Mohammad Derawi, Gjovik University College, Norway

In this paper, we study the social networking website, Facebook, for conducting courses as a replacement of high-cost classical electronic learning platforms. At the early stage of the Internet community, users of the Interned used email as the main communication mean. Although email is still the essential approach of communication in a suitable but offline mode, other services were introduced, such as many Instant Messaging (IM) software applications like ICQ, Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and MSN, which enable people to connect in a real-time mode. However, the communication between people was further improved to the next phase, when Facebook came to reality as a social networking homepage that wires many features. People do not only link with others, but also establish all kinds of connections between them. Facebook offers rich functions for forming associations. The framework of Facebook actually delivers without charge software that were provided by traditional electronic learning. This paper looks at how people apply Facebook for teaching and learning, together with recommendations provided.

Facebook, Education, Social Network Services