Advantages and Disadvantages of a tutor blog and a facebook group to teach a group of class eight Bengali medium learners

  

With the advancement of technology, human life is becoming dependent on it. Technology offers many facilities to make our life easier. It has reduced distance, made the whole world a global village. It has also taken access in education sector. People are using social networking websites to teach and learn. It has both advantages and disadvantages.

Nowadays, facebook is mostly used social networking website. It is a platform, where people from all around the world can be connected there very easily. On the other hand, though blog is not that much familiar in Bangladeshi context, it can also be used to be connected with the people. Both the websites have different unique features.

Advantages and disadvantages of a facebook group in terms of teaching a group of class eight Bengali medium learners

The main advantage of facebook group is people of our country are very much familiar with facebook and they know the functions of it. The settings of facebook are designed in a very easy way so that all the people even school students also find it easier to use. It is very easy to open a facebook group. People can add a member in the group from their friend lists and even from outside of their lists. It is very easy to find people in facebook. In facebook people can send request to a person to join a group. If that person is not interested he can ignore the request. So privacy is maintained here.

When a member of a group posts anything all the members get notifications. So, they do not need to check again and again whether there is any update or not. One of the most important advantage is when a post is published every one can see it. They can share their opinions in the comment box. People can discuss here on any topic. Any member ca join to the discussion.

All the people of Bangladesh cannot afford internet. Facebook can be used without internet nowadays. Some mobile phone network companies are giving this opportunity. All the students of class eight in our country do not have computers in their homes but every family has a mobile phone at least. So it is easy to stay connected with the group through mobile phone.

Besides all the advantages, there have some disadvantages of facebook group as well. To join a group, everyone needs to have a personal account on facebook even if the person is not interested. To open a facebook profile a lot of personal information is required like email address, phone number etc. An e-mail account is also required to open a facebook account. All the students of class eight may not have a personal e-mail account. Without e-mail account one cannot open a facebook account and without a facebook account one cannot join a group.

Moreover, to learn from or teach in a facebook group is not that much trouble free because it is distracting. For example while a student is working in a group, a notification can appear suddenly where it is mentioned that one of his friends has posted photos or shared some life event, the student may get busy with that post. Students of class eight are not that much matured. In facebook group, they can be connected with the people whom they should not be. It is very easy as it is a matter of one click away. There are shown some ads and friend suggestions which are not suitable for a class eight student. Videos are uploaded on facebook and anyone can access it which may also harm them. Personal chat option is also not necessary for a group but it exists in facebook. There are chances that students can be engaged with other things rather than learning.

Advantages and disadvantages of a tutor blog in terms of teaching a group of class eight Bengali medium learners

 Blog is not that much familiar in Bangladeshi context but it should be. Because it can be a platform of effective teaching and learning. A student of class eight may face difficulty at initial level but after some time they will get familiar with it. I am suggesting it for the school students because it is less distracting than a facebook group. Privacy is also maintained here. There is no option to be connected with unknown people personally as there is no chat option. Concentration will be attached on the discussed topic. If the teacher does not allow anyone cannot comment on others activity as it is a teacher regulated blog. Students can get rid of unexpected comments. If any task is given, the teacher can comment on every individual’s work separately.

Working on a blog can make the students more social at the very early age. Because in comparison to a facebook group, blog is more social while facebook is personal. That much personal information is not shared in a tutor blog.

People cannot see or contact with anyone only by clicking on the profile name which is a criteria of facebook group. So unwanted contact can be avoided with is very much important for the students of class eight. They need to concentrate on learning the topic.

There are some disadvantages of blog as well. Without internet blog cannot be used. It is required to have a computer because to use it by mobile phone is not that much comfortable. Like facebook, an e-mail account is also necessary to open a personal blog. A student of class eight may not have an e-mail account. To comment on a blog, it is needed to sign in to the e-mail account. A person cannot go to another person’s blog from his own account. Rather he needs the address exactly. Only then he can access to some other person’s blog. It is almost impossible finding out someone by searching. It would be helpful if the blog stored the addresses in which the user commented. In that case, it would be better to be connected. But there is no other option like this. Every time it needs to enter the whole address to see someone’s blog. It seems quiet impossible to remember a list of addresses.

In spite of having disadvantages, both the websites are helpful in teaching and learning. If people use those carefully, these websites can benefit the users learning.