The key debaters were:
Michael Bugeja, Director of Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, Iowa State University of Science and Technology.
“I have seen it [technology] used as a delivery system, then as content in the classroom and finally as a classroom, building and campus itself, and in every case pedagogy changed to accommodate the interface. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Unless we impose that logic on social networks, they will align educational methods with corporate motives…”
"Social networking has arrived in hundreds of thousands of classrooms and is attempting to show that technology in education is less about anonymous chips and bytes filling up our children with knowledge, less about teachers reinforcing a ‘chalk and talk’ style with an interactive whiteboard, and less about death by PowerPoint bullets. It’s more about helping learners become more world-aware, more communicative, learning from each other and understanding first-hand what makes the world go round.”
As I start to explore and to play with the new technology behind online social networking, I am not convinced that I should actively promote it to my student.
I admit, however, that this phenomenon exist in my classroom. I see more and more students chatting, blogging or just talking about it when computers and cell-phones are not available for immediate use. Like my students, I became a part of Social Netwoking myself, so I can learn more about it and share my point of view with the students.
I must say that I am excited as a child playing with new "toys".
Is Social Networking is the right thing for me? I see both negative and positive trends associated with Social Networking. I really like reflective side of it, sharing your thoughts and ideas. What concerns me is the time I spent doing it. Here is another quote from the blog, whose author discusses
The Pros and Cons of Social Networking:
"Many of my friends say they want to be less connected via the Internet, not more. They say they can't spend their days responding to Twitter direct messages and Facebook messages. Sometimes that is because they say they are too busy. Sometimes it is because they say such interactions are superficial."
What are your thoughts about Social Networking? Personally, I am having trouble to do it in a traditional way. So, I stick around and keep my eyes open. As technology evolves I believe it would be the right tool for me or I would be ready for it.
POSTSCRIPT
I want to express my joy and appreciation towards those that have or had a part in this post. Initially, I did not intend to facilitate open dialog of my post. As some of you has commented, I treat my posts as nothing more than a reflective journal. Yet, after reading some of your comments I decided to keep the conversation, now a dialog, open and let it grow on its own.
Stephen Fry, an English actor ones said:
"Is it part of some deep human instinct that we take an organism as open and wild and free as the internet, and wish then to divide it into citadels, into closed-border republics and independent city states? The systole and diastole of history has us opening and closing like a flower: escaping our fortresses and enclosures into the open fields, and then building hedges, villages and cities in which to imprison ourselves again before repeating the process once more. The internet seems to be following this pattern."
Perhaps, you have me opening again. In my next post, I want to spin the topic of Social Networking in another direction and to ask a question: "Why do we need Social Networking in the Classroom?"
10 comments:
Peter,
As I sit here in Raleigh NC on a warm evening downing a beer and having my thinking and learning challenged by you---a guy several thousand miles away---that I would never had had the opportunity to learn from had it not been for my social network (Alec Couros), I can't help to be thankful for the way technology is changing the way I learn!
All I need is a cell phone, willing thumbs, and a bit of fresh air, and I'm connected to deeper thinking and like minds than I ever get in traditional learning environments.
Thanks for making me think...and build your digital network. You'll be wiser for it!
Bill Ferriter
Interesting. Michael Bugeja is someone I consider a friend and mentor, and Ewan is someone I also follow and learn from. And I fall in an interesting spot here.
I debate Michael many places, in many ways, and we often seem on opposite sides of these issues, but...
Here's the thing: If you believe that education as-we-know-it (as-we-have-known-it) is "working," is a "net positive," provides most students with what they need, then, you doubt new technologies which inevitably alter pedagogies, and you may be 'risk-averse' in adoption.
Every technology alters pedagogy, as Michael and I both point out. Gutenberg did much good, he also wiped out half the languages of Europe in less than two centuries and 'disabled' many people.
On the other hand, if you doubt the effect of current educational practice the way I do, then you are more likely to take the risks which come with change.
However, I'd ask you to consider this: Did the "Gutenberg Era" of printed books and written reports and postal mail provide more or less "natural human interaction" than this era of social networking? Are single information paths more or less 'natural' than multiple channels? And, of course, do people resist change because it is unfamiliar and uncomfortable? And are "unfamiliar and uncomfortable" acceptable reasons for people in schools not to do things?
-Ira Socol
speedchange.blogspot.com
Peter,
I can only share my own experience. I'm fairly new to social networks, but they are well worth my time because I don't have many people in my daily life that share the same interests. I am learning about some interactive tools to use in my Spanish class from a couple of women in the UK. No one in my department has heard of them or is interested in using them. I am "saving" time in the long run by building my social network. I can ask questions & get a reply fairly quickly, and some of my online colleagues can also share what web 2.0 tools are out there that will truly help my students in the classroom. I hope to be able to reciprocate in the same manner.
Interesting snippets...I do understand those who feel the online interaction can be superficial. That's why I tend to jump in and out, selfishly to serve my needs. I do try to share, but I don't try to read everything, respond to everything, or buy into everything. Yet, I can't imagine not learning through networking, the way I do now. I don't think I could return to the "chalk and talk" days. My students are also discovering the benefits of communicating with new media. Yes, I think pedagogy needs to change to accommodate the interface--the pedagogy improves with the tools.
