Njea2008 Tween Social Networking

Tween Social Networking Sites: They're Heeeeeere! New Jersey Education Association 2008 Annual Convention Kevin Jarrett –Technology Facilitator, K-4 Northfield Community School, Northfield NJ USA November 6-7, 2008

Introductions

Kevin Jarrett Technology Facilitator, K-4 Northfield Community School (NCS)

Holly Jarrett 7 th Grade Student Northfield Community School (NCS)

Objectives

Demystify Tween Social Networking

Deconstruct activities

Consider curricular possibilities

Live demonstrations of leading sites

Agenda

Definitions (What)

Locations (Where)

Participants (Who)

Motivations (Why)

Implications & Applications

Quoting Gary Stager… [email_address] © 2008 Kevin Jarrett Page “ I had a heated dinner conversation with a school computer teacher this evening. She was arguing for a specific scope and sequence of computer applications intended to prepare students for “the real world” still years away. Besides my objection to what Paolo Friere called, “the banking model - learn this now because you may need it someday,” it seems patently ridiculous to believe that one tool or sequence of skills is essential for later. If this were true then every teacher who did not plan for web-based apps is guilty of negligence. I suggested that 5th/6th grade projects like “researching MP3 players on the web and then comparing the prices in Excel” to be examples of sugar-coated medicine and less authentic than the real mathematics preschoolers are doing naturally in Club Penguin . Once school “math” teaches kids arithmetic tricks the construction of mathematical knowledge and sense of self as capable mathematicians kids experience in real and virtual worlds is nearly over. Club Penguin may be a more productive context for learning than math class . It’s our challenge to make formal classes much more natural and put away our crystal balls.” Source: http://tinyurl.com/yuwkqk

Quoting Gary Stager… [email_address] © 2008 Kevin Jarrett Page “ I suggested that 5th/6th grade projects like “researching MP3 players on the web and then comparing the prices in Excel” to be examples of sugar-coated medicine and less authentic than the real mathematics preschoolers are doing naturally in Club Penguin . ” Source: http://tinyurl.com/yuwkqk

Definitions

Tween Social Networking IS:

Web based

Inexpensive (often free to start)

2D or 3D

Safe (when used in a controlled environment)

Commercialized (usually)

Tween Social Networking ISN’T:

Dangerous (when used in a controlled environment)

Just for tweens (younger and older kids participate)

“ Just for fun”

Webkinz.com

$12.98/pet/year

Care, feed & dress pets; decorate rooms

Socialization

Games (jobs) earn Kinzcash (currency) for food, clothes, toys

New content often

Design your space

ClubPenguin.com

Free (limited) accounts can’t decorate or buy clothes

Paid accounts are $58/yr

Lots of socialization

Games pay in “coins” (currency)

Neopets.com

Free accounts: up to four pets, full access

Paid accounts: $70/yr

Care, feed & dress pets; pets have pets

Socialization

Games (gambling?)

Pioneered “Immersive Advertising”

Imbee.com

Tween “MySpace”

Emphasis on multi-media content & production

Direct messaging

True social network

Substantial parent / teacher involvement

Somewhat commercial

What are they DOING?

Learning about the value of money

Working ‘jobs’

Reading

Reflecting

Writing

Playing

Dealing with advertisements

Messaging

Decorating

Collecting

Leading guilds

Navigating UI’s

Participants

Tweens (8-12)

Some much younger, some even older

Predominantly female

Exponential growth rates

Motivations

Kids:

Creativity

Self Expression

Control

Connections

Care/attachment

Responsibility

Coolness factor

FUN!

Motivations

Providers (most):

Sites are for-profit businesses exist to make money. Period.

Whyville.net is a notable exception (no advertising whatsoever, heavy educational focus)

29% feel SN could help reading & writing skills

28% feel SN could help self expression

36% feel SN could help students learn to work together

76% feel SN could help reading & writing skills

75% feel SN could help self expression

72% feel SN could help students learn to work together

Source: Jeremy Burrus, ETS

Techforum Northeast 2008, http://tinyurl.com/6c8hnb

Source: Jeremy Burrus, ETS

Techforum Northeast 2008, http://tinyurl.com/6c8hnb

Our challenge: “make formal classes much more natural” (Stager, 2007)

Let’s create safe SN environments to:

Explore core curriculum content areas

Collaborate globally

Make learning more like play

Learning affordances of SN environments unlike any other

Collaborative stories based on in-world characters and adventures

Track, value and manage inventory with a spreadsheet

Debates with other classes, cultures

Conduct science experiments using in-world resources

Explore, model prosocial skills

Draw out shy, reticent children

Cybersafety skills & education

Dizzywood Pilot Project

60 students, grades 4 & 5, 1:1 school

Walled garden, second year of pilot

Social Skills curriculum

What about after-school programs?

[email_address] © 2008 Kevin Jarrett Page Global Kids Digital Media Initiative http://www.holymeatballs.org/ Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, NC http://www.plcmc.org/teens/secondlife.asp

LIVE DEMONSTRATIONS