Facebook use in college students : facing the learning motivation of young adults

This study explored college students’ perceptions of Facebook, focusing on their views of Facebook as an informal learning environment, how the features of Facebook motivate students’ learning, and the relationship between motivation and interest triggered when using Facebook. Participants were surveyed via an online survey program in order to examine whether their perceptions and experiences with Facebook (Madge, Wellens, & Hooley, 2009) and how the features of Facebook motivated users’ learning. This study provides evidence to support the idea that interest and motivated actions on Facebook are related. For example, students mostly read (click) posts that are related to things they are learning and therefore they are mostly self-motivated to reply to posts in which they are interested. In addition, in support of the four-phase model of interest development (Hidi & Renninger, 2006), students’ positive feelings, which is interest, plays a crucial role in developing individual interest which leads to self-regulated learning.