Facebook as a learning tool? A case study on the appropriation of social network sites from mobile phones in developing countries

This exploratory research investigates how students and professionals use social network sites (SNSs) in the setting of developing and emerging countries. Data collection included focus groups consisting of medical students and faculty as well as the analysis of a Facebook site centred on medical and clinical topics. The findings show how users, both students and professionals, appropriate social network sites from their mobile phones as rich educational tools in informal learning contexts. First, unlike in previous studies, the analysis revealed explicit forms of educational content embedded in Facebook, such as quizzes and case presentations and associated deliberate (e-)learning practices which are typically found in (more) formal educational settings. Second, from a socio-cultural learning perspective, it is shown how the participation in such virtual professional communities across national boundaries permits the announcement and negotiation of occupational status and professional identities. Introduction and background Technologies for development and health in "resource-limited" environments Technological innovations have given hope that new ICT tools will result in the overall progress and well-being of developing countries, in particular with respect to health and education services. Great expectations are attached to the spread of mobile communication technologies. The number of mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide is currently 4.7 billion and increasing. This includes people in remote and rural areas and "resource-limited" settings (The World Bank, 2011). To a much lesser extent there is also a discussion on affordances of social network sites (SNSs) in such contexts (Marcelo, Adejumo, & Luna, 2011). Discourses and projects on ICT(4)D (information technology for development) or mHealth (mobile technology for health) tend to be based on techno-centric and deterministic approaches where learning materials, either software or hardware, are distributed by central authorities or knowledge is "delivered" according to "push-strategies"; or, using the words of Traxler, information is pumped through the infrastructure, often in "educationally naïve" ways (in press). Similarly, the main direction of techno-centric and transmissional approaches appears to be from developed to "developing" countries, respectively from experts to novices. In spite of all efforts the situation is still problematic and ambitious visions have been only realised to a limited extent. For example, the goal of providing every person worldwide with access to an informed and educated healthcare provider by 2015 is unlikely to be realised. In particular, little progress has been made in meeting the information needs of frontline healthcare providers and ordinary citizens in low resource settings (Smith & Koehlmoos, 2011). Very often it is basic knowledge that is needed, related for example to the treatment of childhood pneumonia or diarrhoea, which cannot be accessed by healthcare providers such as family caregivers or health workers (HIFA Report, 2010). With this research we attempt to shed light on aspects of technology use, such as engagement with SNSs and mobile phones, in the context of health education in developing countries which, we would argue, have been widely neglected. In doing so, we hope to contribute to the academic discourses on SNSs and mobile learning. Since our approach follows the principles of case study research, the remainder of this paper is structured as follows. We continue with a brief and, admittedly, selective characterization of two underlying academic discourses that can inform this research, namely mobile learning and research on SNSs. After presenting our methodological approach and results we discuss the findings in the light of multiple theoretical concepts and empirical studies from these fields. We conclude with some practical considerations, limitations and directions for further research. Educational discourses on mobile learning and social network sites In the field of mobile learning, a small, yet rapidly growing research community, recent work has considered the (educational) use of mobile phones as an appropriation of cultural resources (Pachler, Cook, & Bachmair, 2010). In contrast to the classical binary and quantitative model of adoption, appropriation is centred on the question of how people use mobile phones once they have adopted them (Wirth, Von Pape, & Karnowski, 2008). Researchers define appropriation as the emerging "processes of the internalization of the pre-given world of cultural products" by the engagement of learners in the form of social practices with particular settings inside and outside of formal educational settings (Pachler, et al., 2010). While mobile learning research tend to focus on learning in schools, universities, workplaces or on life-long learning in industrialised countries (Frohberg, Göth, & Schwabe, 2009; Pachler, Pimmer, & Seipold, 2011; Pimmer, Pachler, & Attwell, 2010), some attention has also been paid to developing countries (see for example Traxler & Kukulska-Hulme, 2005). Research on SNSs is becoming increasingly popular not only in industrialised nations (boyd & Ellison, 2007) but, to a lesser extent, also in developing countries (Kolko, Rose, & Johnson, 2007). Increasing importance is attached to educational aspects of SNSs (Selwyn, 2009), though there is relatively little theoretical and empirical attention paid by social researchers to the form and nature of that learning in general (Merchant, 2011). Socio-cultural approaches to learning in general, and to social networks and mobile learning in particular are based on the notions of participation, belonging, communities and identity construction. It was suggested, for example, that such networks create a "sense of place in a social world" (Merchant, 2011) and can be considered as "multi-audience identity production sites" (Zhao, Grasmuck, & Martin, 2008). By documenting daily episodes by means of mobiles and social networks, such tools are said to contribute to the formation of (multiple) identities related to the live-worlds of users. In this sense, learning is considered as situated meaning-making and identity formation (Pachler, et al., 2010). The influence of SNSs on community practices was also discussed. An empirical study suggested, for example, that social network sites helped maintain relations as people move across different offline communities (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). Also in formal educational environments, when social networks were deliberately used in order to support classroom-based teaching and learning, (unintended) community building was observed (Arnold & Paulus, 2010). However, research has little to say with respect to vocational and professional aspects of the use of SNSs. One study reported that a company's internal social network site supported professionals in building stronger relations with their weak ties and in getting in touch with professionals they did not know before (DiMicco et al., 2008). Another study that observed the use of mobiles and social software for the compilation of e-portfolios witnessed influences on identity trajectory according to the concepts of belonging to a workplace, becoming and then being a professional (Chan, 2011).