1. SIX POINTS FOR SIX POSTS:
THE USE OF FACEBOOK TO
COMPLIMENT THE MASS LECTURE
Nicholas David Bowman, Ph.D.
Meagan Bryand, M.A.
Lindsey Carr, B. A.

2. PREMISE
• Mass lectures are an
historical and integral part
of University experience…
• …that often leave
students disengaged and
disenfranchised

3. PREMISE
• Common complaints:
– Lack of cognitive engagement
– Lack of attendance
– Lack of P2P connectedness

4. PREMISES
• facebook might address
these by providing a
persistent classroom
• a „ready space‟ for
engagement and
relationships

5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• How does student membership in a course-
related Facebook group affect:
– RQ1: students‟ cognitive learning?
– RQ2: students‟ class attendance?
– RQ3: student-to-student connectedness?

6. METHOD
Sample Facebook Usage
• N = 321 students (195 • 46% joined (n = 148)
male, 126 female) in an
introductory mass media • Avg. of 6.88 posts (SD =
course 9.50, skew = 4.09); 1.88
• Voluntary enrollment in responses per post
supplemental facebook • Heavy positive
page
skewed, suggesting a
• Page started Day 1 to
present, all students invited few ‘super-posters’ with
many lurkers

7. RESULTS - USAGE
Exam Admin Class- Peer Humor Affect Unrelated Instructor Random
Review Related Support Links Support
Links
61 17 16 15 13 8 27
# posts 201 119
1.46 3.41 2.74 .292 .288 .375 1.64
Avg # comments 3.60 2.47
per post
39 0 3 1 5 8 13
# posts initiated by 64 60
Instructor
.923 0 4.33 0 0 .375 2.92
Avg # of 3.66 1.22
comments per post
22 17 13 14 8 0 14
# posts initiated by 137 59
students
2.00 3.41 1.15 4.39 3.75 0 .357
Avg # of 3.54 3.71
comments per post

8. RESULTS – RQ1
• Attendance (assignments)
– In-group: (M = 5.23, SD = 1.79)
– Out-group: (M = 4.43, SD = 2.07)
– t(319) = -3.69, p < .001
• No correlation between number of posts
and attendance (r = .124, p = .144)

9. RESULTS – RQ2
• Cognitive learning
– In-group: (M = 78.55%, SD = 8.54)
– Out-group: (M = 72.64%, SD = 13.60)
– t(319) = -4.71, p < 001.
• “No” correlation between number of posts
and learning (r = .158, p = .061)

10. LIMITATIONS
• Quasi-experimental design
does not account for self-
selection
• Blunt measurement of cognitive
learning qua memory recall
(exam grades)

11. FOR MORE INFORMATION
PLEASE CONTACT:
Nicholas David Bowman, Ph.D.
Nicholas.Bowman@mail.wvu.edu
onmediatheory.blogspot.com
@bowmanspartan