This document discusses the role of social and professional networking in education. It notes that most kids today use social media and digital tools to connect with others and share content. However, schools often have polarized views on students' use of these tools for learning. The document argues that to be well-educated in the 21st century, students must learn skills like interacting online to represent themselves and their understanding, which are embedded in social networking. It questions what role social networking could play in formal teaching and learning, and how schools can scale this up to better prepare students.

1. Social, Professional and Academic Networking: Ready for School?David Jakes TechForum Chicago

2. "Right now we are in the middle of a very polarized public discourse about kids use of digital media...” Connie Yowell, MacArthur Foundation

3. “We get a little bit stuck in the 19th century vision of something that happens in a single institution, in a single place, and at a particular time…”

4. Kids…73% text message14% blog8% use Twitter38% share content, 21% remix8-18, 2004-09, 39-66%27% go online PEW Internet, Kaiser

5. WebKinz

6. Poptropica

7. Data from http://www.kzero.co.uk

8. Interact to Create a Presence (representing yourself)“If I can’t find you on Google, do you exist?”New Yorker Magazine

9. Interact to Participate (representing your connections)Image courtesy of Hugh McLoed, gapingvoid.com

10. Interact to Learn (representing your understanding)

11. Social networking: the process of connecting and interacting with people through social media…140 character discourses in Twitter, posting on a wall in Facebook, or creating a video response to someone in YouTube.

12. Social media: any form of media that resides in social spaces and promotes social interaction or results from that interaction… Flickr, Facebook, Wikis, del.icio.us, Etherpad, Wikipedia, and YouTube.

13. Today… Handout Online resources | jakes.editme.comStructure

14. Which of the following do you use? TwitterFacebookBlogging toolRSS Reader or Aggregator such as Google Reader or Bloglines

15. Characterize your school environment… mp3/iPods open wirelessbring your own tools student cell phones social media available [YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook]

16. What do you block?via @willrich45

17. What are your perceptions of "social networking?"

18. What does it mean to be well-educated in the 21st Century?

19. Rich Halverson: "Digital media provides a path to personalizing and customizing learning…this has meant that digitally literate young people have come to understand that there are at least two living channels for learning - 1) an institutional channel, and 2) a peer-driven, interest-driven, and unregulated digital media channel.

20. Mimi Ito: "Students engage in friendship and interest-based activities. They need an academic intervention…” ( see two videos)

21. What role does social networking play in teaching and learning within the formal space of schools?

22. What role does networking play in teaching and learning within the formal space of schools?

23. What are we really talking about? What skills are embedded in social networking?

24. How do we scale this?

25. What's your next step? What is your organization's next step?