Proceedings of the 10th INDIACom; INDIACom-2016; IEEE Conference ID: 37465

2016 3 International Conference on “Computing for Sustainable Global Development”, 16th - 18th March, 2016
rd

Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute of Computer Applications and Management (BVICAM), New Delhi (INDIA)

Predictions and Recommendations for the Higher

Education Institutions from Facebook Social
Networks
Mamta Madan Meenu Dave Meenu Chopra
GGSIP University Professor, JaganNath University GGSIP University
Email ID: [email protected] Email ID: [email protected] Email ID: [email protected]

Abstract-- We are living in the age of Higher Education (HE) innovative techniques. Traditional methods of learning like
2.0, where the fastest growing social networking sites (SNS) is Blackboard, emails, WebCT, other computer-supported
Facebook. It’s been widely accepted as a platform for methods for e.g. PowerPoint presentations, projectors etc. are
communications and collaborations. The students and Higher becoming outdated. The latest platforms which have the
Education Professionals (HEP) which includes faculty members,
potential to make everyone physical disconnected, but logically
administrators, management, etc. use to share their valuable
resources. It’s been notified that students are far more ahead in connected are SNS. The study is all about the SNS Facebook,
using communication technologies as compared to the Higher its analysis (SNA), exploring the communities within it and
Education Institutions (HEIs) Professionals. In our research work, how it improves higher education industry. In [1] we
we analyse the social network graphs which are Facebook pages or investigated the relationships that existed in Social Media
groups having members like HEP, students, etc., related to Higher Network (SMN): Facebook (FB) and what were the possible
Education in India. We discovered that in some networks, mining techniques to explore and predict them. We found in
members are less, but online posts and messages are huge in our study that the interactions within these social networks
number. Student’s active participations or interactions in the plays a crucial role in learning of students through sharing and
social networks can be done by Social Network Analysis (SNA)
collaboration of the online contain content with peer members.
approaches. In our study, we explore the techniques for the SNA
to detect the motifs or patterns in the Online Social Media In [2] various mathematical models were studied and explored
Networks (OSMNs). These are produced by the interactions and for the social networks. The SNA performed by the software
the content exchanged among the users, students and professionals application tool which predicts the number of important
of HE in the social graph. In our previous research work, we information related to a member’s participation, interaction-
used Network Analysis Software Applications (NASA) tools able structural analysis between them within the network. For the
to discover important architecture and fetching the core, higher education perspective, we explored in [3], various latest
perimetric and outlined members in the network. By these NASA technologies that can be used in campus so that higher
applications, we can visualize, generate and summarize the buzz education gets the facelift by going social.
topics or the words by the active members of the network, which
By NASA tools, we discovered community statistical
gives us a glimpse of the topic under discussion. We exploited the
mining algorithms provided by the NASA tools like (Gephi, information. For example, WolframAlpha application gives us
NodeXL, LikeAnalyzer and Wolfram Alpha). This helped us in the frequency of postings by each user. Many researchers are
assessing their presence and participation factor of the students using traditional approaches to analyse the member’s active
and the higher education professionals in the social network participation like questioning, text analysis methods which
graphs. Our study attempted to test for an affiliation that exists caters depth analysis of textual information shared between the
between Higher Education (HE) and the Social Networking Site students or other members of the group but neglect the
(SNS) Facebook. Our research in analysis and finding related to structural aspect of the network. To analyse the degree of
social network analysis predicts that social networking on interactions of the actively participating students, we need to
Facebook and higher education can work in parallel.
investigate the network thoroughly by using NASA tools which
Keywords: Higher Education (HE); Higher Education predict the information about the structural properties, identify
Professionals (HEP); Network Analysis Software Applications communities’, to detect relevant clues for predicting active
(NASA); Online Social Media Networks (OSMNs); Social participation and finally the social relationship patterns.
Networking Sites (SNS); Social Network Analysis (SNA). The importance of SNA in the sphere of computer science is to
mine community and structural data on the network, especially
I. INTRODUCTION in HE industry to monitor and check the students or HEP’s
We are living in the era of “connected technologies” or Web 2.0 active participation in the online discussions within the
and to come at par with this age education- industry has to buck network. These NASA tools not only mine the community and
off to meet its role of effective learning and teaching with these structural aspect of the network, but also determine the content

