Educational Technology 11 – Educ 4039
October 6, 2009
Class 4 (3 Hours)
Dr. Diane P. Janes – Diane_Janes@cbu.ca – Office hours by appointment – Phone: 563-1236

Introduction to Social Networking sites as teaching tool

A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.
Social networking has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking websites are being used regularly by millions of people.
While it could be said that email and websites have most of the essential elements of social network services, proprietary encapsulated services gained popularity in the first decade of the 21st century.

The main types of social networking services are those which contain category divisions (such as former school-year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with Facebook widely used worldwide; MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn being the most widely used in North America and Nexopia (mostly in Canada).

Social networks are being used by teachers and students as a communication tool. Because many students are already using a wide-range of social networking sites, teachers have begun to familiarize themselves with this trend and are now using it to their advantage. Teachers and professors are doing everything from creating chat-room forums and groups to extend classroom discussion to posting assignments, tests and quizzes, to assisting with homework outside of the classroom setting. Social networks are also being used to foster teacher-parent communication. These sites make it possible and more convenient for parents to ask questions and voice concerns without having to meet face-to-face.

The National School Boards Association (a US body) reports that almost 60 percent of students who use social networking talk about education topics online and, surprisingly, more than 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork. Yet the vast majority of school districts have stringent rules against nearly all forms of social networking during the school day — even though students and parents report few problem behaviors online.

Social networks focused on supporting relationships between teachers and between teachers and their students are now used for learning, educator professional development, and content sharing. Ning for teachers, Learn Central, and other sites are being built to foster relationships that include educational blogs, e-portfolios, formal and ad hoc communities, as well as communication such as chats, discussion threads, and synchronous forums. These sites also have content sharing and rating features.

Activity – Choose ONE of the following 3 articles, précis it and comment on your blog! Speculate on how Social Networking might be used in your future classroom…what are the pros? Are there any cons?

• OVERVIEW - WHAT ARE SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES? This paper will give you an overview of the current situation regarding Social Networking and the services provided by these sites. http://www.digizen.org/downloads/social-networking-overview.pdf

• boyd, d. m., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 11. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html

• Laila Weir - Kids Create -- and Critique on -- Social Networks found at http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-youth-network-literacy

Review the information on this website called digizen.org -http://www.digizen.org/socialnetworking/ideas.aspx

Choose of the following categories and explore the information within. Post to your blog a précis of what you find. Are you surprised at how some of these social networking sites are being used? (Ignore the Second Life section for now, we will look at this later in the term)
• Profile-based social networking services: Bebo, Facebook, MySpace
• Content-based social networking services: Flickr, YouTube
• White-label social networking services: Ning, Elgg
• Mobile social networks and micro-blogging: Twitter

Review the Social Networking Evaluation Chart found on digizen.org - http://www.digizen.org/downloads/Sns.pdf

Activity - Comment on the Evaluation Chart on your blog. How valuable is this tool as a teacher in a classroom considering using Social Networking sites to teach? In your opinion is anything missing from the chart that you would want to know before you explored this teaching area?
These tools collected by educator Kathy Schrock may help you in your major assignment…check them out at: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/edtools.html

Watch the video on Howard Garner http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-howard-gardner-video

Answer the 5 discussion questions that accompany the video on your blog.
Watch the video Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts at http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-teachers-vicki-davis

Answer the 5 discussion questions that accompany the video on your blog.
Review and watch - How to Use New-Media Tools in Your Classroom by Amy Erin Borovoy at http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-new-media-classroom-tips

Review - Guide to Social Networking by Mark Glaser http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2007/08/your-guide-to-social-networking-online241.html