Social Media to Promote Content Learning, Motivation, and Collaboration in Teaching Research

Abstract

Despite the importance of offering Research courses in the curriculum, there is a dearth of research on how to teach Research methods or courses. This study presents the attitudes and perceptions of the students towards using Facebook (FB) Group in teaching Research. It was conducted for one semester to 75 secondary students at the University of the Philippines High School Cebu, Cebu City, Philippines. Employing descriptive research, this study used the Student Attitudes and Perceptions of Using FB Survey by Pollara & Zhu (2011) which was validated through focus group discussion. Findings show that students "Somewhat agree" that using FB Group in teaching Research developed their content learning, motivation to learn and collaborative skills to achieve research tasks. The instant messaging promotes collaborative learning and direct interaction among co-students and teachers. Despite the distractions in the FB Group environment and the lack of internet connection among the students' homes, the respondents still suggested to continue using FB Groups as an alternative elearning system. They further suggested that teachers must monitor their students' behaviors when using FB during class hours. This study further suggested on conducting a correlation on the impact of using FB Groups on the students' academic performance. Keywords-Social media in teaching; Facebook as elearning system; teaching research methods First Indonesian Communication