Copy Right © INDIACom-2016; ISSN 0973-7529; ISBN 978-93-80544-20-5 5021

 Proceedings of the 10th INDIACom; INDIACom-2016; IEEE Conference ID: 37465
2016 3 International Conference on “Computing for Sustainable Global Development”, 16th - 18th March, 2016
rd

or text exchanged in the form of posts or messages in the consists of actors (individuals, organizations, countries or any
network. This is creating an important web of specifications entity, etc.) associated with each other by one or more edges or
and by taking into account many community mining algorithms connection(s) (for example links, collaborations, citations etc.)
to detect the most frequent words or topic of discussions in the [19]. The SNA is an interdisciplinary process to discover,
network. The SNA done by NASA tools gives us a picture of examine, and explore i) the structural properties of the real-
the Facebook social graph, which depicts how much each world network, ii) configuration of connections, iii) to
member participated, his or her positioning in the network understand network members, iv) in-degree (incoming
(central, periphery or outer), count of posts, their replies and connections) and out-degree (outgoing connections), v) isolated
part of the specification used by members in the network. In the members, vi) frequency of connections (density), vii) average
following section, we throw some light on SNA and its shortest path length, viii) to identify communities (more often
application towards HE. In conclusion, we present our interacting). We have done a lot of research related to SNA in
recommendations for HEI’s based on the possible outcomes our previous work [2,5,6,7] in which we study about social
predicted from SNA done on the SNS i.e. Facebook using network models, their properties with respect to synthetic
NASA. networks and analysis that can be done on these social
networks especially Facebook.
II. BACKGROUND RESEARCH RELATED TO THE
EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF THE SNS III. RESEARCH GAP
We believe the struggling HE community still has become The gap between the HEP’s and the student’s perspective of
well-versed with the new latest classroom technologies or e- research resides in the stress between conventional paradigms
learning environments which are coming up. Many HEI’s, as of learning and knowledge and the educational potentials of
well as HEP’s, are in the trend of non-adopting latest SNS. Though acknowledging that students are active
technologies. The education industry still proves its worth in participants in learning activities, the prior classroom research
terms of the web-enabled era of 2.0. In recent years, many designers have not addressed student fraternity when trying to
upcoming HEI’s are using web-services or web portals to engage them in a community of practice created by higher
connect with their possible students and their parents, but in education professionals’. Following are the few sets of
vain as well as HEP’s, especially faculty members, who are questions that we have addressed and whose answers we are
incapable of using and adapting the latest technologies so far. looking for in our research study by using various software
In a study [15] it came out that HEP disinclination towards applications [20] for the SNA as follows:
latest technologies led to a major hurdle in the faculty teaching 1. To what extent or frequency of interactions, students are
as well as lesson plan preparation. The report showed that 73% using Facebook for academic learning or within their
(faculty members) lacked interest in using technologies in the educational studies?
classrooms, whereas the maximum number of students want to 2. What are the possible user demographics (age, gender and
integrate with technologies. In the same study, it was found that locale) and if there are any gender differences in the
54% of HEI’s found their HEP members lacked interest to groups for educational purposes?
integrate with latest tools or technologies that can be used in 3. What are the possible types of associations (commenter,
the campus or classrooms. friendships, initiators and so on) and interactions
Now we will talk commonly used web-enabled technologies (comments, posts and the likes) which exist in Facebook
i.e. SNS which are popular with the younger generation, use?
especially higher education students and professionals. There 4. How many students are active, passive and outliers in the
are much higher acceptance rates to these SNS platforms. The group?
characteristic features of these SNS are i) these are the tools for 5. To calculate and compare the centrality of the students in
sharing content, ii) to communicate with peers, iii) to develop the group?
teamwork or collaboration relationships and finally iv) 6. To find weak and strong weight edges, communities and
valuable knowledge resource. its representatives that exist in network?
Another feature of SNS is to have a social bonding. This SNS 7. What are the most probable terms or phrases or topics used
builds friendships or social relationships not only between in the network and how network topology defines itself in
student-student connections, but also among faculty-student or term of communities within the group or network?
HEP-student relationships. In [16, 17, 18], it was shown that 8. What are the various activities performed by students in
many HEI’s develop their E-learning environment to actively the group and by what time?
link their current or aspirant students, parents and HEP’s. This 9. What is the average number of messages or comments,
kind of modelling architecture of SNS gives the feasible send by the active (members) students in the group?
solution to the HEI’s or persuaded educators to keep their 10. What are the major activities done by the students in the
HEP’s updated and to have a positive bonding with their group?
students. In the end, we will discuss what are the possible pedagogical
We discussed about the social networks in detail [2,5,6,7] implications which can be drawn from learning more about the
which are available on the social networking site Facebook. It

