Social Networking

Social Networking honestly seems to be “taking over the world”, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. Every time you turn around, someone is talking about being “friended” on Facebook or tweeting their latest activities. Students are consumed by the vast connection social networks create across countries, generations, and groups. Why not incorporate that interest into the schools? Our goal as educators is to get students involved in active learning, and what better way to do that than use what kids love most. According to the ALA’s website, “The common beliefs within the AASL’s Standards for the 21st century learner state that technology and social skills are essential to the development of 21st century students in order for them to be viable members of the working community”. Essentially, to meet the 21st century learner standards, we have got to get involved with and incorporate technology as often as possible. Web 2.0, one of the main focuses in reaching these standards, is the use of internet technologies to enhance information sharing and the creative and collaborative development of projects. This can include social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter; bookmarking sites such as Delicious and Library Thing; blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc.
Unfortunately, a lot of school systems block all social networking sites because of the “extra” communication it allows between teachers and students. After the courses I’ve already completed in this program, I have seen the benefits and the possibilities that blogs, discussion boards, and podcasts can have, and I’ve tried to incorporate them into my classroom, but the board of education says absolutely not. I haven’t been able to even get them to listen to justifications and reasons. Because of my personal experience with this, I was very interested in the ways other school systems have incorporated these into the classroom and media center. According to ALA, 41% of schools use podcast, and 29% use blogs. One good idea I found is to have 2 different accounts. For example on Facebook, a teacher can set up an account as a school employee- use school email, keep public, etc. and then have a personal account that students don’t have access to, etc. Also, there were several media specialists who run contests on the sites in order to get the students involved.
I really think social networking is a great avenue to reach students whether it be in the classroom or through the media center, but we’ve got to get our school board systems to agree and allow for a change that will create a better, more modern educational system.