REFLECTIONS ON RAMBE AND NG'AMBI'S APPROPRIATION OF FACEBOOK AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL

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Rambe and Ng’ambi’s 2011 paper clearly shared details into the research on leveraging Facebook as an Informing Network, hence applying it as an Information Sharing Pedagogy.Some beneficial values of making use of a social medica tool is that it dynamically transfers learning to student as opposed to some other tools that highly depends on teachers. On a Social media Platform, students are more familiar, comfortable and better still expressive with their ideas and opinion.  There is also more focus on the teacher been a facilitator on the social media platform whilst the students here take on a two-dimensional role of the client and informers. The student’s cap on an informing network like Facebook allows students to act more like communicative agents.

Rambe and Ng’ambi did critically observe that ‘the inter-connectedness of clients and informers makes up for a transdisciplinary social network that showcases the real-world networks as people do not just be-friend people from one discipline. Irrespective of the fact that the social network is interconnected, an informer has the likelihood of focusing on a subset of a network as a target to be informed. In this case, there is a unique creation of layers of complexity and barriers to seeking and sharing information (Cohen, 2009) especially in a social networking environment’ (64). Additionally, it can be deduced that Facebook affords both teachers and students a a platform for interactions across disciplines too. 

One other interesting highlight in this research work is the exposition on the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). This theory which is based on the awareness that “activity is an objective-oriented mediated process that unravels through our the process of human inter relationships at multi-dimensional degree, be it on an individual, collective and as a communities to attain definite responsive agenda and intention.” In other words, positing that in the absence of a clear objective, then interaction and actions between the clients and informers are “ unsystematic  and random”.

Some key takeaway from this paper includes the benefits or better put the affordances that an informing network like Facebook offers –

1.       Firstly, that the process of informing does not depend on time or limited by time, meaning that students can access information and share information irrespective of their location. One advantage that this offer is that learning happens continuously anytime and anywhere.

2.       Student-centered learning is promoted on this platform as students are seen related more with their peers as informers and as clients.

3.       Accessibility of learning conversations overtime can be easily monitored and reverted to for future references.

4.       Learning and learning through playing affords for the social interactions amongst students.

5.       There is a clear distinction of student’s articulation of prior personal knowledge of a concept as well academic debates amongst students founded on research and readings.

 There are limiting barriers faced while using the Facebook as an educational tool no doubt, but Facebook could be an innovative platform which can be leveraged on to the transform the teaching and learning dynamics between the teacher and student. This article has offered me a lens to review the social media in the context of academics and how it can be incorporated to build an informal space for empowering students to be more expressive in this case riding on the activity system as a design tool.

The video below further shades more light on how different social media can be leveraged as an informing network in different context 



References

Rambe, P and Ng'ambi, D (2011) 'Towards an Information Sharing Pedagogy: A Case of Using Facebook in a Large First Year Class,' Informing Science, 14 pp. 61-89 

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