Copy Right © INDIACom-2016; ISSN 0973-7529; ISBN 978-93-80544-20-5 5022

Predictions and Recommendations for the Higher Education Institutions from Facebook Social Networks

student-initiated use of Facebook for classroom and of SNA in measuring the student or users active participation in
pedagogical design. the groups on the SNS (Facebook) related to HE. For this
purpose, detailing had already done on the above mentioned
IV. SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS ON FACEBOOK networks by using few selected NASA tools like Gephi,
PAGES OR GROUPS RELATED TO HIGHER EDUCATION NodeXL, Facepager, Netvizz, WolframAlpha, and
In [9] through clustering technique, we find and understand the LikeAnalyzer and so on. These tools analyse the structure of
various social media groups. To check student determination connections and interactions which exist between users (most
for the active participation in social media networks, we apply of them students) in these networks by using SNA. We were
SNA on Facebook higher education pages or the groups. For able to discover communities which prevailed in these
that, we had already extracted the sample networks related to networks generated as a result of the frequency of interactions
higher education groups as well students groups of HEI’s from and the number of messages or information exchanged. By
SNS i.e. Facebook by using one of the NASA tools i.e. Netvizz using NASA tools [20], we fetched the graphic representation of
or FacePager. The following were the phases of our previous HE Social Networks datasets, with proper identification of core
work which is related to this current study:- members, periphery members and isolated members or outliers
1. Discovering Social Media Network: - The NASA tools and finally we are able to portrait the stratified depiction of the
[20] like Gephi, NodeXL maintained the database of the most prominent debatable topics discussed in the network,
social network graphs which contained attributes related to calculating the metrics for each network like density, centrality
member’s information (like gender, label, posts, coefficient, modularity, number of posts in the network, replies
demographic information, etc.) and edge information (like and last but not least the most frequent words used by the users
weight, directed or undirected, source, target etc.). We has in the network. We are getting two types of networks by SNA
already been done in [20] the detailed social network a) a network of users where edge represents the communication
analysis by using tools (NASA) to fetch the social media pattern and ii) a network of tags used by the users where edge
network. represents the originator of the tag and the same tag is used
2. Evaluating the Active and Relevant Engagement: - In [14] again and again in the form of thread. The first network depicts
it is stated that if the edge (between two nodes) is carrying the communication structure of the active users and core
more weight (high level of interactions or more members of the group or the network. Whereas second network
communication between nodes is high) in the both types of depicts the words or term exchanged between the users
network either directed or undirected, it indicates a high frequently on the network. Finally, the ordered communities
teamwork, learning process, good performance related to depicts the frequency of interactions between active users and
any assignment given, the group working well, social commonly used phrases in the network.
support by peer members, other social services. The Various community mining algorithms were available in
functioning of the group depends upon the communication NASA tools, which were used to detect the connected
or interaction processing, active member’s participation, components of the network and based upon the detected
activity or assignment processing etc.,. Similarly, communities, the user interaction level was measured and
interaction or communications processing further depends weak/strong connected links depicted from their participation
upon the interpretation, assessment, explanation etc., (either in same or different communities) were analysed. We
activness, effectiveness and relevant participation of the got the most number of strong ties (which means students
users or students in the network can be calculated or participate more actively in the discussion) and less number of
evaluated by calculating network properties like weak ties (which means the user interacted less in the network
betweenness, centrality coefficient etc., which has been or participation is less).
done in our previous work [20]. From our study, we tried to figure out an interesting picture of
Our research work focus on how much and for what purpose Facebook users and perceptions among students and faculties.
each member in the higher education group is using the SNS The Findings for the proposed set of interested research
(Facebook) and whether these SNS should be added as the questions are discussed below.
integral part or futuristic tool for the classroom study or may in Ques 1: To what extent (interactions) students are using
academic pedagogy. Theoretically, these social networking Facebook for academic learning or within their educational
sites can be used as an important and valid tool for interaction, studies?
communication and acts like a platform for mentoring and Ans 1. The increasing demand and fame of these social
monitoring pedagogical uses. platforms gives us several options to communicate with
students, HEP’s and educators. Social interactions can
V. POSSIBLE OUTCOMES BY DOING SOCIAL become a key contributor to successful teaching and
NETWORKING ANALYSIS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION learning. We believe that to achieve better quality in
GROUPS learning and growth of students can only be possible
There were few challenges already discussed in [10], to look through interaction. Whether the interaction is
for online student knowledge in (SNS) for the improvisation of between student-student or student-faculty or any
higher education. In this section, we demonstrate the feasibility other, every interaction or communication talk helps in

