IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ven/wpaper/201528.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effects of Facebook Discussions on Academic Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Shira Fano

    (Department of Economics, Bocconi University, Milan)

  • Paolo Pellizzari

    (Department of Economics, University of Venice Ca� Foscari.)

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the effects of using a Facebook page exclusively devoted to a first year Mathematics course in a large Italian public university. Posts and discussions supported traditional face-to-face lectures and students could freely post queries and get help from professors and peers. We use a newly constructed dataset to measure how this influences the grade they achieved and the probability of getting a passing grade. Firstly, we find that active students, who read and post more often, perform slightly better than non active ones, who mainly read the content, but the effect is not significant. However, other measures of activity, such as the frequency of visualization of the page significantly increase the probability of earning a passing grade, after controlling for students� characteristics and robust ex-post measures of ability. Secondly, we exploit a quasi-natural experiment to compare the performance of students having access to Facebook with that of a large sample of similar students who were not offered the support page in another branch of the uni- versity. Difference-in-difference estimates show that students who could access online discussions gain on average 1 additional point out of 30. The effect is, hence, significant but rather small and of possibly limited practical relevance.

Suggested Citation

  • Shira Fano & Paolo Pellizzari, 2015. "The Effects of Facebook Discussions on Academic Performance," Working Papers 2015:28, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    • Handle: RePEc:ven:wpaper:2015:28
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.unive.it/web/fileadmin/user_upload/dipartimenti/DEC/doc/Pubblicazioni_scientifiche/working_papers/2015/WP_DSE_fano_pellizzari_28_15.pdf
    File Function: First version, anno
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agar Brugiavini & Carlo Carraro & Matija Kovacic, 2014. "Academic Achievements: Grades versus Duration," Working Papers 2014:13, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    2. William G. Bowen & Matthew M. Chingos & Kelly A. Lack & Thomas I. Nygren, 2014. "Interactive Learning Online at Public Universities: Evidence from a Six‐Campus Randomized Trial," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 94-111, January.
    3. Lorenzo Cappellari & Claudio Lucifora & Dario Pozzoli, 2012. "Determinants of grades in maths for students in economics," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 1-17, February.
    4. Byron W. Brown & Carl E. Liedholm, 2002. "Can Web Courses Replace the Classroom in Principles of Microeconomics?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 444-448, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. M Paula Cacault & Christian Hildebrand & Jérémy Laurent-Lucchetti & Michele Pellizzari, 2021. "Distance Learning in Higher Education: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment [A Randomized Assessment of Online Learning]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 2322-2372.
    2. Engelhardt, Bryan & Johnson, Marianne & Meder, Martin E., 2021. "Learning in the time of Covid-19: Some preliminary findings," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    3. Hoque, Nazmul & Basher, Syed Abul & A.K. Enamul, Haque, 2022. "Do Students Perform Better in Online Delivery of Education? Evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 112981, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Lisa Barrow & Wesley T. Morris & Lauren Sartain, 2024. "The Expanding Landscape of Online Education: Who Engages and How They Fare," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(S1), pages 417-443.
    5. Perri, Timothy, 2016. "Online education, signaling, and human capital," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 69-74.
    6. Joyce, Ted & Crockett, Sean & Jaeger, David A. & Altindag, Onur & O'Connell, Stephen D., 2015. "Does classroom time matter?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 64-77.
    7. Wen-Chi Liao, 2005. "Outsourcing, Inequality, and Cities," 2005 Meeting Papers 904, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Benjamin T. Skinner, 2019. "Making the Connection: Broadband Access and Online Course Enrollment at Public Open Admissions Institutions," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(7), pages 960-999, November.
    9. Adel Ben Youssef & Ludovic Ragni, 2008. "Uses of Information and Communication Technologies in Europe's Higher Education Institutions: From Digital Divides to Digital Trajectories," Post-Print halshs-00937212, HAL.
    10. Josep Amer-Mestre & Alaitz Ayarza-Astigarraga & Marta C. Lopes, 2024. "E-learning engagement gap during school closures: differences by academic performance," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(3), pages 337-359, January.
    11. Ayesha Siddiqa, 2022. "A Study of Students Perception about Virtual Learning: An Evidence from Punjab, Pakistan," Journal of Education and Social Studies, Science Impact Publishers, vol. 3(1), pages 41-51.
    12. David Figlio & Mark Rush & Lu Yin, 2013. "Is It Live or Is It Internet? Experimental Estimates of the Effects of Online Instruction on Student Learning," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(4), pages 763-784.
    13. Bosshardt, William & Chiang, Eric P., 2018. "Evaluating the effect of online principles courses on long-term outcomes," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-10.
    14. Eric P. Chiang & Jose J. Vazquez, 2018. "Using Technology to Complete the Natural Learning Path in a Principles of Economics Course," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 2(2), pages 104-114, January.
    15. Li, Yi & Zhang, Wei & Wang, Pengfei, 2021. "Working online or offline: Which is more effective?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    16. Marigee Bacolod & Stephen Mehay & Elda Pema, 2018. "Who succeeds in distance learning? Evidence from quantile panel data estimation," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(4), pages 1129-1145, April.
    17. George Bulman & Robert W. Fairlie, 2015. "Technology and Education: Computers, Software, and the Internet," CESifo Working Paper Series 5570, CESifo.
    18. Oliver Falck & Constantin Mang & Ludger Woessmann, 2018. "Virtually No Effect? Different Uses of Classroom Computers and their Effect on Student Achievement," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(1), pages 1-38, February.
    19. David J. Deming & Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz & Noam Yuchtman, 2015. "Can Online Learning Bend the Higher Education Cost Curve?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 496-501, May.
    20. Eric P. Bettinger & Lindsay Fox & Susanna Loeb & Eric S. Taylor, 2017. "Virtual Classrooms: How Online College Courses Affect Student Success," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(9), pages 2855-2875, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Facebook; virtual discussions; academic performance; quasi-natural experiment; difference-in-difference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • C54 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Quantitative Policy Modeling

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ven:wpaper:2015:28. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sassano Sonia (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dsvenit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.