Can a Facebook Group Serve as an Additional Learning Resource for Introductory Programming Students?

This paper reports on what the introduction of a Facebook Group can contribute as an additional resource in learning programming. The Facebook Group was created and students were asked to voluntarily join the group to share information related to the programming topic. The purpose of creating the group was to introduce peer-to-peer learning within and outside the classroom. The content posted in the group by the students was studied in terms of the number of posts, frequency of posts, number of views, likes and the kind of discussion initiated in a post. The marks obtained by the students after the completion of topic were analysed to determine the effect of participation on the performance of students in terms of marks obtained in the topic. The study suggests that most of the students who joined the group passed the topic. The students who joined the group read all the posts and responded to some of them. Some interesting discussions were initiated. Most of the discussions were regarding practical work. The time of posts and replies varied from early morning to late night, which suggests that the students seek an additional source of help while studying the topic.