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 Proceedings of the 10th INDIACom; INDIACom-2016; IEEE Conference ID: 37465
2016 3 International Conference on “Computing for Sustainable Global Development”, 16th - 18th March, 2016
rd

student learning by contributing to the potential research topic needs further analysis that how gender,
impact and student’s learning quality. The current education, and Facebook interact. All these available online
results (Figure 1) show that every student in the group social platforms for students are not only the mediums of 24X7
is using Facebook with different the time span. One communications, but also act as a resource or pool of
more research question arises is to determine the information. We have to work further in detail as how to
interaction (either positive or negative) as perceived integrate Facebook within the academic, industry so that it will
by the student. This can foster communication. be a boon to all Higher Education Professionals (HEPs), HEI’s
and last but not least Online Generation (Og).

Fig.2 (a)

Fig.1(a)

Fig.2 (b)

Fig.1.(b)

Fig.2 (c)
Fig. 1. Fig 1(a)(b): This Statistics show the list of members (most of them
students) and their participation in the group of the Higher Education
Institution by Gephi. Fig. 2. Figure 2(a)(b)(c): Pie Chart Depicts the Age and Gender
Demographics of the users of the Higher education Page in the Facebook (by
Ques 2: Who are possible user demographics (age, gender and Gephi Software Tool)
locale) and is any gender differences in the groups for
educational purposes? Ques 3: What are the possible associations (commenter,
Ans 2. The massive use of social networking sites not only friendships, initiators and so on) and interactions (or likes)
helps teen in their higher education but also in others spheres of exists in Facebook use?
life. Our study (Figure 2) finds that in most groups, both Ans 3. The results of our studies (Figure 3) looking at how
genders use Facebook in general. Males are using Facebook for different members or students in the group use the Facebook in
education more than females. It was found that three-quarters their everyday lives has found systematic differences across
of all members between ages 18 and 44 were using Facebook. types of users. The relationships that exist between the nodes of
One more research question arises from this study is that why the Facebook social graph have shown different kinds of
male members are more in number than female. This future interdependency for example post, messages, ego, friendship or

Copy Right © INDIACom-2016; ISSN 0973-7529; ISBN 978-93-80544-20-5 5024

Predictions and Recommendations for the Higher Education Institutions from Facebook Social Networks

commenter, etc.,. Most of these relationships are of friendship “interactive environment”. Because of the global availability of
type and interaction types (Comment or Posts or Likes). This these online social networking sites, they are easy to use for
shows that Facebook is a popular communication tool for study and other academic pedagogical affair. The results of our
college students to discourse with their classmates and promote studies (Figure 4) are showing most active members (Red
even greater academic achievement in populations who dislike dots), less interested members (Blue dots) and non-interactive
face-to-face interactions. Facebook is mass communication, (Green dots). Their interaction level is high in the group either
and colleges can use Facebook to augment a student’s through comments, post, messages or likes. A large percentage
educational experience. of the members interact most of the time because it is important
to keep a network with their classmates on Facebook.

