Student Engagement in a Facebook Group Supporting a University Couse

Facebook groups have become popular tools and are often used for educational purposes. In the current study, a Facebook group was created as a support to a course in the university with the participation of the students and the management of one of the researchers, in order to better understand what makes the students be more or less engaged in the group. By the end of the semester, 44 students have answered an open question in an online questionnaire about their engagement. Their answers were analyzed into six factors behind active engagement or lurking in the Facebook learning group: getting help with the learning material, the quality of the group leader's response, students’ sense that they were not coping alone with the difficulties of the material, the group's interactive nature, the prizes and the game-play and accessibility. This action research shed a light on the students’ motivation to participate actively in learning Facebook groups and enrich their learning experience.