My thinking on social networking is that it is appealing to students and the majority of our population. Who doesn't have a facebook account now??? I get friend requests from people that I would have never thought would even have a computer.
Through this class I have learned that there are more to social networking other than Facebook and Myspace. This week the building of the media center webpage blog has opened my eyes more to the benefits of such social networking tools. Library 2.0 states that social networking is designed to encourage individual expressions, self discovery, and social interaction. Social networking sites could be very beneficial in promoting the media center, as they already have the popularity among the majority of the student population.
Library 2.0 gave several good ideas for using social networking site. They are as follows:
-Social networking sites provide a new way for patrons to interact with the library.
-Social networking sites are forcing libraries to reexamine their roles and identities, and to rethink strategies toward remaining visible and valuable to users.
-Social networking sites enable libraries to "speak the language" of their patrons and to find out what they are intersted in.
-Social networking sites are a great way to "show the patrons the library".
-Social networking sites are a good way to "assess the patrons" through the use of surveys and focus groups.
-Social networking sites can be used by media specialist to interact with their patrons that are unfamiliar with the traditional research process.
-Social networking sites can be used for event promotion.
-Social networking sites can be used for outreach, educating patrons, and word of mouth.
I feel that social networking sites are the way to go to gain followers. Most schools may still be required to have a media center webpage, but they could have links from their site to the other social networking sites that they would like to use. This would then fall into the discussion of the use of filters. I know that many districts have social networking sites blocked. Social networking sites can open our options as to what is available to gain the attention of the students.
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Leann, I agree with you. In order to gain followers, we need to include social networking sites in our arsenal of technology tools, especially in the media center, but also in the classrooms. Perhaps not for young elementary students, perhaps not personal sites such as Facebook. However, educational social networking sites are available now, ones that at the very least we can use to introduce children to the concept of social networking. There are companies out there developing and making available sites that allow students to collaborate and communicate with students in classes all over the world. These types of opportunities are good starting points for gently nudging districts in the direction of accepting social networking use in the schools. Students, at the same time, will learn how to safely use these sites and see the fun and usefulness of a different approach to learning. I was unsure about social networking in schools, but now I'm excited, just as you are, and the development of our MC webpage helped!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you Leann. Working on our media center website using Blogger has really opened my eyes to more of the benefits of social networking tools. In my other blog responses I have been focusing my attention on the inherent benefits of social networking for the students and teachers. Encouraging individual expression, self discovery and social interaction could all be tied into standards that are designed to stimulate critical thinking skills. However, this project has definitely shown me all of the beneficial uses of social networking tools that media specialist could use to promote their media centers.
ReplyDeleteAfter reviewing your list of ideas of social networking tools from Library 2.0, I found myself already thinking of ways I could implement them myself when I become a media specialist. Using a blog for the media center website would allow patrons to make comment s and ask questions on the site itself. This would allow the media specialist to get immediate feedback from patrons. Additionally, the media specialist could imbed into their blog website a survey regarding what book series to order next or a poll about current topics of interest within the school such as prom king and queen. All of these activities use social networking tools to help the media specialist keep their finger on the pulse of what teachers and students require of the media center while simultaneously promoting it.
I like the idea of using social networking sites to promote media center events. Creating an interactive site to show off the media center's programs has strong merit.
ReplyDeleteStudents should have a forum for discussion and interaction with their peers? We know they are on the internet and using social networking sites, we just have to lead them in this direction acadmically.
Using blogs and surveys on the MC website is a good place to start, but also providing links to sites such as Flickr, Delicious, and Library Thing are necessary. Shouldn't media specialists be at the forefront of this technological advance? If these sites are blocked, the district should host these opportunities on thier intranet in a safe and gaurded arena.
I like the idea of using a social networking outlet to gain and interact with followers of your media center. Like you said, who doesn't have a Facebook account now? I know that I spend all day Monday through Friday speaking my special "kid-language", and I personally enjoy the opportunity to interact with other like-minded individuals on Facebook each night. Utilizing a social network for the media center could have much the same effect--interaction with colleagues and patrons who are have similar (yet sometimes different) interests in the media center. I have just sent out invitations to a party I'm having to all of my Facebook friends. How great would it be to send out invitations for book fairs, mystery readers, and other media center events? Web 2.0 has afforded us so many innovative means of communication, shouldn't we as media specialists be the first to incorporate those into our programs? We may have to convince the school board that these interactive tools are beneficial and monitorable (Yes, I made up that word.), but I think we have the means and motivation to do just that.
ReplyDeleteYou're right! Who doesn't have a fb account? Even my parents have them. But I think it's something we have to be careful with. And I mean social networking sites, in general. Lately, I have attended two different subbing workshops and at each one they stressed that we should not befriend any students on social networking sites such as facebook. Their reasoning was that kids are so full of emotion that they will share far more information with you and that could lead to serious accusations that could affect your job and teaching certification. As a new teacher, this really made me think about how we must set parameters for our students if we do choose to use social networking in our classrooms. As media specialists, it will be up to us to lead the way and ensure that these sites are educational and do not take away from our children or the learning environment.
ReplyDeleteHi Leann,
ReplyDeleteSocial networking can be beneficial to the promotion of the media center. With social networking tools such as Flickr and LibraryThing, media specialists can display photos of media center activities and events. Students and parents can use LibraryThing to see books that the media specialist recommends and read reviews of the book from other sources. Links to these social networking tools, as well as others, can be added to media center web pages to help ease access by parents and students. Let's face it. Media specialists should use a variety of means to promote and advertise the services and opportunities they have available in their school media centers. All too often it seems that media centers are overlooked. Why not use the new technologies available to help get our message out to the school community? We have so much to gain by implementing new social networking tools in our media centers. After all, in today's age, students are more likely to use the media center if media specialists make it more "tech-friendly".