MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

The Media and Communication Studies Department (MCS) at the University of Maryland Baltimore County is dedicated to preparing students for success in our increasingly digital and interactive world. To meet this goal, we have developed and implemented assignments utilizing various new media and communication technologies, including social media, into our curriculum. The current presentation details and reflects upon the utilization of Facebook in our introductory ‘Media Literacy’ course.

While Facebook is not designed as an educational tool, it allows students to share their reflections of the course readings in a comfortable space. Despite the perception that you have to be ‘friends’ in order to communicate and share with Facebook; ‘Facebook Groups’ offers users private dedicated pages to share updates among a set of people. The group creator can individually invite people to the page, even if they are not ‘friends.’ Posts on the page are only visible to group members.

Students in Media Literacy are required to write a dozen posts during the semester. The purpose of each post is for students to reflect upon the reading while making a connection (link) to a contemporary example from the media. Students are encouraged to discuss and share whatever they find interesting related to the reading’s core arguments. The links can take the form of youtube videos, podcasts, blog posts, memes, and online essays. The professor can then mine these links in order to highlight key ideas during class discussion, explaining the course concepts in the frameworks already understood by the students. Additionally students can learn about the ideas and interests of their peers by reading each others’ posts; a practice that is encouraged through a commenting requirement. My talk will discuss the benefits of using Facebook in the course within the context of the scholarship on teaching and learning.