Social Networking is, as defined by webopedia.com, is a social structure made of nodes, that are generally individuals or organizations. A social network represents relationships and flows between people, groups, organizations, animals, computers
or other information/knowledge processing entities.
With the web the possibilities for social networking are endless. There are social networking sites for friends, teachers, people with disabilities, lawyers, women, there is no end! There are so many possibilities for teachers to use social networking in the classroom. When looking through classroom 2.0 website, which in and of itself is a social networking site, I saw many examples of how people were using social networking at their school.
One woman who is a principal created a social network for the teachers at her school. People then commented to her that they had done the same thing and it was very beneficial. They teachers on the social network were able to communicate and feel a community setting within their school. Most of the time teachers are in their classrooms all day, so this allows teachers to communicate and get information without leaving their classroom. Another example of how this is being used is teachers were using social networking sites to communicate with their students. They are using it to have students post online journals, post assignments, have students communicate with each other, or with the teacher. It is a way to create a network outside the classroom to supplement what is going on in the classroom.
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I love the idea of social networking within the school! I have always heard teachers talk about how much they loved their collaboration time in the teacher's lounge and with things like social networks, they can extend their lounge time! WOOHOO!
ReplyDeleteI think that using tools that our students are already familar with increases the learning experience. Social networking is one way we as educators can get full engagement from students. Thanks for the different ideas on how to use these tools in educational settings!
ReplyDeleteYou're so right about how this can work in the school environment. I was subbing for a teacher who was in Africa and he was able to stay in touch with his students this way while he was gone. I can also see how a social networking site could help teachers exchange teaching ideas or support one another.
ReplyDeleteSocial networking seems beneficial to students and teachers. It's one of my favorite technologies so far. Teachers can share endless ideas and so can students!
ReplyDeleteSocial networking seems to be a very beneficial technology - for teachers, students, and even parents. It's a really interesting topic.
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