It's difficult to comment on something I know so little about. When I hear "social networking" I generally think of Facebook and MySpace. Clearly social networking is bigger than this. So I decided to do an internet search on education and social networking. Much of the information I received was fairly similar to the chapter in Library 2.0.
I did, however, find an interesting article by the National School Boards Association. (http://www.masternewmedia.org/learning_educational_technologies/social-networking/social-networking-in-education-survey-on-new-generation-social-creative-and-interconnected-lifestyles-NSBA-2007-1109.htm)
Not surprisingly, 96% of students with online access report using social networking sites. Now for the interesting part: 60% of students who use social networking talk about education topics online! And more than 50% talk about schoolwork. Although many school districts are leary of social networking some schools have reported using social networking sites for:
-online collaborative projects with other schools
-online pen pal and other international programs
-school-run blogs
-creation and maintenance of wikis
-staff development purposes
Students spend time at networking sites in many ways; blogging, sharing music, videos and photos. But the key task they are involved in is creating content, say the authors. It seems that this energy and involvement could be used in a positive and beneficial way in the classroom.
Students report creating detailed stories with new characters, contributing to collaborative projectsweekly or more frequently, sending suggestions to Web sites, and submitting articles to sites on a weekly basis.
The article reports that only a minority of students and parents have reported having had negative experiences with social networking. Most problems they reported were similar to those they have had with other media (television and music) or encountered in everyday life.
I think we will face an uphill battle gaining district approval for social networking in schools, although there are clearly benefits to students. Harold Rheingold made an excellent point in a related article. He said that "learning to use participatory media technologies, refining one's own ability to speak, present and communicate visually may indeed be among the most precious skills that the young generations of digital natives need to learn if you want them to be able to affect sensible change in the future."
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3 comments:
Tami,
I'm like you in a sense I have never visited Myspace or facebooks. The idea of students using social networking sites makes me a little nervous. I am in favor of them using sites that are self contain within a school of classroom. That way they are only responding to students who they are familar with. I do believe that this medium could help students express themselves and find a voice for what they believe. If used properly I like the idea of social networking sites used in a class room setting.
I like your list of ways that social networking could be used by the schools for educational purposes. I was just thinking about how to use them in promoting the reading and sharing of books, but you had a lot of other really great ideas for them as well. I know that I am "behind" them times as they say. I have never been on a social networking site nor did I even know what a WIKI or a podcast was until I took this class. My eyes have really been open to the many possibilities of different teaching methods other than textbook, paper, and pencil. I really want to learn to use technology more efficiently in the near future.
It is quite clear that education has not accepted social networking on the internet despite the fact that many educators, media specialists, technology specialists, and students are screaming out for more of this type of material. We, as educators, can sit back and let the rest of the world glide by us, or we can take a leap of faith and jump into technology with both feet. I find it highly interesting that your article’s surveys of parents and students showed little negative experiences. I know that problems will occur, but for the most part this technology is a great thing. The students are contributing to social networks. The world is contributing to social networks. Why does education feel it should have no part of these types of sites? We are missing a great learning opportunity and we are hurting our students’ chances at being technologically advanced.
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