Blog 4: Social Networking
A lot of times when people think of social networking, they automatically think of MySpace and FaceBook. The reality is that social networking encompasses many different activities and applications. While MySpace and Facebook are ways to network socially on the web, so are sites like Delicious, LibraryThing, a plethora of 2.0 web applications, and many others. Considering the wide range of social networking applications and uses, it is not surprising that the number of schools reporting to use social networking applications is increasing. As reported by the American Library Association, (http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2008/jun2008/AASLsurvey.cfm) some preliminary findings state that 53% of schools use some sort of collaborative tools to assist in instruction. 50% of schools report the use of the intranet, 41% of schools report the use of podcasts, 29% of schools report the use of instructional blogs, and between 15% and 20% of schools report the use of online instruction and social bookmarking.
Considering the fact that the popularity of social networking is, in fact, growing, we must consider the safety or our students and patrons as they access this information through the internet. The School Library Journal offers some insight and information about how to keep teens safe while joining in on online conversation (http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6574015.html?industryid=47060).
- One site, Connect Safely, was created especially for adults by Anne Collier and Larry Magid. It provides awareness and education, plus it is available in Spanish!
- Get Net Wise – Social Networking Sites offers some great tools for parents of student that engage in social networking. There is even a section titled “Resources for Parents.” The helpful site features some how to tutorials for Facebook, MySpace, and Xanga.
- NSTeens – Post-to-be Private has a great online video to help teach teens about online privacy issues.
- Social Networking Basics is a fantastic site for both adults and teens who may not have any previous experience with social networking.
- StaySafe.org for Teenagers is an important site to assist teenagers in learning to protect themselves from spammers and hackers.
- TeacherLibrarianNing is a superb blog community designed for school library media specialists.
As educators we must consider the implications and possibilities of incorporating social networking. The research suggests that it’s coming! What we do with it is up to us.
References:
http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/
http://www.ala.org/ala/newspress/news/pressreleases2008/june2008/AASLsurvey.cfm
http://www.mmischools.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=59618
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6574015.html?industryid=47060
Thanks for the awesome links! LibraryThing is one of my favorites and I would recommend it as well. It's a great tool for students to interact in a productive way and is also a fun way to get them talking about books. You also made a good point in your opener about people being conditioned to only think about certain websites when they talk about social networking. There is a wide range of educational networks out there...thanks for sharing them!
ReplyDeleteShannon,
ReplyDeleteNicely done! I like your statistics gathered from ALA, and since that survey was published in 2008, we can imagine those figures have probably increased by 2011. The links to the School Library Journal article and the websites are helpful as well. In particular, I found the teacherlibrarian.ning.com blog to be full of good content. Another social networking website for children I recently learned about in another class is www.scuttlepad.com. It is designed for children ages 6 – 11 and provides “guided communication” using “predefined word lists.” Students post photos of themselves and all these photos are manually approved. If we can keep our students safe while allowing them to experience the new social networking tools, we can foster technology skills while being responsible guides. Thanks for your great post!
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteAs a relatively new Social Media user myself, I am realizing that utilizing social media is the way to stay connected with areas of interest that are important to a person, both professionally and personally. I agree with you that most people thing of Facebook and My Space first, but many professional areas are starting their own social media site - smartboard revolution, for example. People can connect to discuss and get assistance from people from all over the world--that makes the world such a small place. There are resources for all types of things in social media and we, as teachers, need, to help students behave correctly while using social media as well as how to help them use it safely.
Thank you for your post,
Wendy
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI have a student who interviewed me this week about cyberbullying. I wish I would have had these resources to share with him at that time. He said that he had already finished his research but he was going around to ask us what we would do in a cyberbullying situation (personal or professional). Also, I wish I would have had read some of the information before he came so that I could have been well versed on it. I will consider doing the Librarian social networking site after I finish my certication.
Other than that reading the links and chapter helped me to see how we can use social media in schools and it was interesting to find out that schools are not using it for chatting, texting, MySpace etc. but blogging, collaboration, and other educational experiences.
Thanks for sharing,
Cynthia
I totally agree with all of the fabulous social networking sites out there. Personally, I’m addicted to delicious and don’t know what I would do without it. It has every wonderful website that I have either discovered or been shared with me over the last 4 years and I love that I can create the tags myself. I must admit that I was surprised that only 50% of the schools use the internet. I would have thought that number would be higher, but I must also keep in mind the socio economic diversity of schools throughout the United States.
ReplyDeleteI am currently pulling together resources to teach the eighth graders about social networking and “nettiquette” and your links will be very useful. I’m especially interested in the video about teens and online privacy issues. I think I would also like to create a pathfinder for parents to help teach their children about the do’s and don’ts of social networking and these will definitely come in handy.
Very insightful!
Kim George
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post. You made some really good points. I agree with you that social networking is coming and I think it is important, as media specialists, that we are on the cutting edge of the newest technologies and practices. We definitely need to explore this topic fully. It is interesting to me that schools are not the only industry facing the incorporation of social networking into their structure. At my job we represent several non-profit organizations and we are having to learn about the best ways to incorporate Facebook and Twitter into their marketing plans. It is a whole new world for everyone! I also appreciate your links on keeping kids safe. This is extremely important and something we need to teach our students about whether we have social networking in our schools or not since they are undoubtedly involved with it at home!
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for introducing me to TeacherLibraryNing -- this is a new site for me. I believe it is important for professionals to stay connected and in touch with advances in the profession. In addition, some of the best teaching tips I've learned -- I borrowed from other teachers. What a great way to share -- again, thank you for the tip.
I personally struggle with the line between filtering inappropriate content and teaching responsibility in school. Social networking and sites dedicated to sharing information are many times blocked in schools. This poses an interesting question for educators. Creating blogs and sharing information using appropriate formats is how media specialists can help students, collaborate with teachers, and affect student achievement in a positive manner.
I'm excited about the possibilities this area of the Internet holds for education. Time will tell if economic funding continues to support the media specialist and give students the opportunities we discuss in class.
Thank you for your time and interesting work.
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Thanks for taking into consideration the safety of the students and introducing me to sites that keep that in the forefront. I think that we often take for granted that students are aware of the dangers of social media, especially as they get older and we forget that they are still kids in need of direction, guidance and monitoring. Your links are a wonderful resource for educators to use in educating students on the dos and don'ts of social networking,
Thanks,
Suzanne