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Top1. Introduction
During this special pandemic time, many learners have been forced to stay at home receiving education through mobile learning applications such as Facebook. Now, Facebook possesses 2.895 billion active users per month. The number of daily active Facebook users reaches 1.908 billion across the world. Facebook, as an online interactive platform, obtains 2.76 billion active users of Facebook-owned social media such as Instagram and WhatsApp everyday (Dean, 2022). Considering the popularity, it is thus meaningful to meta-analytically review the studies on Facebook-assisted learning outcomes in different regions to provide constructive suggestions for improvements on mobile learning.
Through collecting academic data, a Facebook platform could provide constructive suggestions for learning and teaching strategies. Facebook could collect data regarding users’ preferences, dislikes, and mood to provide references for adjustment of learning and instruction strategies in Singapore (Liu, Choudhary, Zhang, & Magenenat-Thalmann, 2013). Teachers might choose proper instructive methods based on the collected data and learners may apply appropriate learning strategies for knowledge acquisition, based on the feedback from these immense data. However, it is not generally demonstrated that Facebook can exert a positive influence on teaching and learning in this way. Facebook may also exert a negative influence on learning and teaching. Facebook use gained increasing recognition in medical education (Teoh, 2021), and political knowledge acquisition (Kim, Lu, & Lee, 2021). However, little is known about whether the findings are generalizable across the world. To fill the research gap, it is necessary to meta-analytically examine whether this result is generalizable to other regions or countries so that instructors can determine whether or not to integrate Facebook with teaching strategies on the basis of collected data.
Facebook could satisfy users by facilitating text message delivery and improving knowledge gain (Joseph, Keller, Adams, & Ainsworth, 2015) in the USA. Although learners in Singapore were generally satisfied with Facebook integrated with the learning management system, the transferring files and discussion forms were limited and learners felt unsafe and uncomfortable for fear that their personal information might be disclosed (Wang, Woo, Quek, Yang, & Liu, 2012). This regional difference is worth further exploration and examination. Different regions may cause great differences in belief, learning strategies, and learning habits. The levels of popularity of Facebook may vary in different regions. Confronted with great convenience, Singaporeans may feel uneasy and thus take conservative measures to deal with the Facebook-assisted learning approach. However, there have been no plentiful studies reporting that users of Facebook in other countries or regions worry about the safety of personal information. To fill this research gap, it is worth exploring this in different countries or regions.
Facebook could also bring about negative results if excessively used. Addiction to Facebook could reduce self-efficacy levels especially for male learners in Taiwan. High levels of addiction to Facebook could reduce belief and could in turn negatively influence learning outcomes (Lin, 2018). Addiction may dampen learners’ learning enthusiasm and exacerbate learning outcomes. The poor outcomes may most likely reduce their self-efficacy especially in Taiwan which is densely populated and where there is a fierce competition in the job market. It occurs in Taiwan that addiction to Facebook may be a way for learners to let out psychological pressure and gradually lose their self-efficacy. However, it is not proved in other countries or regions. How addiction exerts an influence on self-efficacy in other regions or whether Lin’s (2018) findings are generalizable to other contexts awaits further research. To fill this research gap, this study aims to generalize the effect of Facebook use on educational outcomes across the world. Specifically, this study aims to identify the use of Facebook for educational purposes in different countries and regions in terms of various dimensions, e.g. learning interaction, learning performance, social presence, engagement, psycho-motor, and differences in learning outcomes.