Social Networking Tools

Summary:

Social networking in my opinion is an effective way to help students educate themselves. With nine-17 year olds spending a sufficient amount of their time using social networking tools as they do watching television. 96% pf students with online access report that they have ever used any social networking technologies such as chatting, text messaging, and blogging. Social networking tools allow students to express their learning with words, music, and video. Most students spend a good amount of time posting content on online sources. Incorporating the internet and social networking tools into education, gives students the drive to want to study and participate in their learning. With recent studies, it is found that most students (96%) have homework that involves the use of the internet. It's becoming more and more common for school districts to set up social networking tools that enable students to have enjoyed their learning. A great percentage of students have the 21st century skills needed to engage in social networking. However, there are some disadvantages. School districts around the country have several disadvantages that include: requiring a permission form, rules on chatting and instant messaging, and blocked internet sites. Overall, social networking gives students the chance to incorporate what they already do in their spare time, with education.

Ideas on the topic:

Almost all tweens/teens are using social networks such as blogging sites, text messaging, myspace and facebook now. These kids and students are now spending more time on these sites than watching tv. A lot of these students claim that a large amount of their time online is spent doing work or research for school. Although these sites are banned in most schools; teachers continue to assign more and more assignments that need the internet to be completed. Schools should use these social network tools AS tools for the classroom. Teachers could use these networks for students to post blogs on the lesson, or to find more information on topics they are studying in the classroom. There are so many ways for the internet to be used in educational ways, and if students are using these social network outlets they could be used as a great tool for educational purposes. Maybe if there was a way for schools to block the parts of the site that they do not want the student to use at the school, yet be able to keep the educational usable portion such as the blogging portion, ect. Since students are so familiar with these social networks and can get around them so well, they should be able to use them with ease in their school work, hopefully helping them in their educational experience. Social networking tools are so popular these days, lets use them to furter education, and help our students reach higher in their educaitonal careers.

Social Networking has grown to be very popular among teens. This study reported that 9-17 year olds spend almost 9 hours a week on social networking sites. Compared to 10 hours a week watching television. That is huge. Kids have become computer couch potatoes now. 96% of students with online access report that they used social networking technology such as chatting, text messaging, blogging, visiting MySpace and Facebook. Those figures are astonishing considering it was only a few years ago that these things did not even exist and all kids did was watch television, play video games and play outside. But with all of the advances in technology kids are able to stay connected to eachother in many ways. surprisingly though students reported that the most common topics of conversation on these social networking sites is education, and schoolwork. Even this being so a vast majority of school districts have strict rues about students visiting these sites during the school day. even though parents report few problems with behavior online. I think that there should be less strict rules regarding students visiting these sites during the school day. I do think there should be some limitations because some students will try and abuse being able to go to these sites but not everyone should be punished and those that do use the sites to talk about school and their schoolwork should be aloud to.Social Networking is a great tool that we are fortunate to have in this day and it should not be taken away from students just because they are in school. They should be able to use it in school too.

Opinion:

Social Networking tools have their pros and cons about them. Many people especially parents think that these tools are unsafe for their children to be using. Depending upon age, many children should be supervised when using these tools. Obviously if your child is old enough to make their own decisions then as a parent you might have to just step back and let them do what they want, after all most of these sites are now private where you have to be accepted to view a persons profile. Many students use these social networking tools to communicate back and forth with their friends. These social networks could look into the kind of information they are asking people to put on their sites and determine what sould be allowed and what shouldn't be, such as where they live and work and all of that. That kind of information doesn't necessarilly need to be distributed to anyone who doesn't already know that. When it is all said and done, I think it all depends on the age group when determining if social networking tools is right or not.

