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Research

Teachers using Facebook groups: a study and a suggested code of use

Annika Bergviken Rensfeldt, Thomas Hillman & Neil Selwyn

Research Summary

Social media are now an important aspect of the professional lives of school teachers. This research explores the growing use of mass ‘teacher groups’ and ‘teacher communities’ on social media platforms such as Facebook. While these online communities are often welcomed as a means of professional learning and support, Facebook groups may also expose teachers to some of the less beneficial aspects of social media, such as various forms of ‘digital labour’, commercialisation and reputation‐driven behaviour. Drawing on a detailed examination of a Swedish teacher Facebook group of over 13,000 members, the research addresses aspects that could be seen as professionally valuable: information exchange and communication. Yet while perceived by participants as an uncontroversial aspect of their working lives, the research also points to characteristics of the Facebook group that could be viewed as disadvantageous.

Researchers

Annika Bergviken Rensfeldt, Thomas Hillman & Neil Selwyn

Research Institution

Monash University, Australia

What is this about?

This research is about teachers’ use of Facebook, specifically, Facebook teacher groups, with reference to one particular Swedish example, a 13, 000 plus member group dedicated to flipped learning. It explores whether membership of the group is straightforwardly beneficial – making contacts, sharing ideas, developing practice – or whether less desirable elements intrude, such as unpaid labour, use of private or personal time for work, unequal power relations or a lack of professional dialogue or debate.

What was done?

All interactions (posts, likes, comments, etc.) in the group over a three-year period (2012-15) were requested, obtained and analysed: over 3,000 postings, over 13,000 comments and nearly 700,000 likes. An additional survey was posted to the group inviting teachers to answer. This survey received 44 respondents who answered both demographic items and items that addressed such topics as why they had joined the group and their view of the group theme. From this group was then formed a focus group of 10 for further interviews and, finally, a series of longer interviews was also conducted with the group moderator.

Main findings and outputs

  • The Flip‐it Facebook group was set up by a Swedish middle‐school teacher who continued to act as the group moderator throughout the period of research.
  • As with all Facebook groups, the main content was a series of posts and comments. Members wrote short messages, included links to websites, images, videos and other resources, and occasionally notifications of events. Anyone accessing the page would on occasion see about 20% of their screen featuring targeted advertisements chosen algorithmically by the platform.
  • Over the 3 years there were 2,970 original posts with an average of 36 words per post.
  • 13,193 comments were posted in reply with an average of 25 words per comment.
  • Nearly half the members made no active contribution.
  • Many of the threads involved some form of redistribution and ‘sharing’ of content.
  • The moderator and the 20 most prolific contributors accounted for well over a third of all posts and comments.
  • The page brought users into various forms of advertising and was often used for self-promotion or reputation-building.
  • Often, members’ responses were emotional rather than academic or professional.
  • Only 32% of responses were made in normal working hours; 11.5% were made in summer holidays.
  • The group appeared valued as a community, but the researchers make some suggestions –
    teachers might be encouraged to reflect upon and develop professional modes of collegial, constructive social media engagement, e.g.;
    not necessarily replicating standard social media traits and norms (continuous ‘liking’, superficial posting, non‐critical engagement);
    expected values might include openness, mutuality, constructive criticism and debate;
    there could also be expectations of the group only being active for certain periods of designated ‘work’ time.
  • Teachers’ work is changing and teachers ought to keep a critical eye on the changes; digitalisation is inevitable, but the problems as well as the advantages should be explored.

Relevance to RE

The research should be of interest to members of groups such as Save RE (over 7,000 members at the time of writing). Would the researchers’ ideas about professional norms and values on teacher Facebook groups be useful in improving the service provided by RE Facebook groups, or members’ ways of engaging with them?

Generalisability and potential limitations

This is a study of one Facebook group, but the group is a large one and the methodology very detailed and thorough. Whether the group resembles others is for members of others to reflect on and consider, but in that case the researchers have already succeeded in their aim of getting teachers to be more critical about their use of Facebook. The structure of the Facebook group studied mirrors the structure of any Facebook group.

Find out more

The full article is: Annika Bergviken Rensfeldt, Thomas Hillman and Neil Selwyn, Teachers ‘liking’ their work? Exploring the realities of teacher Facebook groups, British Educational Research Journal (2018) 44:2, 230-250.

https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/berj.3325

 

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