I have learned of many social networking systems - some more popular than others, and each with its own following crowd (although many users cross-over plattforms). For my puposes, Facbook, MySpace and Bebo seem to be the tools of choice of many college-age students.
The main puporse for using these tools?: social of course! However, there is an increasing trend on part of the users to "connect" beyond social needs.
Users also want to network and connect with groups who share common academic, professional, and more scholarly interests.
The question still remains:
Is there a convincing use of these tools in education?
The blog Social Networking in Education explains that their (Fb and Ms) early prominence has created a stigma around social networking that the technology itself doesn't deserve. The understandable concerns created by these early and popular networks have overshadowed some amazing changes that are taking place in educational environments when the tools of social networking are being used with students and teachers. http://www.infinitethinking.org/2008/01/social-networking-in-education.html
The author of this blog, Steve Hagardon*, has been trying for some time now to answer this same question by creating his own social network place. A place for teachers to discuss social networks for educational purposes.
He aslo set up a wiki with a list of links social networks used in educational environments, of which some are Facebook-based. http://socialnetworksined.wikispaces.com/?responseToken=9781a1f14de26fb3c30713fd59f88864
(*In December, Classroom 2.0, the social network he started for educators interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies, won the 2007 EduBlog Award for “best use of a social network for educational purposes” and now has nearly 5,000 members.)
I do plan to join his group to get more insight and to obtain a better understanding on how professional in the field are dealing with social networking tools.
About Me
- Mane
- Bs in Education MA in Spanish Literature MA in Instructional Technology
4 comments:
OK -- so I've been thinking about the organizing question that you posted here, too. I'm wondering now whether the question itself is a bit too binary to be addressed by what you've been finding and formulating.
Perhaps the question isn't whether Fb and similar tools should be used in education. Perhaps it's: "for which education-related uses is Fb most appropriate?" It seems that what you've been discovering during your study is that the outside-of-class, *social networking* uses of Fb are those that make the most sense -- creating study groups, helping students in a large class get to know each other better, helping professors to know their students better, etc. What seems "force" (and not successful) is when folks try to use Fb in ways that aren't primarily social networking -- like trying to use it as a discussion board for assigned readings.
I guess this goes back to my suggestion to think about Fb in terms of the affordances and constraints of its different uses. If it works best for social networking kinds of uses, then perhaps the question becomes, "What social networking is appropriate?" for a particular course or academic program.
What do you think of that way of approaching this question?
Judi's comment seems right on point for me--particularly from the perspective of a college or university that primarily serves traditional age undergraduates. The question of how to use Fb--or any technology--can only be answered in the context of the purpose of the education. Residential colleges for 18-21 year-olds have multiple purposes--many of which run counter to what we would consider the academic purpose.
College is partially about going to class and studying, but it's much more than that. College is about having fun, being spontaneous, growing up, being free, and postponing decisions about real life. A great read is My Freshman Year by anthropologist "Rebeka Nathan". She writes:
"Most professors and administrators overestimate the role that academics plays in student culture, and as a result they magnify the impact of teachers and classes on student life and decisions."
Social networking tools are important to students because they allow them to accomplish the things that they see as being as important as the academic. Are those social and non-academic goals as important to us as what happens in class?
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