Handbook of Design in Educational Technology

24 Learning with Facebook Group—Interaction in Action

Gila Kurtz, Hagit Meishar-Tal, and Efrat Pieterse

1. Introduction

Though interaction is a critical component of the online learning process, it is a challenging task to promote an effective interaction that serves the collaborative educational process. Studies conducted on the use of course sites in higher education show that the use of these environments is usually limited to a one-way mediated communication from the professors to students by posting course materials and announcements (Coats, James, & Baldwin, 2005, Nachmias & Ram, 2009, Shemla & Nachmias, 2007). These studies suggest that course sites are usually used in an instructor-led lecture-based format and less in innovative ways, ...