Facebook as a Pedagogical Tool in Enhancing Students' Engagement and Stimulating Critical Thinking Skills (S/O 14517)

• Main Authors: Abdul Majid, Jamaliah, Abu Bakar, Robiah
• Format: Monograph
• Language: English
• Published: UUM 2021
• Subjects: L Education (General)
• Online Access: https://repo.uum.edu.my/id/eprint/31595/1/14517.pdf; https://repo.uum.edu.my/id/eprint/31595/

This executive summary provides an analysis of the impact of using Facebook as an educational tool on students' critical thinking skills. The analysis focuses on final year accounting students taking an elective course BKAR3093 Use and Analysis of Financial Statements at Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy (TIS SA), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). The study was motivated by the emphasis on the acquisition of critical thinking skills among students at higher institutions, as underlined in the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), program educational objectives (PEOs), and the accounting professionals (e.g., the Malaysian Institute of Accountant). Two research objectives have been addressed in the study. In addressing these research objectives, various analyses including bivariate correlation, and univariate and multivariate linear regressions were conducted. The first research objective has aimed to examine the extent of educational use of Facebook group related to BKAR3093 Analysis and Use of Financial Statements among the final year accounting students taking the course. To achieve this objective, a Facebook group, known as 'Financial Statement Analysis' has been created (see Appendix 1). The extent of educational use ofFacebook group is examined using three different approaches. First, the present study measures the number of times students responded to the posting on the Facebook group. Second, students' perceived benefits of using the Facebook. Third, drawbacks that students perceived in using the Facebook group. The findings showed that throughout the 14 weeks of the teaching period, the mean (median) number of times the students responded to the posting on the Facebook group is 36.55 (38.00). The minimum number ofresponded is 12 times while the maximum number is 38 times. These results suggest that on average, students use the Facebook group related to BKAR.3093 Analysis and Use of Financial Statements quite frequent, as the usage is on average approximately 3 times in a week per student. In addition, with regard to students' perceived benefits of using the Facebook group, the results show that on a scale of Oto a maximum of 45, the mean (median) benefits of using the Facebook group perceived by students is 35.55 (36.00), suggesting that the majority of students view the Facebook group to be beneficial for their study. As for the drawbacks that the students perceived in using the Facebook group, on a scale of Oto a maximum of 20, the table shows that the mean (median) of the perceived drawbacks is 9.84 (9.00), suggesting that largely students do not view the usage of Facebook to be a hindrance in their study. Overall, the results show that students frequently use the Facebook group in learning the financial statement analysis. The second research objective has sought to analyse the impact of using Facebook as a pedagogical tool in learnings BKAR3093 Analysis and Use of Financial Statements on students' critical thinking skills. Focusing solely on the experimental group, the regression results show that the coefficients on Facebook_Response is statistically non-significant, suggesting that among the experimental group of students, their responses toward Facebook learning activities have no impact on the critical thinking skills. When analysing the impact of using Facebook on students' critical thinking skills by comparing the experimental group with the control group, the results shows that the coefficients on FB Response is statistically non-significant for both mini cases, but it is statistically significant in a positive direction for the group assignment. These results suggest that the educational use ofFacebook for the Financial statement analysis course fosters critical thinking skills among students with the\ Facebook group (experimental group) compared to students without the Facebook group (control group). Possibly, this is because students with the Facebook group are more engaged with their study, especially on the group project. The study has contributed to the literature in two ways. First, it has contributed to the Malaysian literature by providing empirical evidence on the application of Facebook as a pedagogical tool in stimulating critical thinking skills among accounting students, which has received limited attention in prior studies. Second, the study has added to the literature by highlighting that Facebook educational usage is effective in improving students' engagement with their study. The information obtained from this study is hoped to be useful to lecturers and hence educators at higher institutions. The information is hoped to assist the academicians to further enhance students' engagement, their critical thinking skills and hence their academic performances through other types of information and communication technology