do you think?
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/The-Latest-Stay-in-School-Tool/26705/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
September 3, 2010, 06:04 PM ET
The Latest Stay-in-School Tool for College Students: Facebook
By Paige Chapman
You're in the middle of writing a 10-page term paper, it's 11 p.m.,
and there's no end in sight. Looks like it's time for Facebook.
That ever-beckoning distraction has led some people to see the
combination of the popular social network and studying as an academic
disaster. However, a recently published study in the Journal of
College Student Retention finds that frequent Facebookers are actually
more likely to return to their initial college after their freshman
year. It's the latest in a series of studies exploring possible links
between Facebook and academics.
In a survey of 375 randomly selected students at Abilene Christian
University, those who were more active on the social network were
likelier to return for their sophomore year. On average, returning
sophomores had 27 more friends and 59 more wall posts than did
students who didn't return.
Richard Beck, an author of the report, says there is often an "Animal
House paradigm" associated with college students, meaning that all
their time is either spent studying or slacking. But "it may be more
complex than that, as students are trying to find both a vibrant
academic and social life on campus," he says.
The Facebook effect on college campuses is twofold, Beck says: Not
only does the network make it easier for freshmen to find friends, but
it also increases the likelihood of students' developing deeper
friendships following chance encounters.
Both aspects, he argues, lead to a deeper sense of connection on both
campus and in the classroom.
Other studies, conducted by Northwestern University and the University
of New Hampshire, have found no relationship between time spent
Facebooking and academic performance.
Eszter Hargittai, an associate professor of communication studies and
sociology at Northwestern University, says studies making
cause-and-effect claims about Facebook and student performance may
fail to take into account another factor: socioeconomic background.
Students with better-educated parents are both more likely to use
Facebook and more likely to perform better academically, she says.
"The types of things students can do on Facebook can cancel each
other out," Hargittai says. "On one end, the connections one can make
on it make students feel more comfortable linking up with others for
class notes and advice. On the other end, it can be used for
procrastination. I think there is definitely more room for research on
the topic."
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Fatima Darries
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