Brandi J. Clark

I remember that this question used to make teachers cringe. I think they thought,”Oh great, now I can’t take this in for marks.” Hopefully, learning is finally being viewed as a social activity. Imagine that!

“In a national survey that reveals K-12 students’ use of technology at home and at school, students overwhelmingly agreed that access to digital media tools and the ability to collaborate with peers both inside and outside of school can greatly enhance education”-Laura Devaney

So…

Who didn’t love Mr. Rogers? Those cardigans are all the rage now. Who would have thought he was a trendsetter?

Needless to say, Mr. Rogers was on the forefront of social media. He met up with many “experts” in the neighborhood providing ‘blog-like’ info. He video shared through a picture frame in his living room. The-neighborhood-of-make-believe were his Facebook friends, all providing status updates. Amazing how All You Really Needed to Know You Learned in Kindergarten.

Jesse’s Got a Friend, You Know She’s Been a Good Friend of Mine, But Lately Facebooks Changed, Getting Hard to Define…Jesse’s Got Himself a Friend and I Want to Make Her Mine

Where I started?

In previous weeks where learning the tool was difficult, I pleasantly found social networks to be a mixture of the other Web 2.0 tools. Social networks are a platform for exchanging ideas that are fueled more through interaction, rather than say… podcasts, photo and video sharing. The latter tools are more products of celebration— take it or leave it! Facebook and Ning do not move forward without an exchange of ideas and building contacts. These networks need constant watering, weeding and attention…did I say attention?

My journey into social networks started long ago. I have been a member of She Knows starting in 2002 and then on to a private discussion board in 2005. I found value in the supportive moms, discussing topics that were not shared with family or ‘other’ offline friends. As the years have gone on, I have learned a lot about American Health care and elections. I also discovered how much we are the same.

One afternoon, in 2006, a teacher said to me “Have you seen this Facebook thing?”

“Face-what?” Lit Maven said unjamming the photocopier.

“It’s addictive” she said levitating above her desk and quietly floating out the window.

I can’t remember who my first ‘Facebook’ friends were but I remember that initially I rarely used it. As more friends joined, the moms and I would share pictures. The learning curve on Facebook is not steep. I think that you do need to realize that posting on people’s walls and updates are public. Perhaps that should be in bold for some people. There is a private mail feature. I don’t use this as much as my regular e-mail. Instant chatting is fun, but I don’t tend to communicate much this way.

Top 10 List of My Facebook Journey

1. My posts are created for entertaining purposes. I want my friends to have a laugh for the day. If my posts are not responded to, I try harder.
   
   
2. I will drop you if you add students as friends. (That’s just weird!)
   
   
3. I will drop you if you never update. (cue Every Breath You Take.)
   
   
4. I will “hide you” if you obsessively update about Farmville
   
   or Mafia Wars. (Really…if that’s how you want to spend your time…)
   
   
5. I am turned off by those who try to sell things on Facebook and then send out e-vites where you feel forced to respond. (It’s called Facebook not Back-Friends-into-a-Corner-Book)
   
   
6. I have deactivated myself, but I couldn’t stay that way for long. (The software gets upset when you deactivate, “Why are you leaving me?”…creepy)
   
   
7. To my chagrin, my immediate family members are not on Facebook. Life would be easier if they were. Perhaps a cyber Christmas…kidding….
   
   
8. Having all my friends, from various places, on one application must be the same experience as a wake – minus the unfortunate demise.
   
   
9. I wish there was a “dislike” button. Not to be mean but to dislike when people say stuff like, my baby doesn’t sleep…yah I “dislike” that too.
   
   
10. Wonder what junior high would have been like with Facebook. Would people’s perms and “mean” backcombs actually fit in those profile boxes?
    
    

What I learned?

Ning

This course has been a cyber eye-opener. Did you know there are many social networking sites? Along with NIng, Shelfari and LibraryThing

were also on the list. That’s nice Lit Maven but tell us more about Ning. Well…Bradley (2008) states “What sets Ning apart from other social networking sites is that it is actually a platform for creating social networks and not necessarily a social network itself” (p.46). This is something new I have learned in this course. I had thought Ning was another Facebook. I didn’t realize it was describing a tool that could be found under many different subjects in completely separate locations.

I signed up for NCTE (National Council for Teachers of English Ning) ,

Classroom Web 2.0. and Making Curriculum POP. NIngs have an immediate professional learning and educational appeal. I was surprised to discover so many features: discussion boards, user blogs, podcasts, videos, images and easy navigation through the use of subjects or tags. You can also set up a connection to tweet from your personalized Ning Page.

NIngs have excellent professional development activities. Classroom 2.0 sends e-mail reminders for e-luminate sessions featuring high quality educational leaders. These can be accessed live or later prerecorded. I listened to e-luminate sessions with Clay Shirky and Daniel Pink. With both I was penciling furiously in my notebook, lots of nuggets of truth and intrigue. Clay Shirky stated, “The target of education is a set of individual minds.” The functions of Nings are based on collective minds. Little wonder education is having trouble reconciling with social networks.