Further Research:

It seems that after reading these articles on incorporating technology into the school system we have to be taking our cues from somewhere. That somewhere is NASA and other government agencies. The school systems seem to be using techology that is proven to work in other aspects before testing them out in the schools. I think that is very smart and a great way to screen different tools to see if they would translate well to the education environment. According to this article students use their social networking tools in education more than people realize. I'm sure many can say they have used it for rate my professor and such. Social networking tools are present in the students lives and it would be to the schools advantage to educate about the safety and to incorporate them instead of ignoring or banning them. Below is a link to safe education when it comes to social networking tools:
http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/issues/issues423.shtml

Virtual Classrooms

Article
http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxxi/2001.02.02/features/exclusive.html

Summary

"Internet's next big conquest may just be the schools. The possibility of getting a digital diploma without ever setting foot in a classroom is not at all remote" Especially since our society has become so reliant on the internet, it is no surprise that students will be able to attend all their classes online. Virtual classrooms will enable students to participate in not only individual learning activities but group ones as well. With virtual classrooms, students will have the opportunity to interact with their teachers and even their parents through the group discussions. I think that this will give parents the opportunity to interact with their student's education and provide accurate feedback. Students can actively participate virtually to complete quizzes, homework activities, online courses, webquests, and forums. Virtual classrooms also give a more organized setting by offering unit overviews (for parents and students), student grade sheets, calendar and timetables, and student homepages. Virtual classrooms let students actively participate in the classroom when school hours are closed. The students curriculum will always be at access to them, and easier to retrieve. Teachers absent on sick leave or attending a professional development activity can leave work for their students in their Virtual Classroom and check progress. Virtual classrooms allow students to participate in learning at any time of the day. It involves more interaction among classmates and even gives parents the opportunity to participate in their student's education. I personally think virtual classrooms offer an easier, more proficient way into education.

By Alyson Sode

Ideas Regarding the Topic

I think that Virtual Classrooms are a great thing! They provide the ability for students to learn even when not in the classroom. They also give the ability to learn to students who can not go to a traditional classroom. I couldn't agree with the article more though. Virtual classrooms already have many technological advances but I think that with movies, sound clips added it would make it that much more effective. While Virtual Classrooms do have their downsides like never being able to one on one help with the teacher they are a great addition to the Education World.

By Katharine Eastham

This article says it all. One day you may not even have to step foot into a classroom to get your diploma. Virtual classrooms may someday take that place. Virtual classrooms have many benefits for students, including taking away that ever present fear of stating your opinions in the classroom. Distance learners then also wouldn't have to make the commute for class. Technology may need to advance a little before someone can take all their classes virtually and graduate, but the possibilities are endless, and it is in sight.

By Laura Kvaley

Opinions on the Topic

Virtual Classrooms have their pros and cons. Many people love the thought of not getting out of bed to go to class at 8:00. With the use of virtual classrooms students can access their classes whenever it is convienent for them, unless of course the professor has an assigned time where the student has to be online to participate in a discussion or something. One of the cons of virtual classrooms is that children will lose the face to face interaction with other students. Some students will live a sheltered life because the only interaction they get with other people is at school. Virtual classrooms still allow you to have interaction, it's just over the internet and not face to face. With class sizes growing the way they are these days, virtual classrooms are becoming more and more popular in the school system. I like having a couple online classes, I don't think I would want them all to be virtual, but I do like the thought of having a few.

By Christina Dunlop

Further Research

Virtual Classrooms appears to be the wave of the future with elite univerisities such as Yale and Princeton joining the program University Alliance for Life-Long Learning. It is all too common for students to be able to earn a degree or certification without ever stepping foot into a classroom on campus. The attached article describes the plan of the University Alliance for Life-Long Learning to better the education for everyone with e-learning. This offers all people a chance to have "ivy-league" education with big name faculty and prime conditions over the internet. However, this type of experiment does not go without doubt, "There is a deep interest in all of this to find out what works and how educators should learn and teach when you don't have the communication richness of the classroom," said Long of Yale. "Online you have to be much clearer with pedagogical goals. You have to anticipate problems."

By Sarah Cappel