A Disturbing Trend in Online Education: News Feeds

http://www.smartlyedu.com/blog/posts/20-a-disturbing-trend-in-online-education-news-feeds

by ashamedlion • 16 years ago

21 4 16 years ago

sandipc• 16 years ago

I don't think this statement is actually true: "Ever since Facebook pioneered the concept of the News Feed, a constantly updating stream of communications to keep you in the loop..."

(Twitter, and possibly even RSS feeds before that)

ashamedlion2• 15 years ago

Upon further research, Twitter and the FB News Feed came out within 2 months of each other, Twitter coming first. However, the News Feed was the first truly successful version of it.

I wouldn't say that a news feed and RSS are synonymous. RSS was not accessible, nor was it really for distributing user created content, it was more for blog posts and news. Those aren't the type of communications I was talking about.

jchonphoenix• 16 years ago

I really hope this analysis is not of smartlyedu's target market... because if it is, they're going down the wrong track. Facebook doesn't actually add any extra overload. Most students perfectly understand that facebook is just another tool for communication. Nobody really expects other students to check their facebook at all times and most students are tech savvy enough to realize that they can just ignore facebook. Most college students tend to ignore the feed and "like" spam that happens anyways and will only comment if they see something that catches their eye. Its not a stressing ritual at all.

All the hype around facebook makes people who aren't intimately aware of the social scene think that the entire social scene is on facebook. Its a great and useful tool, but the social scene really isn't on facebook. Facebook only augments it. Thus, if someone is really feeling social overload from facebook. Removing their facebook account really isn't going to do much--your friends are only a campus away. The pressure will find you. Regulating the feed won't change anything.

ashamedlion2• 15 years ago

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. When I say it overwhelms the user, I meant that in a positive way. People go on Facebook because it's always updating, it's always giving new information to users. I didn't mean to paint a picture of people ripping their hair out because of the updating stream.

I was merely pointing out that the idea of something that is constantly updating is not a good model for education, because students want to feel like they've completed the day's work rather than feeling like they need to go back constantly to finish.

A Disturbing Trend in Online Education: News Feeds

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