Correlation between participation and scores
As shown in Table 1, there is a positive correlation between the participation of the students in the topic discussions and the scores they achieved in the final evaluation. This positive correlation is even stronger in the case of the group using the Facebook group tool.
Table 1. Pearson correlation between participation in the discussions and the final score achieved
In Table 2, the first column corresponds to the list of topics discussed in the course. The column “Starter”, indicates whether the discussion was initiated by the professor (P) or by the student (S). In Group#1 the interventions were always in the classroom while in Group#2 there were interventions on Facebook and also in the classroom. Most opinions were given through Facebook (the Group#2 students participated on Facebook 7 times more than did the Group#1 students in the classroom, and twice compared with their own participation in the classroom). Group#2, which had Facebook as a complementary tool, also participated more in the classroom, 3 times more than did students in Group#1. In total (Facebook + classroom interventions), the participation of the Group#2 was 11 times higher than the participation of Group#1.