Impact of Using Facebook as a Social Learning Platform to Connect High School Students with Working Adults

This study examines "the Socla study program" to build a social learning community for high school students using Facebook and other Internet services. In the two-week program, the students worked on individual study projects that focused on their future plans. With the help of volunteer supporters and facilitators, the students found relevant information and received constructive feedback about their progress. We investigated how the program was accepted by the students and how it affected their views on the future using pre- and post-survey data. The results indicated that the students (a) viewed their own future more positively, (b) realized that learning about unknown subjects can be interesting, and (c) discovered that advice from their superiors was useful. Responses from the volunteer supporters showed that the program also worked as a reflective learning opportunity for them. Moreover, we identified several issues through the program to address for the success of this approach. (Contains 3 figures and 4 tables.) [For the complete proceedings, "E-Learn 2012. World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, & Higher Education. Proceedings (Montreal, Quebec, Canada, October 9-12, 2012)," see ED539516.]