Fig.3 (a)

Fig.4 (a)

Fig.3 (b)

Fig. 4(b)
Fig. 3 (c)
Fig. 4. Figure 4 (a)(b): The chart statistics depict the Interactions or
Fig. 3. Figure 3(a)(b)(c): The pie chart and graph network depict the Discussions by the users (by WolframAlpha App) and Graph depicts the active
relationships (By Gephi) and The Spikes Depicts the Interactions Type (like users in group (Red means most active and Blue shows less active and Green
non-interactive) (by Gephi).
Comments, Posts, likes) of the users of Facebook Page (By WolframAlpha
App)
Ques 5: To calculate and compare the centrality of the
Ques 4: How many students are active, passive and outliers in students in the groups?
the group? Ans 5. The results of our studies (Figure 5) looking for
Ans 4. These online environments are very useful and nodes (larger diameter and placed in the centre) have higher
effective because the student’s initiative to post and write their Interactions and smaller nodes with less interaction (By Gephi).
feelings or current psychological status will be the key for an The students which are more centric in the group network, i.e.,

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 Proceedings of the 10th INDIACom; INDIACom-2016; IEEE Conference ID: 37465
2016 3 International Conference on “Computing for Sustainable Global Development”, 16th - 18th March, 2016
rd

have the highest participation ratio over the others. Likewise, Ques 7: What is the most probable terms or phrases or
far from centre, less-students were active and so placed on the topics used in the network and how network topology defines
outer periphery of the circle. itself in term of communities within the group or network?
Ans 7. The results of our studies (fig 7) in the left panel
show the commonly used phrases or terms by the nodes in the
network during their interaction. By selecting any student in the
graph would depict the phrases or terms used by that student on
the network during his interactions with other members of the
network. The right panel shows the terms or phrases used by
students in the network. (Network Graph Jan-Jun’15) (By
NodeXL).

Fig. 5. Comparing centrality of students in the group (By Gephi)

Ques 6: To find weak and strong weight edges,

communities and its representative that exists in the network?
Ans 6. Facebook is the most global and popular SNS
used by both HEP’s as well as online students to keep them
connected throughout their life span. Many SNS are available
on the Web 2.0 but Facebook has made a niche for themselves.
Facebook is not only used by students for sharing and
communication, but also by HEP’s from academia to make a
stronger bond and keep them connected to their students even
outside the classrooms. The result of our studies (fig 6) in the
left panel shows the graph metrics (number of nodes, diameter,
total edges, density and so on), and right panel shows the grey
nodes which configure the outer boundaries and the red nodes Fig. 7. Visualized Group Network (By NodeXL)
shows representatives of the community. Each community
representative is accompanied with its top connected members Ques. 8: What are the various events performed by the
of the community and each selected member would outline the students in the group and by what time?
connected members who have taken part in a common Ans. 8. The results of our studies (fig 8) show the various
interaction with, related to a current or latest topic, and the activities performed by members like uploaded photos, posted
related terms or phrases in that topic. The edge weight depicts links, status, uploaded videos and so on. The Time duration
the amount of communication between two connected nodes. and amount of each activity shown. (Statistical Figures between
Sept’14-May’15.) (By Wolfram Alpha)

Fig. 8(a)

Fig. 6. Network Metric and Weighted edges (By NodeXL)

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Predictions and Recommendations for the Higher Education Institutions from Facebook Social Networks

Fig. 8(b)
Fig. 9(b)

Fig. 9. Figure 9(a)(b) : To measure the average number of messages or

comments by users (red one more active) (By Wolfram Alpha and Gephi).

Ques 10: What are the major activities of the students in the
group?
Ans 10. The results of our studies (fig 10) depict the activity
distribution by students' posts or comments in the group of the
Higher Education Institution (Buy LikeAnalyser app) and
Gephi produced similar patterns in blue (comments) and green
(posts).
Fig. 8(c )

Fig. 8. Figure 8 (a)(b)(c): This Statistics shows types of events performed by

members in the group with time duration. (By Wolfram Alpha)

Ques. 9: What is the average number of messages or

comments sent by the active (members) students in the
group?
Ans 9. The results of our studies (fig 9) depict the average
number of comments or messages by the students in the group
of the Higher Education Institution (By LikeAnalyser APP). .
Fig. 10 (a)
Gephi predicts the nodes (with different colour and size)
showing the number of messages sent by the users and the node
size depicts the centrality or leadership property of the
respective node in the interaction or discussions.

Fig. 10(b)

Fig. 10. Figure 10 (a)(b) : The activity Distribution Chart (By Wolfram Alpha
and Gephi)

We found using NASA tools other parameters like word

Fig.9 (a)
frequencies, most by like posts and commented on posts, top
commenters, top post shares, geographic extreme (locations),
most common and mutual friends in the network and friends
with most friends and so on.

