daily life, why shouldn’t formal higher education incorporate them? The paper presents qualitative and quantitative data gathered through one academic term, after using Facebook as a teaching tool in Higher Education and investigates ways that SN can be used in teaching and learning. Issues of students’ personalities, learning efficiency, motivation, cultural differences, gender differences and patterns of use are discussed. Keywords: Social networks, Face book, Higher education, Teaching, Cognitive Style. Introduction Observing the first year students (average age 18 years) before the beginning of lectures, it seemed that most of them were using their Facebook accounts, if not solely, at least in parallel to other activities. Since these were computer science students, most of their teaching involves the use of computers in class. Talking to colleagues, it seems that students do not just use the computers during class only for their course work, but seem to be distracted with other activities, too. Use of Social networks (SN) was among the biggest issues and students seem to access those sites either from desktop computers of from their mobile phones. Since technology is there and students use it, how can we turn it from a class distraction to a teaching tool? This question lead to the development of the present work. Using the [1] definition, a social network is a “web-based service that allows individuals to (1) construct a public or semipublic profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system”. Previous studies show an extensive use of social media by teenagers that seem to spend a large proportion of the day logged on. In the USA average use per person per day was about 6.5 hours [2]. In addition, college students spend more time on SN rather than in classes [3]. More than 95% of British undergraduate students use SN regularly [4]. Even in cases where the use of SN is not allowed, a common reaction of formal educational systems [5], students discover new ways to overcome the restrictions [6],[7] and therefore, since they will use them, formal education might need to consider incorporating them in teaching and learning, and transform them in learning tools. However, SNare rarely used in formal education [8]. From a constructionist point of view, the very characteristics of SN could directly lead to learning, since they support easy exchange of information, communication of learners, social connections, etc. [9-13]. There have been past attempts to investigate the role of SN in formal education [14-15]. For example, researchers at [16] used SN in a higher education setting to build better relationships between the university, students and staff. Another study found that teachers do not have directly negative attitudes towards the use of certain social software [17]. However, it is a known phenomenon that teachers and faculty usually react to the use of new technologies in class and they rarely adapt new tools effectively [18]. Especially, regarding SN and Facebook, they seem to believe that it is not for educational purposes [19]. On the other hand, students seem ready to experiment and use new technologies for learning purposes [18], including SN and Facebook [19] and in fact, students spend a large proportion of their time in SN talking about their education and specific learning