Social+Networking+in+Education

Social Networking in Education
When someone hears the term "social networking", they may think of popular social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn where individuals with similar interests congregate to discuss the latest trend or hobby. As of July 2010, Facebook alone had over 500 million users worldwide. In the ever-evolving world of Internet communications, however, social networking can also cover areas like blogs or wikis, as well as the more traditional social-networking platforms that millions use on a daily basis. Social networking allows students and educators to collaborate, communicate, and learn in radically new ways than ever before. Social networking also is a reflection of the type of interconnected world we all exist in today. Students and educators around the world are collaborating on educational research and projects in areas of similar interests. For example, a high school class in U.S. government could create a blog about the upcoming 2012 U.S. Presidential election and share it with millions of other high schools students and the general public at large. The blog setup would present an excellent format to present topics and organized links about those topics with others. In this article, we'll explore the relative advantages of using social networking in the class room and provide an overview of both blogs and wikis.

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Relative Advantages of Social Networking in the Classroom

 * 1) **Engagement** - Use of social networking tools has a level of social engagement and proactive effort on the part of the user. Students remain actively engaged as they learn and interact with others. Socialization also provides opportunities for emotional engagement as well.
 * 2) **Social Learning** - Bandura’s Social Learning Theory posits that “people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling”. Of course, the type of socialization that occurs via “social” computer tools is certainly different than face-to-face social interaction, but it still offers opportunities for social learning.
 * 3) **Time Management** - Social networking tools allow instructors to deliver content outside of the normal classroom through a recorded presentation on a blog for instance. Consequently, students can then work on homework on what would have been normal classroom lecture time.
 * 4) **Stronger Writing and Writing Assessment Skills** - While tools like Twitter lend themselves to abbreviated “texting” style uses of language, there is no need for this in most other forums. Teachers can choose to include grading of writing quality as part of the rubrics they develop for grading social media based assignments and class work.
 * 5) **More Inclusive Dialogue** - Social networking tools also serve as strong application that can engage reluctant students or learners into a conversation or classroom dialogue where they might have often been too quiet or shy in a normal classroom setting. Communicating online is often less intimidating for shy students and allows them to express themselves in a less self-conscious environment from the traditional classroom.
 * 6) **Networking** - social networking sites allow learners to cluster with other professionals with similar interests and areas of expertise. As a consequence, these students will be positioned ahead of the professional curve upon graduation. Additionally, the will have easy access to educators and experts in their field of interest or study. They will be able to communicated and maintain connections with colleagues like never before, as well.

Overview of Blogs
"//A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules. "// (Definition from Blogger.com - [])

Over the years, blogs have evolved from mainly personal online diaries and journals to a recognized publishing environment for news, and opinion. They are used widely by individuals for personal or professional development, by organizations who want to communicate with staff or customers, by educators and by mainstream news outlets. They are also used widely in the entertainment industry as a tool for connecting to fans and promoting content, and are even used by governments to communicate with citizens about political and social issues. One of the main impacts of blogging from a global perspective is the democratization of information. In many fields it has allowed new voices to emerge and new sources of knowledge to become accessible to bigger audiences. It has only been in recent years that blogs have found their way into the educational forefront by allowing educators and students alike to improve their writing skills through self expression.

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**Benefits of Blogs in the Classroom**

 * **Increasing Relevance of Learning**: Using blogs to collect students experiences and reflections can empower them to develop deeper understanding and become more engaged and self-directed in their own learning
 * **Highly Motivating to Students**: Often allowing students who don't always participate a 'voice' in classroom activities
 * **Literacy Skills Development**: Including developing improved vocabulary and skills in creating sustained pieces of writing. Participants get better at reflecting and expressing reflections in their writing. They also develop skills in responding, reflecting and commenting on other peoples ideas.
 * **Effective Forums for Discussion and Collaboration**: Blogging and commenting environments can enable learners to engage in collaborative activities more easily and create stronger connections between learners and facilitators. Blogs provide a space for sharing opinions and learning in order to grow communities of discourse and knowledge. They are a space where students and teachers can learn from each other.
 * **Opportunities for Learning in the Real World**: Educational blogging allows students to engage in an authentic learning environment which includes real audiences, and connects them to subject matter 'experts' and a global dialogue around their particular learning topic.
 * **Flexible Resources**: Blogs provide a space for sharing and publishing of classroom resources which is independent of time and place. Students can engage in learning at a time and place that's best for them - including via mobile devices.
 * **Simple Technology**: Blogs are surprisingly easy to use, and require minimal technical skills to setup. They also provide tools which make it simple to publish and compile resources which include text, images, sound and video.

Examples of Educational Blogs

 * [|Speech Techie]Speech Techie is a blog that aims to foster language development through contextual interventions and interactive educational technologies.
 * [|Hack Education] Hack Education is an educational technology themed blog written by a former technology journalist, Audrey Watters. She focuses on current trends in the field and writes from a concise, interesting perspective.
 * [|Extreme Biology] Extreme Biology is an excellent example of a classroom blog created by Mrs. Baker and her technology students. They provide general items, along with classroom resources and activities.

Overview of Wikis
In their purest form, wikis are webpages or sites that can be viewed and modified by anybody with a web browser and access to the internet. Wikipedia defines them as:

//"Wiki" (/wiːkiː/) is a Hawaiian word for "fast". A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language.Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis."//

(Sourced from: Wikipedia: Wiki - [], viewed 10 June, 2010)

Wikis are an exceptionally useful tool for getting students more involved in curriculum. They are one of the simplest, and also the most widely used online learning tools in education. They provide a simple set of tools which allow for immediate editing of a site's content. Additionally, the history and versioning tools built into wiki platforms allow collaborators to track the development and evolution of thought processes, ideas and concepts; and promote 'pride of authorship' and ownership of the collaborative process by students.

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Benefits of Wikis in the Classroom

 * **Resource Creation**: Students are able to work collaboratively toward the creation of virtual field trips, glossaries, and presentations.
 * **Student Participation**: Students can utilize the wiki format to actively participate in classroom assignments through the creation of exam reviews, peer reviews, and student portfolios.
 * **Group Projects**: Wikis can facilitate group work through the creation of group authoring and group organization of projects and classroom events.
 * **Student Interaction**: Students are able to work interactively with wikis through the use of data collection, mock-debates, and literature review circles.

Examples of Educational Wikis

 * Ms. Wolfe's Course WikiThe information station for our US History, World Cultures, US Government and Constitutional/Criminal Law courses. This is where a daily log of our class activities, explanations for assignments, and a showcase of student work can be found.
 * 21st Century Educational Technology and LearningExciting Wiki for those educators wishing to engage students with 21st Century skills, Project Based Learning, and NET-S standards on the cheap. There really are lots of great things out there you can incorporate inexpensively.
 * [|Wetpaintcentral.com] This //wiki// is setup to provide educators and students with tips, suggestions, and templates for creating education //wikis//.