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 Proceedings of the 10th INDIACom; INDIACom-2016; IEEE Conference ID: 37465
2016 3 International Conference on “Computing for Sustainable Global Development”, 16th - 18th March, 2016
rd

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION hierarchical stratified layout would more organize onto an
AND PROPOSAL FOR FUTURE ANALYSIS academic front; which reduces complexity and other
We have seen a well-established trend in HE industry for non- complications. The HEP’s would have a tab of the all
adopting of latest technologies and gadgets. Since the events or activities being conducted without interfering the
frequency of using the online platform (SNS) by higher personal affairs of the students.
education students is high, it would be advisable for HEI’s to 4. There is an opportunity for HEI’s to increase socialization
get more benefits out of it. It can be done by getting and from this technological revolution and another
engaging students, but also improvising their academic breakthrough is the scholastic convenience it offers.
performances [4]. It is shown in [4] that the semester results 5. The academic institutions should consider these online
(CGPA) predict the frequency of using Facebook with the virtual communities present in the social networks try to
students in their academic actions is high and total time spent incorporate instructive interaction and direction with their
on the Facebook for casual is negatively correlated (linked) students.
with CGPA. So, this outcome should be propagated to students 6. The HEI’s can think of adding these technological
themselves from the university, and a collaborative bonding advancements in their curriculum development to increase
between higher education and SNS usage should be student performance by connecting Facebook and
established. What we analysed that these SNS are i) Personal classroom learning.
Learning Networks, ii) Open Educational Resources and iii) 7. The Learning Environment Institutions (LEI’s) should
Massive Open Web-enabled Online Courses. focus on encouraging classroom activities and studies with
Aspectual SNS growth in the education industry is convenient the highest level of interactions or discussions may lead to
and practical. To have an optimistic aspect of this issue, higher CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average).
students access their Facebook account mostly to look for 8. The HEI’s should cater both to the higher education
casual posts, messages or comments on current social affairs professionals and student’s perspective. First, according to
from their connected members or friends, but also to update course designers or instructor perspective, the focus should
themselves with academic concerns and issues. In [8], we have be on how to integrate SNS in course design and to what
discussed some performance indicators, factors which led to extent they can help changes in pedagogy and second,
improvise today’s Higher Learning Institutions. according to students' perspective, as compared to faculty,
To merge these SNS tools and online related programs into the students are more often open Facebook to support
student’s curriculum, it requires detailed elaboration and classroom learning and they enjoy the liberty of media
improvements. In future, students will log into these SNS not choices based on their learning needs for which faculty
for gossips or chats, but considering these online platforms as should serve as facilitators and design course activities.
the pool of information and learning skills. That is why 9. Apart from the right pedagogical design, also necessary to
necessary they be allowed to explore SNS with no unnecessary spare a certain period of training for students to realize the
limitations and support a constant connection to peers in the educational potentials of SNS learning environments such
academic community. We suggest a few recommendations for as Facebook Groups. Meanwhile, the students need to be
HEI’s:- given more freedom to choose technology-enhanced
1. HEI’s should design the online programs with a motive to learning environments they are familiar with rather than to
help students with their academic requirements. It would adopt something ‘new’ because of the faculty’s preference.
be effective and efficient, if delivered and trained. These The higher education professionals need to make students
programs are based on intranet or internet and must aware of the faculty role as facilitator or moderator and
support a variety of file formats such as audio, videos, make sure they know that the faculty is ready to help them
podcasts, etc.,. This will not connect the students with HEP whenever they need.
(Higher Education Professionals), but also encourage a The success rate of these e-campus programs depends on how
collaborative environment because of the constant and these discussion forums would execute and how interested are
continuous virtual interaction amongst them. the students and higher education professionals would be. We
2. HEI’s should make the online groups on SNS platforms, have seen students register themselves in social networking
according to courses, student-driven activities (like cultural sites to look for academic help rather than just for “hanging
festivals) and these groups will act like “Knowledge Hub” out.” Expound all these virtual classrooms should then present
which further produce more hierarchal discussion threads what the students urgent need in the first place i.e. academic
for further research. help and other credible reference. The above-discussed
3. We recommend HEI’s to run their own replica of recommendations may have a few gaps which can be sorted out
Facebook which could be reasonable and valuable. By by having a close tab or regulation of these higher education
doing this HEI’s can regulate students by focusing more on social networks.
academics than being social. Students could use the In [20], research done on exploring social network graphs,
Facebook platform (HEI version) as a virtual classroom to Facebook social network groups or pages (related to higher
get their assignments done, will query questions and education students or the institutions of higher education) in
interact with other classmates on an informal level. The which we have analysed and explored users profiles (faculties

