Summary One: Social Networking.
How are social networking sites beneficial to learning in schools? How can they be implemented in a school context?
A recent survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 73 percent of online teens using social-networking sites (Magid, 2010). This percentage along with other findings raises the issue of whether the implementation of social networking sites in an educational context is beneficial to learning. It has been a topic of focus in conjunction with concerns of safety if they are integrated into school systems. With benefits extensively detailed in many studies it has become an issue of how rather than if, they should be integrated.
Many studies whilst acknowledging the concerns for safety explore the benefits that occur when implementing social networking sites in schools. Research revealed that there is a general agreement on the benefits, these include:
| Benefits | Description |
| Class discussion | § Able to convey opinions and receive immediate feedback to encourage further discussion. § Conversations continue beyond the class. |
| Class Community | § Student’s perceptions of each other change; this improved understanding creates respect and develops classroom dynamics leading to more interaction. § An increased openness to new and diverse views. |
| Relevant Skill Development | § Increases technological fluency. § Independence and responsibility towards practicing safe use of information and technology. § Networking skills developed for future careers. § Creativity and management skills in maintenance of sites. § Improves grammar and an understanding of the appropriate use of language in different contexts. § Increased understanding of 21st century tools. Generates a positive attitude to explore and investigate new tools. § Makes schools more relevant and meaningful. § Flexible learning. Enables students to organize their thoughts and represent knowledge in a different manner. |
| Awareness of the world | § Creates a sense of the real world and how it is functioning. § Connecting to different cultures, people and opinions through message boards and collaborative work. |
These benefits to learning are encapsulated in YouTube video, ‘Twitter in the classroom?’ (2009). In this case study, students at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, USA are engaging with and using knowledge through the use of social networking resources. Their learning has become integrated with mediums of the 21st century such as twitter, wikki, instant messaging, social websites and more. Conventional methods of teaching are merging with the informal learning habits of online home activity. They are engaging the students with educational information pertinent to them, integrating the tools into the curriculum and setting goals to use them to their maximum potential. Evaluation reveals that these social tools are serving two purposes for their students. Firstly, they are preparing them for communicating in the 21st century and secondly, they capture attention and raise participation levels which leads to increased academic achievement.
The main concern is, now we realize how beneficial social networking sites are to learning, how can we integrate them into school curriculum? Support, attitude adjustment and utilizing alternative educational sites are possible ways. A study (Brady 2010) compares parent and student attitudes to educators.
“While more than half of the education leaders wanted to prohibit the use of social networking…a majority of the parents and students expressed high expectations about the positive role social networking technologies could play in students' lives. About 60 percent of the students surveyed indicated they use social networking sites for online discussions about schoolwork.”
This is further supported by another earlier study (Richardson 2007) that discovered more specifically,
76% of parents expect social networking will improve their children’s reading and writing skills, or help them express themselves more clearly…and parents and communities “expect schools to take advantage of potentially powerful educational tools, including new technology.”
Despite this escalating support and expectation, educators have developed a negative attitude towards encompassing them as learning tools and are failing to see the importance of social networking sites in education. In-school use of these technologies have been limited or avoided entirely due to concerns on privacy, inappropriate content, cyber bullying and distraction from study. Public and student support is forcing the government to modify laws to allow schools to have access to social networking sites to be in synch with the new ways of consuming information and interacting in the 21st century.
The support given to integrating these tools in the learning process has generated controversy in regards to the safety risks and disadvantages they bring. Studies have noted these risks, but have also shown that these can be overcome or controlled (Richardson 2007). Privacy and safety issues can be overcome by educating students on how to be responsible and aware users and by implementing educationally developed sites that the teacher controls to manage cyber bullying, though immediacy of postings can make it difficult effectively police. Teaching time management skills and goal setting can overcome any distractive elements.
These valid issues have prompted the development of alternative networking tools that can be used to provide a safe, student centered environment to learn in. They enable the power of social networking to be harnessed and are integrated with control features and filters designed for school use (Richardson 2007). Brady attributes educators lack of usage to their ignorance of resources like Elgg and Ectolearning that emulate aspects of Facebook and MySpace but are designed to address the needs of contemporary learning, creating communities between teachers and students, including file sharing, content creation, online collaboration and learning management. Each student has a profile and teachers can create work that integrates Web 2.0 resources such as YouTube without students leaving the safe learning environment. These tools are becoming ideal sites to provide a way to safely incorporate social networking in the classroom, enabling educationally relevant information to be consumed and communicated.
It is apparent that social networking is highly beneficial in education and by using alternative resources like Elgg, Ning and EctoLearning, they can overcome the disadvantageous issues and be implemented in schools. Future research is likely to focus on the main disadvantage of cyber bullying when implementing such tools.
References:
Magid, Larry, Social Networking Belongs in Schools, CNET News, viewed 07/03/10,
http://news.cnet.com/8301-19518_3-10459983-238.html
Twitter in the classroom?, 2009, youtube video, viewed 07/03/2010,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OxIz_3o3O0
Richardson, Will, 2007, Weblogg-ed: learning with the read/write web, viewed 07/03/10,
http://weblogg-ed.com/2007/social-networking-in-schools-gets-a-boost-from-nsba/
Brady, Kevin, 2010, ‘Lifting the Limits on Social Networking’, School Administrator, Vol. 67, Issue. 2, pg 8.