Nings vary in regards to topic, but also in regards to size and activity. The benefit of Classroom 2.0 is that it has a lot of activity and a large pool of resources. But you can get lost in the shuffle, so it’s important to join groups within in a NIng or create your own. “Nings are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.”

Lean on Me, When Your Not Strong and I’ll Join Your Ning, I’ll Help You Carry On (Personal and Social Implications)

As mentioned, I use Facebook and will continue to do so. I find that the connections are too valuable to cyber-sever. How can I use Facebook more? I don’t know if I really want to go deeper with Facebook. There are many games, apps, quizzes. In fact you can poke people and send them gifts. One thing I am not sure of is using Facebook as a forum for expressing condolences. I am not sure if it’s appropriate. Many Facebook pages are set up as remembrance sites and they tend to become inactive after awhile.

I don’t see Facebook as a place for sharing professional information. It’s much more like phoning friends, chatting over coffee. But on that note it is a place where awkward things occur. Never leave your page logged in an unattended. This has happened to friends of mine with embarrassing results. Also when you update your profile, remember it is public. I recently updated my ‘married to..status’, thirteen years after the fact. Well…that did NOT go unnoticed by my wedding party.

Five Uses for Facebook (personally and socially)

1. To update my daily status
   
   
2. To share pictures of the family
   
   
3. To keep in touch with relatives and old friends
   
   
4. To check out the friends on your other friend’s list. (Some acquaintances’ do not age gracefully makes you feel better about yourself for two minutes.)
   
   
5. To find out the “six degrees of separation” that exists between you and your friends. (I have added people who knew people that I didn’t know they knew.)
   
   

My personal and social interests are reading and writing. Cue the snoring….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.. I know! I know! Shelfari is a great social networking site. Once you are signed up, you can find groups based on “those like you” (scary) groups that are active and/or groups by category. I chose category and discovered that there are many for writing. You do have to be selective. Anyone can make a group. The books are organized by a tagging feature. I found many ‘next reads’ that gave recommendations for books, like the book, I just read.

Uses for

Shelfari

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Facebook (Educational Implications)

Does Facebook have a place in the classroom?

This link provides many ways to use it. I don’t think the question is how can you use it but rather does it serve a purpose in the classroom? There is no question that social networking is a requirement for our 21^st century learners. But is Facebook the place for teachers and students to interact? Mack Male (2009) said that while he doesn’t expect teachers to use all these Web 2.0 tools in the classroom, teachers need to know how they work and what students use it for. Sometimes I think we are invading too many of their ‘spaces’. Do we need to be their “friends” or their teachers? John Bowman (2009) in his article, Facebook In the Classroom, Bad Idea? , extended this discussion by bringing in other experts such as Tim Pychyl, an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University who stated, ” Facebook is like taking a person with a gambling problem to Vegas. It’s just too easy to get doing other things rather than the hard work of intellectual work.” Then goes on to state that there is other software that serve the same purpose that aren’t as distracting. In referring to the use of Facebook for librarians, Breeding (2009) states, “While Facebook continues to gain an ever wider and more diffused audience, I see quite a diminishment in the professional content exchanged in this medium” (p.29). I have to agree. Facebook is my ‘guilty pleasure’ tool. Even though there are many apps and ways to add professional conversation, I don’t really want to go there.

Then there is the issue of teachers being friends with students on Facebook. We need to educate the whole child, but I don’t think that means we hang out with them. Perhaps realizing that there are private spaces and public spaces and we don’t have students hanging out in our staffrooms, probably for that reason. However, Richardson (2008) states, “these new realities demand that we prepare students to be educated, sophisticated owners of online spaces” (p.19). Bob SprankIe (2007) adds in his Classroom 2.0 web post, that social networks need to be introduced early when teachers can help them negotiate the process. Such as learning how to:

Ÿdealing with peer pressure (A recent story

highlighted the death of a student due to bullying on Facebook.)

Students often go between street language and school language. They need freedom to be themselves but at the same time need to realize that what is said is left in cyberspace forever. Pre-service teachers also need to make decisions about their continued participation on social networking sites. Kist (2008) mentions the rising fear factor of Web 2.0 tools and possible ramifications for their online ‘social’ behavior. Recently a middle school teacher was suspended over Facebook comments directed at her students. Perhaps this is an extreme example but this reminds us that teachers are teachers 24/7.

“Social learning thrives in a culture of service and wonder. It is inspired by leaders, enabled by technology and ignited by opportunities that have only recently unfolded.”-

Marcia Conner and Steve LeBlanc

Social networking is here to stay. Thank you for being a friend. Lit Maven…OUT!



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NonLinked Resources

Bradley, B.L. (2008) Web heroes. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing Inc.

Breeding, M. (2009). Social networking strategies for professionals. Computers in Libraries, 29(9), 29-31. Retrieved from ERIC database.

Ganis, F. (2009). Social learning” buzz masks deeper dimensions: Mitigating the confusion surrounding “social learning. Online Submission, Retrieved from ERIC database.

Kist, W. (2008). “I gave up myspace for lent”: New teachers and social networking sites. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(3), 245-247. Retrieved from ERIC database.

Mack, M. (2009) Mack Male Elluminate Session http://bit.ly/6yrKm