Journal 7: Beyond Social Networking

Citation: Reynard, R. (2009, July 15). Beyond Social Networking: Building Toward Learning Communities. Retrieved July 30, 2009, from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2009/07/15/Beyond-Social-Networking-Building-Toward-Learning-Communities.asp

Summary:
This article talks about how to incorporate social networking sites, like Facebook, into an educational setting. These type of sites are an opportunity for members of the same class to discuss ideas, share interests, interact with each other, collaborate and share knowledge. It is a useful tool to teach students how to multitask, use multiple tools, to take a broad subject and focus it down, and it also enables a teacher to continue to engage students in all manners of learning. It also can create a sense of community learning, where a student can broadcast his or her ideas and feel that they are making a valuable contribution to society as a whole. Using social networking sites also enable students to develop valuable technological skills early in life. These sites encourage students to develop skills, knowledge, ethics, and confidence needed to be valuable and contributing members of society.

How should teachers interact with students on these sites?
Teachers definitely cannot appear to be friends with their students on these sites. They can be friendly, but they must still maintain an air of authority and professionalism. Also, students may not feel comfortable with letting their teachers into their social space. This means that students may feel that teachers are intruding on their personal time, and will not be comfortable allowing their teacher to know what their interests are. Also teachers must also protect themselves from appearing to have inappropriate relationships with their students and to prevent the spread of rumors.

How can teachers encourage participation?
Teachers can make the class groups a mandatory activity, graded for participation. They can require that students log in once a day to answer questions, post comments, or to just interact with each other. This will create a sense of community in the classroom, where students can interact with each other outside of a classroom setting.