Wikipedia uses the phrase Social Networking Service as the term that I was thinking of as I proposed this general topic for this week. Pence talks refers to globalization (one of our own speaks to this regularly) and agrees with Thomas Friedman that we need to be preparing our learners for a world that is "flat" in the sense that the potential access to information is much more level than in the past. Friedman's push for a USA audience is that we are "falling behind" and so we better look at our educational system with an attempt to update our schools to meet the needs of a changing world. (Don't get me going on the idea that fear is a good motivator...)
As I read these questions surfaced:
- Knowledge - where is this housed, individually or socially? If communities are how we find knowledge, what does that say about how we view knowledge?
- If every student in your class is on a social network, how should this phenomena be used (or not used) in the classroom?
- Who are the most resistant (think afraid) to this new social networking world we live in? Why are they? (think gatekeepers, or one's in the middle from author to audience...)
- Who are the "authors" in a collaborative endeavor?
- What is trustworthy? - How do we build skills of our learners to distinguish between information of worth and those of less value?
- What about the social networking user who believes this environment is safe to self-disclose personal or potentially embarrassing or damaging information?
- Categorizing - Hence refers to a term folksonomy - one which was new to me, and suggests that tagging might be more user friendly in some circumstances rather than be limited by what others have created as correct tags.
- How about wiki textbooks - students can create and update information in the text as they study in your classroom. Contribute to the field as 6th graders!?!
- What is important in learning - product or process?
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I began reading this article and found it interesting that the author does not yet believe we are teaching the web generation. I feel he has a valid point. While today's learners are immersed in Web 2.0 technologies, these technologies continue to evolve and spread. Many elementary school kids are still very clueless about the Internet. On the flip side, in my recent assemblies I have been shocked to see how many students have MySpace pages - kids as young as 4th grade! (So much for the 14 year old age requirement!)
I believe social networking will find its place in our schools in the future. Just as YouTube led us to TeacherTube, MySpace may bring about an EdSpace. As I've been talking to students about their online reputations, and the potential consequences of revealing too much information, I am still being met with wide open eyes showing shock and concern. This is my 7th year teaching Internet Safety and while I see the technology tools being used by younger and younger kids, I do not see the safety knowledge trickling down. While parents may not be interested in learning these technologies, for their children's sake they need to be more aware and more proactive.
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