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A professor of Jain College who found that his students were more interested in the social network than their syllabus, has started taking classes on FB

A professor who noticed his students’ interest lay more in online social networking than their syllabus, has found a new way to marry the two. Through quizzes and innovative teaching on Facebook, he has merged fun with learning.

It started with Sachin A Tantry bringing together BA journalism students of Jain College to this ‘cool’ hangout on Facebook. In five months, the group has grown to over 100 students, including those from other colleges.

“Facebook turned out to be the best place to reach out to all the students. I tried the new idea, which is working wonders. More students are participating in study activities and it is nice to see them putting questions and there is more attendance and inclusive learning,” said Tantry.

Students of all the three years of the college and many from other colleges are part of the new learning process. The platform lets them share information, learn, participate and keep in touch with each other and also keep abreast of current events in a fun and highly mobile way.

Students say it is in fact not like teaching and learning any more. It is just sharing of knowledge and information among a peer group.

The online group also offers fun activities, tasks and games; interesting articles and websites are shared, discussed and analysed by the members. Specialised topics and quizzes, news stories, reading resources, notes, latest media information, statistics about the field and job opportunities are discussed. This helps students not only in studies, but also helps plan their career.

Maitreya J A, a final year student of Jain College, feels the most important aspect of online page is it is infinitely scalable. “It will work even if there are thousands of students. It is free, accessible from anywhere and open to anyone who can contribute useful information.”

The group is planning a lot of new things in the coming months, which include an online virtual festival, games that can be played from anywhere, competitions that anybody can participate in from anywhere in the world and other interesting learning strategies based on game theory.

The group is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/journalism.sbmjc/ and is open to all.