Using the links below, in addition to your readings, personal experience, or other sources to write a 250 word response to this question:
What is your personal perspective on utilizing social networking sites (such as facebook) for education? Do the benefits outweigh the risks?
Post your response in two places = 1) your own blog and 2) as a comment to this post.
10 Perspectives on social networking in education
- http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10459983-238.html
- http://thejournal.com/articles/2009/09/16/social-networking-in-schools-incentives-for-participation.aspx
- http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/profdev/SocialNetworkingToolkit_Jan08.pdf
- http://www.socialmediamom.com/2010/08/social-networking-in-schools-yes-or-no.html
- http://tcs.cybertipline.com/index.htm
- http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=0ac7c029-0fd4-4db2-be39-1133d028ab02
- http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2010/06/16/03networking.h03.html
- http://www.classroom20.com/
- http://www.slate.com/id/2239560/
- http://www.nsba.org/site/docs/41400/41340.pdf
In HS, social networking would be a good way to stay in touch with your students away from school or as they beging their graduate-life. However, a teacher should probably consider how much security they keep on their page and who is allowed to view what. There are probably some aspects of a teacher's private life that students should not see pictures or posts about. JH kids are pretty open to social networking and will "friend" teachers and parents, which is a nice way to let the kids know that facebook is a community with all kinds of responsible members that might want to check your statuses and images. Therefore, they should be appropriate. Benefits and Risks are probably about even.
ReplyDeleteI think Social Networking would be a great way to disseminate information. I would create a "professional" account that is separate from my personal account. On this page, you could share information such as upcoming assignments and helpful links. This would also be helpful for younger students. A teacher could have a student make a Facebook post or Tweet about the activities taking place in the classroom. What an easy way for a parent or grandparent to stay involved when they are not with the child each day.
ReplyDeleteI believe that social networking systems could be very beneficial to learning and student development. Not only do we need to foster the qualities that it will take to survive in the 21st century, but we need to embrace and extend them. How else, but using the tools that the students have now, can we accomplish this? However, I think the best route to go about this task is to start the schools own social networking arena. Each school should have a social network that is built for them and by them, that way, they can choose what and who are represented in that arena. The students would, I imagine, have to go through a digital courtesy course, and a technology basics boot camp.
ReplyDeleteThe push and infusion of Professional Learning Communities style of professional development would gain validity and mobility among its participants if they were to embrace the social networking system as a way to communicate. We may even be able to do away with the early releases!!
There are concerns with this new technology, as teachers we should always be looking out for the best interests of our students. We can, however find creative and innovative ways to use technology where the students and staff have a safe and effective mode of communication, learning, creation, and reflection.
Now, let’s zoom out our lenses a bit. If we can reach our students, parents, and teachers through this technology, then why not the rest of the world? There are already networking services available just for teachers, parents, and students to do just that. What a wonderful tool to use. Just image how we would be teaching our students not to just be citizens, but global participants.
As I asked other teachers from my department how they felt about using social networks as an extension of learning, the general reaction was one of fear. Although they realize that they cannot fight the wave of technology, they realize that the administrations, nationally, and statewide, have not approved this type of MVLE. One reaction to the question was instantaneous. The teacher said that it would be too risky and too dangerous for us to allow the students to use these tools. And, I agree that if we were to set our students loose with a new social networking system without careful preparation, meaningful lessons, and a clear purpose for the MVLE, it could lead to disaster. Another colleague seemed more interested in learning the modes and ways in which we could use this technology. I am excited to share with that colleague what I have learned here.
Wanted to try my hand a voicethread again... this time its on Social Networking..
ReplyDeletehttp://voicethread.com/share/1349819/
I had trouble posting my reflection to this post. (user error??) Please visit my blog to see my comments about social networking -
ReplyDeleteMichelle G.
http://icanteachart.blogspot.com/
Many educators would believe that Facebook or any social networking sites do not have a place in the classroom. I believe social networks have received a bad rap by the public for some of the activity that happens on them. Many teens and tweens use these sites on a daily basis and this could possibly be a great place for educators to reach some students. I believe students and teachers would have to create 'professional' pages to use in the school environment. Personal lives should be kept separate from education. A difficult task could be monitoring the students pages and comments to ensure all activity is appropriate. Any type of bullying would have to be addressed before the students would be allowed to use social networking in school. They would know the consequences of cyber bullying, which should align with the policies in the districts handbook. The students would need to be taught the correct use of the sites resources, as they need to be with any new lesson or teaching/learning tool. The teacher would have to have a well-prepared, meaningful lesson to teach the students. With the correct planning, using social networks in the classroom could be beneficial in many ways.
ReplyDeleteSchools would also have to address the issue of security. The pages developed for education use with student information would have to be kept private. Public advertisements would need to be removed and any access to the public would need to be denied. Student work would need to be kept private and not placed on publicly viewed web pages.
Using social networking in education could encourage more students to participate discussions or class critiques. Student could post their work on the classes Facebook page, which would then allow their classmates to provide constructive criticism.
During the training I received before I began teaching the yearbook course, the yearbook representative suggested we set up a Facebook page to help advertise our schools yearbook. My first thought was there is no way our tech supervisor would allow this. I believe it could possibly work to help the sales of the yearbook, however we did not pursue the possibility.
At this point in my teaching career, 3 years, I do not see myself using social networking in my class at this time. It is a good possibility that this would be a great tool to use in my yearbook course, since we are on the computers everyday. The program we currently use will let us send messages, list to do's and may do more than I am currently aware of. I believe that at this time with the knowledge I have I will not be incorporating them into my curriculum this year. I believe it is a possibility to use social networks in the classroom setting.