Web 2.0 technologies and electronic teaching aids can be used to greatly advance the transmission of knowledge in the school setting. However, the investigation at hand attempted to go a step further by showing the potential benefits of incorporating the Grade 12 Business Studies curriculum into a Facebook page as a digital pedagogical tool to enhance learners' subject knowledge competence and academic performance. An exploratory mixed method research design was adopted. The data was collected using a specifically created Facebook page and an online open-ended questionnaire. Findings revealed the success of the intervention as a supportive teaching strategy and it is suggested that Business Studies teachers should be empowered through receiving training on the use of social media tools in their occupation. Further research is needed across other grade levels or at the same grade level but at other schools to gain an enhanced understanding of learners' responses to Facebook as a supportive teaching tool.
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For the past decade, we have seen tremendous numbers of new web developments across the globe. As a matter of fact, Alexander (2006:33) believes that social media software has surfaced as an important component of the Web 2.0 movement, leading to the rise of blogs, wiki’s, trackback, video blogs, podcasting and numerous other social networking tools such as Facebook and MySpace. Because of the development of social networking applications, there has been a growing interest in how social media can be applied as an effective teaching strategy worldwide. In recent years, social network communities have undergone rapid and sophisticated development for use in education (Van Wyk 2013:525). The social media landscape is a burgeoning environment within local-, distance-, and open education contexts (Van Wyk 2012:2).
Social media applications and ICTs for educational purposes bring both opportunities and challenges to the classroom. These Web 2.0 technologies and electronic teaching aids could be used to great effect to advance education in schools. Most schools are adapting Web 2.0 technologies in particular to advance their school image on the school’s webpage. Mostly, teachers use and communicate via short message services (SMS), mobile phones, chat rooms, iPods, iPads, social networks and e-mail. Moreover, the new mobile generation has grown up with technology and is competent in a technological world (Elam, Stratton & Gibson 2007:23). Emanating from the increased usage of ICT and Web 2.0 technologies in teacher education programmes, teachers in particular have been exposed to various electronic teaching aids (electronic whiteboards, etc.) and Web 2.0 technologies (Facebook, blogs, podcasts and social bookmarking). Some schools and teachers have taken advantage of this exposure by using electronic teaching aids and social media in their daily lesson planning. Teachers are indeed called upon to make a paradigm shift in their teaching style to accommodate a new group of learners called the digital natives. These learners, who use ICT and social media as a means to communicate or to share personal information, should be catered for on a daily basis. Teachers are thus urged to make use of these electronic teaching media and Web 2.0 technologies as, in the view of Prensky (2001:1): “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”. The challenge for teachers concerns how to use social media to enhance learners’ learning experiences (VanDoorn & Eklund 2013:1). Saikaew, Krutkam, Pattaramanon, Leelathakul, Chaipah & Chaosakul (2011:2) stated that students spend a lot of time socialising with their friends through Facebook, which means that they devote less time to self-study. Because of the emergence of new technologies, educators must find meaningful ways to incorporate these technologies into the classroom. The big problem that educators experience is to decide which technology to incorporate so that the learning objective can still be achieved. It is evident that modern-day learners are visually stimulated and consequently e-books are being introduced at schools, rendering textbooks something of the past. In order to retain the interest of Business Studies learners, it has become essential to incorporate modern technology and for purposes of this study, it was decided to make use of a Facebook page to achieve this goal. The researchers selected this topic out of a sincere desire to get learners to become more active in the learning experience, and to bring them a form of learning that they find enjoyable through employing efficient and effective learning strategies. By establishing a Facebook page, the educator (i.e. the researchers) created an active learning environment that current learners are able to relate to. The researchers regard it important that learners should have the opportunity to collaborate in discussions outside the classroom to come up with possible subject-related solutions that are monitored by the educator who plays an advisory role. The Facebook page was used to communicate homework, assignments, class discussions and content that supports the subject, such as newspaper articles and video clips from YouTube.