The aim of this study is to seek fundamental uses and gratifications of a social networking website, Facebook as a case, and the possible advantages and the challenges of utilization of Facebook for instructional activities. The research study encompassed four main steps / the analysis of uses &amp / gratifications of Facebook, the analysis of Facebook utilization possibilities for instruction, the interviewing for two preceding steps, and the realization and analysis of a course on Facebook. In the study both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered through questionnaires, interviews and open-ended questions. The qualitative data was analyzed according to qualitative data analysis techniques and quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS software. The results showed that Facebook which is perceived as a usable tool has a potential utilization for instructional activities. As quite new context, the participants seemed concerned about participating any learning activity on Facebook. Most of the participants in all steps of the study emphasized that Facebook should be a supplementary material for instructional activities. It is concluded that individual differences and alternative methods must be studied for better integration of Facebook into education.

The purpose of this study was to investigate students&rsquo / social networking sites (SNSs) involvement, students&rsquo / involvement of Facebook as course management system (CMS) in face-to-face course, students&rsquo / acceptance of Facebook, students&rsquo / motivations, students&rsquo / achievements, and their relationships. The study, used Facebook as CMS, was conducted in a private university with 42 participants in two different freshman courses. Maximum variation sampling was employed in selecting 12 students for interview. Mixed method was employed as part of an action-research approach. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were utilized to thoroughly analyze Facebook use as CMS. Quantitative data were collected through three questionnaires about Facebook acceptance, motivation to the course and involvement of Facebook and course Facebook page. The qualitative data were collected through both individual interviews and discussion posts of course Facebook page. The quantitative data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics, and correlation analyses. Coding schemes were used to both find the depth-of-discussion posts and convert qualitative data into quantitative data. The results stated that students&rsquo / SNSs involvement, students&rsquo / acceptance of Facebook, students&rsquo / motivations, students&rsquo / achievements and their relationships were different according to the taken course. Possible reasons of the differences of utilization and engagement in the course activities were clarified in the study. Results support that students and instructors could benefit from Facebook usage in learning and teaching. Most of the participants believed the value of having CMSs in all courses. Moreover, they preferred Facebook as CMS to communicate easily, to increase their active participation and interactions in their courses.

Social media has the potential to be a critical force in creating connected educators. The collaborative nature of social media encourages personal connection, professional enrichment, and learning through co-creation of meaning. Secondary teachers are in a place that would permit them to harness these affordances, not only in their personal and professional environments, but also in their classrooms. This qualitative phenomenographic study aimed to uncover how secondary teachers used social media for personal, professional, and instructional purposes. Further, this study sought to understand secondary teachers' attitudes and beliefs toward social media. Their current state of social media use was also of interest, as were the types of relations secondary teachers had with social media. To better understand the stories and experiences realized by these educators, ten secondary teachers were engaged using a semi-structured interview process. These teachers presented with varying backgrounds, education, and teaching focus. The interviews provided a textual representation of their social media stories. Interview transcripts were transposed into thick rich accounts describing their experiences, thoughts, ideas, and how they understood social media in their personal, professional, and instructional lives. It was found that the current state of social media use by secondary teachers was primarily limited to personal and professional purposes. Teachers used it to connect with family and friends. They used it to connect with like-minded educators and personal learning networks to locate teaching resources. Many expressed that they could see a benefit of students interacting and learning from others through social media. In the end, however, they did not use social media for instructional purposes. The majority voiced concerns about student privacy, a feeling of not being able to control what students were doing on social media, a lack of training for themselves and students, possible inappropriate behavior, and the inability to access social media through network firewalls. Further analysis and coding of the textual data produced four emerging themes of discussion. The themes were: (1) support and constraints, (2) time, (3) privacy, and (4) one-way and two-way communication. These themes contributed to interactions with social media, in turn influencing their attitudes, beliefs, and how they used social media in their personal, professional, and instructional environments.