Social Networks:Places of Learning?

SOCIAL NETWORKS: Places of Learning David Brear teacher presenter [email_address] .ca Workshops http://members.shaw.ca/dbrear/Site_2/Workshops.html Teacher Talk Online February 6, 2008 Mike Sherman, Open School BC Co-moderators: Maryjanne Yusyp, Virtual School Society

Social Networks

Communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others ( wikipedia )

Ways Students Use Social Networks

Examples of Social Software Screen shot from Go2Web2.0 http://www.go2web20.net/

Social Networking Wiki

This amazing wiki discusses the phenomenon of social networking in a networked world and answers the following: http://socialnets.wikispaces.com/

1. defining social networking

2. the evolution of social networking

3. what social networking spaces are out there?

4. what tools are available for social networking?

5. are there potential benefits for educators?

6. are there white papers available on social networking?

7. how are educators using social networking tools?

8. what challenges and obstacles do educators face?

9. how effective is it as a tool for education?

10. what are the advantages of social networking?

11. how effective are social networking metaverses? what do they accomplish?

12. How will virtual goods and virtual currencies impact social networking?

The Impact of Social Software on Learning

George Siemens explains the importance of social software for learning.

Learning relies on the ability of forming networks with each other.

Social software stimulates learners to communicate, to have a dialogue with each other.

Through social software learners can easily connect and share with each other, leading to conversations.

Articles

Social Networking: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

http://coopcommunity.sfu.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=353&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Social networking has taken our wired world by storm.

Facebook boasts thirty million members worldwide; Canada alone has a membership of two million (Yum, 2007).

Articles continued

Blended Edu : Social Networks & Student Learning

http://blendededu.com/2007/04/social-networks-student-learning.html

"Learning is social and we learn from the company we keep."

With the popularity of the Internet among the 'net generation and all the social network sites popping up on the Web 2.0, it's apparent that social learning has moved online.

Students are social and they keep connected to others through new social networks, such as MySpace, Second Life, FaceBook, FriendWise, There, and Friendster, the one that seemed to kick off online social networks a few years ago.

Articles continued

Schoolboards : net dangers over-rated; bring social networks to school

http://tech.blorge.com/Structure: /2007/08/07/schoolboards-net-dangers-over-rated-bring-social-networks-to-school/

The internet isn’t as dangerous as people think, and teachers should let students use social networks at school.

That’s the surprising new recommendation from the National School Boards Association — a not-for-profit organization representing 95,000 school board members — in a new study funded by Microsoft, News Corporation, and Verizon.

It warns that many fears about the internet are just overblown.

“ School district leaders seem to believe that negative experiences with social networking are more common than students and parents report,” the study reports. For example, more than half the districts think sharing personal information has been “a significant problem” in their schools — “yet only 3% of students say they’ve ever given out their email addresses, instant messaging screen names or other personal information to strangers.”

Second Life, Places of Learning

University of Cincinnati

University of Southern Queensland

Oakton Community College

English Village

Child Development & Research Center

Boise State, Idaho

ISTE

Machinima Institute

Exploratorium

Sploland

Use Search in Second Life to find the landmark for each one.

Some Other Examples of Social Networks

Fotokids Guatemala

http://fotokids.org/welcome.htm

For over 15 years Fotokids, originally called Out of the Dump, has worked as a non-profit organization breaking the cycle of poverty through training in visual arts and technology.

Quest Atlantis

http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/public/welcome.pl

Quest Atlantis (QA) is a learning and teaching project that uses a 3D multi-user environment to immerse children, ages 9-12, in educational tasks.

Resources and References

The following slides include interesting references to Social Networks.

I enjoyed watching the Teacher and UTube videos.

Social Networking in Plain English

The video was made for people who wonder why social networking sites are so popular. Common Craft believes one reason is because they help to solve a real world problem.

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

This project was created to inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways to help students develop higher level thinking skills. Equally important, it serves to motivate district level leaders to provide teachers with the tools and training to do so.

L3RN - The Social Learning Network

L3RN is a new social learning network created by Seattle Public Schools.

Designed from the ground up to engage 21st century learners with "Learning any time, any place", L3RN lets students and teachers easily build rich online courses powered by streaming audio and video, one-click podcasting, interactive portfolios, and live discussion groups.

References