Is Facebook still a suitable technology-enhanced learning environment? An updated critical review of the literature from 2012 to 2015.

This study provides an updated critical review of the literature on Facebook as a technology-enhanced learning environment based on papers published between 2012 and 2015. It adopts a revised classification of the categories identified in a previous study, which emphasized three main Facebook affordances – mixing information and learning resources, hybridization of expertise and widening context of learning. The aim is to investigate to what extent studies using Facebook as a learning environment exploited these affordances. Literature has been also analysed according to three types of educational use of Facebook – formal use in formal learning settings (FUF), informal use in formal learning settings (IUF) and use in informal learning settings (UI) – to highlight if and how Facebook affordances have been exploited in these learning settings. Literature search identified 147 articles published in peer-reviewed journals. The results show that most of the articles can be classified as dealing with FUF (N = 69; 46.9%) or as IUF (N = 68; 46.3%); only a minority concerns the UI (N = 10; 6.8%). Overall, the study found that Facebook pedagogical affordances are still partially implemented, although different types of educational use of Facebook exploit these affordances to different degrees. It also provides indications for future research.Lay descriptionWhat is currently known about the subject matter:Facebook still stands as the most popular social network siteThere is an abundant research literature on FacebookStudies on the educational value of Facebook have grown exponentially in the last yearsA review on Facebook as a technology-enhanced learning environment was published in 2013What this paper adds:This study is an update of the critical review published in 2013It takes into account studies published between 2012 and 2015It refines the methodology adopted in the 2013 reviewIt introduces a classification of educational uses of Facebook according to the formal/informal continuumImplications of study findings for practitioners:Facebook is still mostly considered as an open alternative to traditional learning management systemsFacebook pedagogical affordances are still partially implementedTeacher guidance and forms of assessment are claimed according to degrees of formality and informalityCultural issues in the use of Facebook in education should be further investigated