Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Anat Sci Educ. 2014 May-Jun;7(3):199-208. doi: 10.1002/ase.1404. Epub 2013 Sep 10.
Facebook is the most popular social media site visited by university students on a daily basis. Consequently, Facebook is the logical place to start with for integrating social media technologies into education. This study explores how a faculty-administered Facebook Page can be used to supplement anatomy education beyond the traditional classroom. Observations were made on students' perceptions and effectiveness of using the Page, potential benefits and challenges of such use, and which Insights metrics best reflect user's engagement. The Human Anatomy Education Page was launched on Facebook and incorporated into anatomy resources for 157 medical students during two academic years. Students' use of Facebook and their perceptions of the Page were surveyed. Facebook's "Insights" tool was also used to evaluate Page performance during a period of 600 days. The majority of in-class students had a Facebook account which they adopted in education. Most students perceived Human Anatomy Education Page as effective in contributing to learning and favored "self-assessment" posts. The majority of students agreed that Facebook could be a suitable learning environment. The "Insights" tool revealed globally distributed fans with considerable Page interactions. The use of a faculty-administered Facebook Page provided a venue to enhance classroom teaching without intruding into students' social life. A wider educational use of Facebook should be adopted not only because students are embracing its use, but for its inherent potentials in boosting learning. The "Insights" metrics analyzed in this study might be helpful when establishing and evaluating the performance of education-oriented Facebook Pages.
脸书（Facebook）是最受大学生欢迎的日常访问的社交媒体网站。因此，将社交媒体技术整合到教育中，脸书是一个理想的起点。本研究探讨了如何使用教师管理的脸书页面（Page）来补充课堂以外的解剖学教育。观察了学生对使用该页面的看法和效果、这种使用的潜在好处和挑战，以及哪些“洞察”指标最能反映用户的参与度。人体解剖学教育页面在脸书上发布，并在两个学年中纳入了 157 名医学生的解剖学资源。调查了学生使用脸书的情况和他们对该页面的看法。还使用了脸书的“洞察”工具来评估在 600 天期间的页面性能。大多数在课堂上的学生都有一个脸书账户，他们在教育中使用这个账户。大多数学生认为人体解剖学教育页面有助于学习，并倾向于“自我评估”帖子。大多数学生认为脸书可以成为一个合适的学习环境。“洞察”工具揭示了具有相当页面互动的全球分布的粉丝。使用教师管理的脸书页面提供了一个增强课堂教学的场所，而不会干扰学生的社交生活。应该更广泛地将脸书用于教育，不仅因为学生正在接受它的使用，而且因为它在促进学习方面具有内在的潜力。本研究中分析的“洞察”指标在建立和评估面向教育的脸书页面的性能时可能会有所帮助。
