Overall Impressions on the Conduct of Grade 12 Curriculum Online Trial Run Class

Using Facebook App

By Naomi Gulifardo of 12-Wallace
Facebook is the most accessible online social networking platform. It is known for its
ease-of-access and comfortable interface. However the same cannot be said when it is used as
a tool for online learning. Here are some of the observations made by students on the conduct
of trial learning classes held last 7th of September to 11th of September 2020.
First, it is a distraction. It is ironic in itself that FB will be used hand-in-hand with
school when it is taught to be avoided when doing work. There are a lot of diversions in the
app---shared posts, memes, extra-curricular organization pages, etc. Personal life and school
life cannot be differentiated when you have updates competing in your notifications bar.
Sometimes, it’s hard to keep track of what is being posted because of the platform algorithm.
A student might miss an important and urgent announcement. An adverse effect is that the
student will keep his/her eyes peeled in front of the computer screen in fears of missing out
on an important update.
Second, the file names and group pages have confusing names. It is hard to rummage
through several pages one is a part of. The file names also have different formats; a student
can also lose track of the amount of work that needs to be done. A PDF file still has to be
converted to word files and vice-versa. Sometimes, the layout can get messed up in the
process. Another thing is that the file names can also come off as intimidating. This
predicament is easy to manage if the student has a working laptop. Meanwhile for mobile
users, renaming and converting these files might be trickier.

Third, posting on FB groups for submission has issues as well. Files of students who
post their work earlier can be downloaded by others. The FB groups of other sections can
also be accessed. Not only that, seeing your peers work at a pace faster than yours is also a
form of academic pressure. Due to stress of seeing them pass earlier, having open-access files
makes FB a cheating haven. All groups should be private. Files that are to be posted for
submission should be subjected to admin confirmation so that all outputs will be posted at the
same time. This also helps manage the notifications bar (as posting outputs notify all of the
members of the FB group).
On the aspect of Quizzes, another noticeable problem is the inability to assess whether
the student answered it honestly. Again, it is easy enough to cheat using this means. This
renders the purpose of having quizzes in order to gauge student’s learning, somewhat useless.
After answering the quizzes, all the answers are shown. This makes it easy for the other
students to copy by having discussions thru private message. On the other hand, it’s equally
hard for students to answer quizzes at the same time. It is still recommended to have open-
timed quizzes to accommodate varying bandwidth speeds.
Facebook as a social learning platform is somewhat inefficient due to reasons stated
above. However, these problems can be overcome if:
1. The student makes a separate account solely made for school.
2. The students and teachers coordinate in order to keep one another posted for
announcements, posts, submissions, etc. For example:
 a) Teachers will make a timetable when he/she will post.
b) Students will make a schedule/chart of file submission dates, etc.
(Wallace had one.)
3. Have a tutorial for students to learn how to pin their groups.
4. Have a separate platform for quizzes.
5. If all else fails, explore a different platform.
It is understandable as to why FB was chosen as an online learning platform. It
does not consume as much as data as its competitors. Nevertheless in order for it to be
efficient, the problems stated above needs to be addressed. The students are also
willing to help their teachers if any problem does arise. We are all in this together.
Eventually, the students will get a hang of it anyway.