Using social media for educational purposes : Facebook example

In this research, it was aimed to determine the views of university students at different education levels related with their Facebook usage purposes, their Facebook use for educational purposes and their use of Facebook social network as a distance education tool. In addition, it has been examined whether there is a meaningful relationship between Facebook usage goals and educational Facebook usage levels in terms of gender, age, education level, Facebook usage frequency, continuous internet accessibility, device used while connected to Facebook and time spent in Facebook. In line with these objectives, research has been conducted with higher education students who have membership in Facebook social network. Data collection in the research that uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods consists of two phases. Facebook Usage Aim Scale, which was developed by Mazman (2009) to collect quantitative data in the first stage, Facebook Usage Aim Scale, which was developed by Mazman (2009), Facebook Facebook Education Use Scale, which was developed by Mazman (2009) "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher has been used in order to determine. The form created with Google Docs infrastructure has been delivered to students via Facebook. The second data gathering phase is based on the Facebook social network, and the students who participate in the content and education program developed by the researcher. At the end of the course, students who participated in distance education via Facebook applied their opinions by applying evaluation form created with Google Docs system. In the quantitative study part of the study, 1226 and in the qualitative study part, 48 higher iv education students participated. The obtained data were analyzed with SPSS 20.0 package program. In the analysis of the data, percentage, frequency, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values, Mann Withney U test, Kruskall Wallis test and Spearman Rho correlation analysis were used. According to the findings obtained from the analysis of the data in terms of the factors which are gender, age, level of education, Facebook usage frequency, having continuous internet access, it was found that there is a meaningful difference between the device used while connected to Facebook and the time spent on Facebook. According to the results of qualitative findings, it has been found out that the lessons that are processed as distance education through the Facebook social network are efficient, communication and interaction are high, comfortable and socially processed with different people. The results of quantitative and qualitative findings can be used efficiently for communication, sociability and studies, cooperative learning can be provided, and the course resources and materials can be used efficiently.