Social Networking in Education
What pops into your head when you hear “social networking?” Teenagers and text lingo? Facebook and MySpace? Stalkers? Maybe one thing that you didn’t think of was education. I believe that education is one of the most important potential new aspects of social networking. Because sites like MySpace and Facebook are so popular with the middle-and-high school crowd, educational networking allows you to reach your target audience using tools we are comfortable with.
Social networking is all about sharing. Admittedly, some people share too much (don’t you dare give that anonymous online friend your street address!) but educators can decide what is shared, and turn the social networking site into a center of sharing educational content—so that students are learning in the process. The most basic forms of sharing on a social networking site include email and chatting, or instant messaging, both of which are available on Facebook without having to download software.
Facebook also allows users to write on a friend’s “Wall,” the public writing space in your profile. This would allow educators to post student-specific assignments, tips and tricks, or other information. Through the “What are you thinking?” type-in bar at the top of your own homepage, you can post text, photos, videos, events, and links. All of your “friends”—your pupils and colleagues—will then be able to view this update. This hugely powerful tool gives you the ability to reach out to students and staff with the click of a button.
My older sister, Adrianna, will be a ninth grader this upcoming school year. She is also an avid Facebooker. We both enjoy taking Facebook “quizzes.” These can be decidedly random, with titles such as “What Harry Potter character do you most resemble?” to “Which type of cookie symbolizes your personality?” It got me thinking, however, that educators could utilize the popularity of such online quizzes to send students the occasional pop quiz. It wouldn’t have to be all serious—you could throw in some joke questions, give the quiz a funny title, or pretend that it’s a personality quiz (“Which Renaissance Painter Are You Most Like?”) while actually including questions that test the student’s ability to comprehend the information. Such methods may seem just a little dishonest, but it ties in with my mantra of “Get ‘em by surprise!” The last place a student expects the week’s pop quiz is on a social networking site.
Besides quizzes, social networking sites have the added benefit of offering students an “easier way to communicate,” according to Adrianna. As I have said often, learning is really a two-way street. Facebook allows students and teachers to make learning an interactive, communicative, process, where both sides can exchange thoughts and develop ideas. Questions that students never can ask—or answer—in front of their peers may be less taboo online.
Adrianna also said that social networking gives you room to fine-tune your thoughts—that it’s “less stressful when you can backspace what you said if you don’t like it.” When used properly, social networking as a method of communication can actually help students develop their reading and writing skills; when students are able to express themselves in a virtual environment like a social networking site that they enjoy using, they may feel more comfortable about language arts. Social networking as a method of communication gives students more options; you can share video, pictures, links, etc., on someone’s Wall, through chatting or email—the choices are limitless. What’s more, you can be selective as to who you socialize with. Students’ Facebook pages are where they communicate with people they are comfortable with—which should include you.
I know that not every teacher is crazy about the idea of exploring yet another Internet tool. On her Facebook Wall, my mom raised the question, “Do tech tools create [more] challenge[s] for teachers to manage in the classroom?” One respondent, Karyn Romeis, replied, “Of course they do, but that’s no excuse not to use them. They form a part of the landscape of life, and excluding them from the classroom is to deny a whole world of opportunity.” The likelihood is that many of your students are citizens of the online social networking world. Why not establish a continent of education?
Thank you! Yes. Now somebody go beat Arne Duncan over the head until he encourages the formation of a new continent!
Posted by: Ashley | 08/24/2009 at 06:34 PM