Facebook as a Learning Tool: Appropriation of Social Network Sites from Mobile Phones in Developing Countries

First pre-publication version submitted to BJET. Download final version from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2012.01351.x/abstract

Facebook as a learning tool? A case study on the appropriation of social network sites from mobile phones in developing countries.

Christoph Pimmer, Sebastian Linxen, Urs Gröhbiel Christoph Pimmeris research associate and has interests in technology-enhanced learning and medical education. Email: [e-mail]. Sebastian Linxen is research associate. His work centres around the influence of culture on Human-Computer Interaction. Email: [e-mail]; Urs Gröhbiel is professor for elearning with interests in educational research in the context of human development. Email: [e-mail]; All based at learning.lab/Institute for Information Systems, School of Business, University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland Peter Merian-Strasse 86, 4002 Basel - Switzerland.

Abstract This exploratory research investigates how students and professionals use social network sites (SNSs) in the setting of developing and emerging countries. Data collection included focus groups consisting of medical students and faculty as well as the analysis of a Facebook site centred on medical and clinical topics. The findings show how users, both students and professionals, appropriate social network sites from their mobile phones as rich educational tools in informal learning contexts. First, unlike in previous studies, the analysis revealed explicit forms of educational content embedded in Facebook, such as quizzes and case presentations and associated deliberate (e-)learning practices which are typically found in (more) formal educational settings. Second, from a socio-cultural learning perspective, it is shown how the participation in such virtual professional communities across national boundaries permits the announcement and negotiation of occupational status and

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