Facebook, Tele-Collaboration, and International Access to Technology in the Classroom

Abstract

This chapter explores the results of a study using the well-known social networking site, Facebook, to investigate graduate education students' perceptions on the use of technologies in classrooms around the world. This study was part of a larger project exploring tele-collaboration and the use of online discussions involving graduate students in an online program based in Australia, and students in a graduate Education program at a regional university in Greece. Findings reveal many similarities between the situations and perceptions of the participants from the different countries. They also demonstrated that even when technologies were available in schools, participants identified a critical need for professional development to increase teachers' use of ICT. These findings are relevant to researchers, educators and policy development in terms of implementation of ICT and/or social networking in the language classroom.