Social networking has become "the digital equivalent of hanging out at the mall for today's teens" and we would be hard pressed to find students who do not participate in this "Internet social scene" (Knowledge@Wharton). Instead of dismissing social networking as yet another way teenagers waste their time, we can use their knowledge of community building and technology to create learning opportunities. Many students on their own initiative have already harnessed the networking possibilities of Facebook to become responsible digital citizens by organizing rallies, fundraising, and advocating for social causes
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Facebook and the school library
I think that social networking sites are probably the most contentious 2.0 tool for teachers to support. Despite the fact that social networking online has many positive social and intellectual benefits, in my experience students use Facebook mostly for socializing and mobile phones are driving teachers crazy with students updating their status during class. My current policy is not to allow students to use Facebook on the school computers because I have seen it being used in unethical ways such as when I caught a student downloading photos of a " friend of a friend". I`m also tired of students who monopolize the computers while on Facebook and prevent others from using the computers for research. Finally, even students sent to the library with assignments tend to sneak off to Facebook. I feel that I still have many questions about the implications of allowing the 21st century into our schools and I am just starting the journey towards educating myself and the students in the library about responsible use of digital tools. I was curious to see how Facebook, or any social networking site could be used productively for learning.
Professional Journey
Social networking sites allow for social relationships to occur online. These relationships can be among friends, relatives, or among people who don't know each other but share common interests. Social networking sites are also very complex and incorporate a variety of features ranging from video to real-time chatting. According to Wikipedia, Facebook is the world's most popular social networking site with 500 million members. Despite Richardson`s claim that most schools in the US block Facebook, many teachers use Facebook to organize and instruct their students. By restricting the privacy settings and teaching responsible online behaviour, Facebook can be an easy and familiar tool to be creative, to inform, discuss, and share resources.
Given that most students are familiar with social networks, many educators are thinking of ways to incorporate social networking as part of the learning process for themselves as professionals as well as for their students. Social networking sites can be used to create learning communities which can be more selective (privacy issues) than Facebook and also have less advertisements. Ning is a social networking site where anyone can create their own public or private networks. Anyone can create a Ning and anyone can join a public Ning. Educators are using Ning as teacher-specific social networks that have all the positive aspects of social networking while avoiding the pitfalls of a public online presence.
Ning in Education
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| St. Joe H20 Ning (tinyurl.com/ldgwkb) |
Nings allow students to participate in discussions, upload photos and videos. Teachers can use Nings to create a classroom / school community to which parents can also join.
Paul de Voto produced this excellent video for using Ning in education. This is a summary of how Ning supports good teaching and learning practices:
| Multiple Intelligences used in Ning | Brain-based Learning used in Ning |
|---|---|
| Linguistic | Relevance |
| Logical | High Engagement |
| Spatial | Multimodal Input |
| Interpersonal | Strong Peer Support |
| Intrapersonal | Choice |
| Challenge | |
| Mutual Respect | |
| Frequent Feedback |
Ning for Professional Development
Ning allows the creation of a community of teachers interested in similar projects. The English Companion Ning describes itself as a "a place to ask questions and get help.". This is a hub where teachers can network, share their ideas and lesson plans, as well as learn together by participating in an online club. The book club is a way where participants can learn from each other. There are different groups to join in order to get ideas and share resources. Overall, this is an excellent site to see how creative and generous teachers are and to inspire yourself to be more creative ! Shelfari
Shelfari is social network exclusively for discussing books. This is a specific social networking tool for school librarians or other teachers who want to encourage their students to read. Teachers can start online book shelves for reading groups and with their classes. Each member can set up their own profile with books they like so you can find books to read by seeing what your friends like or by browsing groups formed around a common interest (ie: I joined a Canadian books group and a Children’s Literature group). Teachers can encourage students to open an account on Shelfari and keep track of how many books they read in a school year. Shelfari can also be used as a research tool by reading the “tags” to find common themes.
Shelfari also works as a tool to let people know about special book collections in the library. You can create “bookshelfs” (reading lists) according to a variety of subjects. Since Shelfari is connected to the Internet and all the Shelfari members, you can access more information about a book (recommendations, groups it belongs to, tags, discussion threads) , than from the online school catalog. In order to increase access to our Library Reader’s Choice award, I transferred our 2010-2011 Hyack Teen Read Award books to Shelfari . Now students, parents,and teachers can participate.
Here are more potential library bookshelfs that would benefit our school :
- New books
- Classics
- Books for special projects
- Recommend a book for purchase
- Books related to library theme (ie: Environmentalism, Black History Month)
Conclusion
I am still ambivalent about the educational use of Facebook. I acknowledge that it is a great site for students to organize politically and teachers are successfully using it to communicate with their school clubs and also to start class discussions (with strict privacy settings). However, supervising responsible use of Facebook in the library remains a headache so I think the first step is to teach digital literacy skills first. Tools such as Ning and Shelfari can create virtual learning communities that can range from a classroom to the world. As explained in Paul de Voto's video, social networking sites stimulate multiple intelligences and encourage brain-based learning. This is because social networking sites include diverse features (photos, videos, blogging,etc.) , require multimodal thinking, and encourage the sharing of knowledge. At the same time, social networking is a familiar tool for students. I think the positive aspects of social networking tools are evident for many to see - what remains is creating a foundation of responsible use and increasing access to financial resources so that this incredible tool becomes a practical and accessible option for all of us to use.
