Abstract

MANSILLA, Daniela Soledad; MUSCIA, Gisela Celeste  and  UGLIAROLO, Esteban Ariel. Virtual Campus and Facebook in the university. Enemies or Allies in the teaching and learning processes?. Educ. quím [online]. 2013, vol.24, n.2, pp.255-259. ISSN 0187-893X.

Our students live in a new era of communication. For many years chemists have used technology for teaching and learning at different levels of education. The use of virtual platforms is a valuable educational tool. The aim of this paper is to analyze the use of virtual platforms for students enrolled in the Organic Chemistry II course, of the careers of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Buenos Aires. We have compared the use of the Virtual Campus and Facebook groups. A sample of 110 randomly selected students participated in this research. The 100% of students were registered on the campus of Organic Chemistry II and the 80% was a member of a related Facebook group. The 90% of the students used some of these technological tools as a means to support their questions. Moreover, 67% of respondents prefer Facebook as a means of communication. The 64% of students felt that Facebook was the means by which they obtained a rapid response. The results indicate that students use virtual platforms as a support tool in the learning process.

Keywords : undergraduate students; organic chemistry; virtual platforms; Facebook; Virtual Campus.