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Predictions and Recommendations for the Higher Education Institutions from Facebook Social Networks

and students) and their use of social networking sites into their online community to get themselves updated and connected
academic outline. For the detailed study, we have to do more with their students and other HEP’s. The observational studies
research and analysis to find out whether such online task or showed that most of the students want Facebook to be part of
process would be competent and perfect in the scholastic academia, which not only bring an added element in HE, but
community. The in-depth analysis and experimentation is also act as a bridge between HE and learning process of the
required for its thorough and static application over time would students increasing their end-term semester results. It is easy to
be one practical or workable way. Further research can also be build many acquaintances through online interactions rather
done by meassuring (either positive or negative effect) many than by meeting with personal. So, online networking
other parameters of students (CGPA, attendance, etc.,.) and interactions using Facebook are easy, simple, economical, less
faculty (research, feedback, etc.) can be tested when linked to time required, instantaneous, asynchronous and relevant
social networking sites. In future we could analyse the category enough to be used in future.
of interaction or communication (either positive or negative) We recommend that the faculty members have connections or
exists between students so that communication can be fostered. relationships with students, but in a strictly professional manner
It is a fact we cannot replace traditional blackboard teaching because studies reveal that the students (not very much) want to
with the internet or web-enabled services, these SNS can act as have connections with their faculty members on the Facebook
helping aid to the students assisting them in their academic which not only creates positive synergy between student and
goals. We recommend today world’s academicians and faculty but also bring overall success and remove hindrances
educators to change and adapt themselves, according to the conditions. These conditions may obstruct students from asking
current standards of the transforming higher education. The their doubts, queries or qualms. It is an urgent need for today’s
Universities and HEI’s should develop strategies to foster the HEI’ to meet the online generation requirements and to curtail
communication and interaction benefits associated with online the pressures from other competitors by improving teaching
social networking and Facebook. and learning environments or methodologies in the campus.
The impact of these SNS on our educational system of learning
VII. CONCLUSION is huge and immeasurable. Today, many opportunities are
Today, most of the students (either school going or HE available for intellectual communities or fraternities that can
students), HEP’s and organizations are using these SNS on a make use of these current technological advancements in the
much larger scale and hence its popularity is increasing day by learning system of pedagogy. More and more people are
day. Due exponential growth of these social media, platforms joining Facebook to have relationships, acquaintances,
puts pressure on the academic community (includes HEP, affiliations and so on. The accessibility of the OSN and virtual
HEI’s, Universities etc.) to update or change their teaching and communities have given a new definition of HE. Traditional
learning methodologies by either adding new amendments or methodologies move parallel with the digital world and has
by exploiting few elements in this new era of Higher brought forth the need of HEI to update and make necessary
Education 2.0. Many researchers and academicians have done arrangements in their environment of learning and teaching.
surveys, interviews and other observational studies about the The higher education professionals as well students find these
effectiveness of the online real communities in social technical tools and social platforms for networking are sensible,
networking sites like Facebook in the learning environment. convenient to use, save time and effort from having to
Some observe that besides physical attending the classes, personally run academic errands. Similarly, online groups or
students are more interested in online technical tools and communities help the students and HEP’s to keep connected
knowledge resources provided through web-enabled platforms with their students, overall awareness and empathy can be
(Like Facebook, Moodle, E-Learning software). In today’s maintained. These SNS provide numerous opportunities for the
classroom scenario, not the faculty members need the growing academic, industry irrespective of the theories thrown
technological gadgets like Laptops, Tabs, etc., but students find at it. The effect of including these SNS into the HE interactive
these gadgets necessary, useful and they always want to use environment will generate a win-win situation. All the HEI’s
these technical innovations or advancements. So, the usage of are keeping pace with time and concurrent advances to assist,
SNS in education seems to be useful, convenient and practical support and help their students in a number of ways which are
example for both students and professionals in higher favourable to them.
education.
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