Teacher-Student Relationship and Facebook-Mediated Communication: Student Perceptions

Abstract

Studentteacher relationships are vital to successful learning and teaching. Today, communication between students and teachers, a major component through which these relationships are facilitated, is taking place via social networking sites (SNS). In this study, we examined the associations between studentteacher relationship and studentteacher Facebookmediated communication. The study included Israeli middle and highschool students, ages 1219 years old (n=667). Studentteacher relationships were compared between subgroups of students, based on their type of Facebook connection to their teachers (or the lack of such a connection); their attitudes towards a policy that prohibits Facebook connection with teachers; and their perceptions of using Facebook for learning. Regarding students' attitudes towards banning studentteacher communication via SNS and towards using Facebook for learning, we found significant differences between three groups of students: those who do not want to connect with their teachers on Facebook, those who are connected with a teacher of theirs on Facebook, and those who are not connected with a teacher of theirs but wish to connect. Also, we found significant associations between studentteacher relationship and studentteacher Facebookmediated communication. We argue that in the case of studentteacher Facebookmediated communication, there is a gap between students' expectations and inpractice experience. The key to closing this gap lies in both policy and effective implementation..