1. Social Media as a Student Learning Activity:
Results of a Pilot Study
Barbara O’Neill, Ph.D., CFP®
Specialist in Financial Resource Management
Rutgers NJAES Cooperative ExtensionProject Description
Working with the New Jersey Coalition for Financial Education
(NJCFE) with a $10,000 grant from the Council for Economic
Education, the following steps were taken:
• First, we recruited ten participating New Jersey teachers and
two alternates to participate in this project by widely circulating
a flyer describing the social media project goals and
participation requirements.
• Second, we provided a 3-hour training workshop for the twelve
teachers (10 + 2 alternates). The training covered the project
methodology, the content of the Council for Economic
Education’s Financial Fitness for Life (FFFL) curriculum, and
the process of creating quality educational Twitter and
Facebook messages to teach personal finance concepts.
• Third, pre-tests were administered to over 200 students by the
participating teachers before instruction began with the
Financial Fitness for Life curriculum. After administering the
pre-test, the participating teachers had three to five months
(depending on their school schedule) to teach the FFFL
curriculum, have their students create social media messages,
and administer a post-test on the curriculum content.
• Fourth, social media messages were received from seven of
the original 12 trained teachers. They were reviewed for
content accuracy, grammar edits, and usefulness in financial
education by the project manager and three peer reviewers: a
teacher, a Cooperative Extension educator, and a NJCFE
member in the private sector.
• Fifth, differences between pre- and post-test average scores
and the number of students with passing grades (70+) were
compared to determine the effectiveness of the student-based
activity in teaching financial education concepts.
• Sixth, CD-ROMs containing social media messages deemed to
have broad educational value were created and distributed at
state and national conferences for financial educators. In
addition, the social media messages will be posted on the
NJCFE Web site www.njcfe.org.
Results and Discussion
Quantitative Data
Seven teachers submitted pre- and post-test data collected from 210
students . The other trained teachers had changes in their assignments or
other reasons for not participating. Three of the seven teachers reported
significant increases in student knowledge scores between the two
assessments with scores rising from failing average scores in the 30s to
average passing scores in the 70s. Not every teacher had time to teach all
of the FFL lessons, however, which undoubtedly affected their outcomes,
All teachers scores rose by some amount.
Qualitative Data
At the same time that the social media messages and post-tests were
being submitted, participating teachers were sent a follow-up evaluation to
determine the effectiveness of the project. Below are some comments that
were received with insights about the educational process that was used
and the content that resonated with students:
• My seniors created a Twitter account where they posted some of their
messages. My freshman and my seniors created a commercial for the
school to advertise their site and provided information about financial
literacy.
• Grouping students who were familiar with Twitter with those who were
not as familiar created a good team dynamic and fostered student
learning, not only of personal finance topics, but of teamwork and
Twitter.
• Students now have a better understanding of the many expenses their
parents have.
• I love the material. It is very easy to use and understandable for my
students. Many times I saw the lesson clicking on their faces.
 They really liked the examples of building wealth over time- huge
numbers!
• The credit lessons fostered a lot of collaboration and much discussion,
especially about student loans.
Sample Twitter Messages
Avoid getting involved in a risky pyramid scheme. If it
sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
http://bit.ly/IzhhEu
Be careful! Payday loans have extremely high interest
rates, which could land you in even more debt than
B4: http://bit.ly/JukA3K
The higher your deductible, the lower your premium.
Other things you can do to lower your car insurance
premiums: http://bit.ly/JO0Fzc
Got money? Consider investing small amounts at
regular intervals in quality mut fds via
#dollar_cost_averaging: http://bit.ly/Jq3LVe
Money doesn’t grow on trees. But it can start growing
if u save at a young age & let it grow. More $$$ tips?
See http://bit.ly/KgFaTz
The Rule of 72 helps u figure out about how long it will
take 2 double your savings:
http://betterexplained.com/articles/the-rule-of-72/
Sample Facebook Messages
Character, Capacity and Collateral. These are the 3
C’s of credit. Character, based on your credit history,
indicates if you promptly repay your debt. Capacity is
your ability to pay off a loan. If you earn $38,000 a
year you probably can’t afford a $1,000,000 house.
Collateral is what the bank takes back (e.g., a house
or a car) if you can’t pay back a loan. For more $$$
information, see http://bit.ly/KgFaTz
Establish a budget to make getting rich easier! First,
track everything you spend in a month. Then be sure
that your expenses do not exceed your income. After
you see exactly where your money is going, reallocate
it to buy what you really want and need. Include
savings as an “expense.” For more $$$ information,
see http://bit.ly/KgFaTz
Keep in mind that whatever you do has an opportunity
cost, which means that you could have done
something else with your time and/or money. For
example, if you don’t graduate from college or trade
school, the opportunity cost is your future earnings as
salaries generally increase with education. For more
$$$ information, see http://bit.ly/KgFaTz