Search this site
Home‎ > ‎

Social Networking

Social Networking: Building a Classroom Community
Social Network defined: A web of interconnected people who directly or indirectly interact with or influence the student and family. Social networks may include, but are not limited to, family, teachers and other school staff, friends, neighbors, community contacts, and professional support.

 WHAT?     WHY?  HOW?
A social network is a community that is built around a topic. There are many online social network sites, some involve dating, some involve gaming, while others involve buying and selling of goods. In education, a social network could be considered a community built around a topic where the goal is to learn content, with and from other members of the community. Social networking allows for asynchronous communications, which is a common method of communicating these days. Building a social learning community is a great way to build connections between users and hopefully increase learning at the same time.
 Most established social networking sites have a home page where a user signs up and builds a profile. Once that's completed, the user begins to locate others and build online connections. Social learning communities in education would often have pre-established members. The members build a profile and contribute required content, in addition to personal content.


 

Social Networking in Plain English




From the site: "Facebook gives people (13 and older) the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet." The New York Times article, Brave New World of Digital Intimacy , does a great job explaining the allure of Facebook.

Most educational institutions filter Facebook as a means to protect students from inappropriate content and connections while on the school network. There is a group of teachers that use Facebook in the classroom. See the attachment at the bottom of the page if you're interested in learning more. *Note: It is against FB terms of service to create multiple user accounts, so any actions taken should be done within the educator's existing or newly created account.

Schools are now to start providing education to students about appropriate behaviors on social networks. Students can suffer two issues when using social networks. First, they must protect their safety by avoiding contact with 'friends' and 'friends of friends' they don't actually know. Second, students should be careful about personal information shared online, as with each web posting, they are establishing a digital footprint that will be available to prospective employers, colleges, as well as prospective mates.
MySpace is an online community where a member (13 and older) shares photos, journals and interests with a network of friends. Many bands start online communities on MySpace, as do celebrities to maintain a 'close' connection with fans.

From the site:
MySpace is for everyone:
  • Friends who want to talk Online
  • Single people who want to meet other Singles
  • Matchmakers who want to connect their friends with other friends
  • Families who want to keep in touch--map your Family Tree
  • Business people and co-workers interested in networking
  • Classmates and study partners
  • Anyone looking for long lost friends!
Many educational institutions block MySpace to protect students from inappropriate contacts and connections while at school. Schools are now to start providing education to students about appropriate behaviors on social networks. Students can suffer two issues when using social networks. First, they must protect their safety by avoiding contact with 'friends' and 'friends of friends' they don't actually know. Second, students should be careful about personal information shared online, as with each web posting, they are establishing a digital footprint that will be available to prospective employers, colleges, as well as prospective mates.
Ning was founded in October 2004 to give everyone the opportunity to create a social networks for anything. Ning powers the largest number of social networks on the Internet. Ning offers the latest social networking features, all customizable to meet a user's needs. Users don't have to contact the creators for added funtionality, because they can build it themselves. The Ning blog is a good place to keep up with what's going on.

Click an image below to visit a ning that is dedicated to teaching and learning. Ning in Education is a community for those using the Ning social networking platform in education. Classroom 2.0, is the sister site, for general discussions of Web 2.0 in the classroom.
   


Ning in the Classroom:
Sophomore Caesar is a ning established for use with 10th graders studying Julius Caesar. The students were part of the community as characters from the time period of Julius Caesar and all discussions, images, photos and communication was to be done in character. Interesting way to study a difficult piece of literature!


E
lgg was initially a social networking platform whose focus was on e-learning. More recently, the software has been rewritten and has moved away from being strictly for educational use. In September 2008, Elgg was one of the top open source social networking platforms available on the internet.

Eduspaces is a large Elgg social networking site dedicated to education and educational technology. It was launched in 2004 and has over 19,000 members.



Social Networking Resource Links


Social/Educational Networking


Č
Ċ
ď
v.1
fb_classroom1.pdf
(1496k)
Michelle Krill,
Dec 5, 2008 5:20 PM