I think that the digital world is here to stay (unless somehow we as a species merge with technology which is pretty scary and cool).
Is ONLY online networking healthy? Probably not, face to face interactions are a healthy way for us to practice being humans and use empathy, etc.
However, I am not able(living in Manitoba) to get the ideas of someone in Saskatchewan, or the US or Australia "at the click of a mouse" and have instant professional development for finding out about new ways to communicate ideas, concepts or themes with students, colleagues and others.
I am a middle school teacher is a recent convert to blogs, wikis, Twitter, Delicious bookmarking, who uses technology to "work smarter not harder". My school blog is linked below.
I have yet to decide whether the affective or cognitive benefits to this whole online piece win out yet. It's a continuum.
I can understand your dilemma, and, I no longer have classroom responsibilities and would be thinking along the same lines if I did.
You wrote, "I find out that the more I play with technology the more it changes my behavior and I can't keep up with the change."
This is a real challenge, one I face as I get lots of encouragement from my learning network to try this tool or that tool or another variation of the tool I am using.
A good deal of my growth has come from being open to the changes... not adopting all of the recommendations, but taking a quick look, and then often moving on.
I spend much less time these days on Facebook and have replaced that with more time on Twitter. I find that even though I know more folks on Facebook, I get more consistently valuable information from my Twitter contacts.
I've recently invested some time with wikis, and I now see how they might be more valuable a tool than using the documentation generating software I have had for workshops.
Do these explorations take time? You bet. Is some of it "wasted time"? Probably, but I'll keep on learning and growing and changing.
And... I'll keep dreaming about what it would be like to once again have to face these questions with a group of students in the room.
I think it's great that you're asking the big questions, and not falling into the party line. By the same token, I'd encourage you to stay open to these ideas, to investigate how they contribute to your students' learning and lives, and find ways to make sense of what it all means.
I've struggled with some of the same ideas you discussed, so I do appreciate where you're coming from. But I've come to find that being open is about more than others' learning and activities; it is fundamentally about ourselves, and what we learn and do.
Hi Peter,
You obviously have put a lot of thought into your blog posting. I actually think the questions you ask are important questions. I vacillate on my position although I am increasingly becoming a social net worker. I have been experimenting with Twitter and found that I have had trivial conversations and I have had a chance to have more meaningful discussions. I guess the truth is we need balance between our lives and our internet lives. We cannot ignore the internet; it is here and it is affecting more and more of us. Its influence will only grow. I don't think we have a choice; we must teach it keeping in mind its good and bad points.
Hey Peter,
Great questions and ones everyone should be asking. I don't have a specific opinion on the use of social networking in classrooms as defined by Facebook, Twitter or whatever. Some teachers see a natural fit, others force it and it fails and others don't use it at all. There's no right answer.
What I do think is essential is to include social learning. In this respect, providing a space for students to learn both inside and outside the walls of your classroom would be the right thing to do. Students are comfortable communicating in this way so why not allow them to learn using these tools? It may be a simple as using a class blog, wiki or other site where learning and socializing can happen whenever. Learning together is what I believe to be the mandate for our schools. Since students can conceivably learn anything online, from experts around the world, what is it that will compel them to be at school? I believe the opportunity to learn together. Extending this beyond the school day and walls is a must.
Call it Social Networking or not, it doesn't matter to me, but it must be social.
I think you already started answering your answer: Students are using and so will the teachers next door, so how can we avoid it? Kids will demand to use it as part of their classroom too if they see others doing so.
Then it comes the time...indeed we spend a lot of time on the Internet...but that is probably a change we will have to get used to do. Before we had telephones, we spent time writing letters or traveling miles to visit people. Today we 'give them a ring' and no one gives much thought about it. The world is changing and those changes change us too.
It's hard to understand this phenomenon if we are reluctant to be part of it. Having said that, not everything are roses nor is this a perfect system... there's a lot of chatter, a lot of distraction and not everything is relevant or pedagogical useful. But that is life...made up of different components, different people, etc...
Above all I think social networking provide us the opportunity to learn in a more realistic environment and make us more open to listen to and talk to others. I think the context is important.
Another aspect I would like to stress is that social networking cannot - should not - be approached in a traditional way because there is nothing traditional about it! Or better, there is a lot of tradition, but not the modern tradition. To me it resembles to the ancient times where people learned while engaging in philosophical discussions, listened and told stories based on someone's experiences, or worked with and observed the more experienced ones in their work... I think above all, it is about getting people together and bring out the best of them through a relaxed, fun yet meaningful conversation.
But that is something we only come to realize with time and within the networks that add something to our experience. cultivating the 'right-for-you' network around you is crucial in that sense. The key is to look for like-minded people. Like you, when I started this journey into technologies, I didn't know where it would take me, so I blogged about it...somehow it helped me think...and start creating my learning bonds on the web.
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