First the good:
Fakebook allows users to create fake profiles, similar to Facebook, for book characters or historical figures. Users can add wallpaper, a profile picture, and a limited profile.
In the "friends" section, the user can add profile picture of another user and insert it.
The most important section is the "posts" where the user can post events to his own timeline. Others can post to that timeline as well, or like and comment on original posts.
Students in a group could each choose book characters or people in an historical event. Each student would then create one character's profile, friend each other, and post on each other's pages to recreate the storyline.
So what's the problem?
The biggest problem is the ads. They dominate the page. The proportion of ads to content is unacceptable for student tools. Even worse, twice in just a few minutes, pop-up ads covered the page. Pop-up ads should NEVER occur on any instructional tool.
You can purchase the software through Classroomtools.net for approximately $25, but the other problems with the site would stop me from doing so.
First, there is no place to attribute the images that are used in the wallpaper and profile.
The wallpaper section does not auto-fit an uploaded picture leaving an ugly blue box.
Anyone can post on a profile's timeline. They should only be able to comment or like.
Notice the "jolly roger" post. That happened because even if you are on your own site, you have to enter your profile name when you post. Otherwise, some random profile is attributed to the post.
The software just seems archaic for this day and age. Perhaps they will improve and then I support the use of Fakebook.
Thank you for your good points about Fakebook. I also hate the pop-up ads. I agree that Pop-up adds should never occur on potential online learning environment.
ReplyDeleteThis may not be a popular solution but I use adblock plus on my personal and business computer so I am not assaulted with ads every time I surf the web. Adblock even has a smartphone app/browser that allows me to surf freely from my phone.....
ReplyDeleteK - Thank you for this tip that I'll try out on my personal computer. Unfortunately, its not likely to be approved for K-12 school districts.
DeleteThank you for your post on Fakebook. I think the concept is brilliant but there are a lot of tweaks that need to be done in order for it be useful. Something else I noticed when creating my Fakebook page, I cannot actually link to other pages. If a teacher were to assign students to create these profiles, it would be time consuming to find all the appropriate pages. There is a search feature but it does not work all the time.
ReplyDeleteShiba - The teacher perspective is really important. Thank you for bringing it up. Inconsistent, time-consuming searching would frustrate teachers and students alike. Let's hope they take the concept and redesign the site from scratch, making it more user friendly.
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