Naife Subahi

Thoughts about FaceBook:

 

1- What sort of literacy is required to use Facebook?

In my opinion, besides that ability to read and write I believe the knowledge of technology or to be more specific the knowledge of using the Facebook features.

2- Is this a different kind of literacy from other literacies we've already discussed?

Yes indeed. Literacy used to be defined as the ability to read and write. But with the technology emergence, literacy can be defined as the ability to communicate and get the meaning. As the medium of reading and writing is changed literacy concept has evolved too. For instance, visual literacy has a wide spread because of the technology. Applications such as Instagram depend on pictures and images to make meaning, communicate ideas, and convey a message. Visual literacy helps students to gain deeper understanding of the images and create textual representations.

3- What sort of persona should you use on Facebook as an English Professor? Why?

I think university professors are looked upon as role models by the community members. Therefore, it is good to have the true and same identity of a professor within the classroom. In other words, a professor should be more careful of types of text posts and pictures. According to Perlmutter (2009) students and some colleagues interpreted the choice of picture or a written status as a statement of principle and personality.

4- Is it ok to be friends with your students on Facebook? Why or why not?

Facebook is normally a personal informal webpage in which collogues can meet and share stories and opinions. By having students share the facbook page it kind of formalizes the type of interaction between professors and the choice of topics. In addition, some university policy prevents this type of relation in which students and professors switch facebook pages till graduation.

5- Is Facebook just a high tech distraction?

In fact it based on the users. Some users who are really active facebook users, who spend a lot of time on facebook, consider themselves as obsessed with such technology.

6- Can we utilize Facebook as a teaching tool? How?

Yes indeed. Teachers can form a facbook page that pertains to the subject. For instance, the teacher can post a bounce question, a brief explanation of the lesson, or discussion among students, or even a simple introductory for the next lesson.

7- What's the most interesting thing about playing Facebook games? Why?

Facebook games are very interesting and can be addictive for several reasons. They are fun, free to play, and most importantly they connect Facebook users with other thousands of Facebook users who are also playing the games. In other words, Facebook games break the boundaries and introduce a novel concept of multiplayer’s interaction.

8- What's the most troubling thing about playing Facebook games? Why?

Time consuming. The more games are getting exciting, the more time users will spend. Therefore, Facebook users, in general, should be careful with the spending time using Facebook.

9- How might we make use of game playing as a literacy tool?

According to Gee (2004) good video games incorporate good learning principles, principles supported by current research in Cognitive Science (Gee 2003, 2004). Why? If no one could learn these games, no one would buy them—and players will not accept easy, dumbed down, or short games. At a deeper level, however, challenge and learning are a large part of what makes good video games motivating and entertaining. Humans actually enjoy learning, though sometimes in school you wouldn’t know that.

10- If we are having fun, can serious learning be taking place?

I believe that once the classrooms become a stress free environment, students will be motivated to learn.

11- Does learning always require having fun?

Not necessary. The idea of using fun to teach is to alleviate the tense level of tradition classroom. However, excessive fun application in education can have some side effects. For instance, if kids buy into the idea that learning always has to be fun, they will be ill-equipped to handle the less exciting; sometimes stressful, but necessary aspects of upper level or lifelong learning that require a habit of personal discipline.

12- How are fun and literacy linked?

Basically, fun is the new facate of education. Educators thought of fun as away to educate children. In other words, the more fun children have, the more knowledge will obserbe. 

13- How might we further study Facebook as a literacy teaching tool?

Teachers can create a school Facebook page to connect students with experts. In other words, students can have a conference with one of the famous or well known experts in a particular field. In addition, Facebook can be used to share textual knowledge that accompanied with visuals. Students can assist each other by discussing and expla