BWP Chapter 9

Chapter 9 BWP | Social Networks: Facebook, Ning, Connections and Communities.
1. Ch. 9 of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts (131-146); post a reflection to your reflective learning blog:
- How does this reading impact your thinking about technology's role in teaching and learning?
- What will you do differently as a future teacher as a direct result of this new thinking?

The use of these social networks has created an explosion of “Self-directed, peer based learning” that is not often excercised in the school scene. Just as the general theme of this book has been, the self directedness allows people to learn what they want to learn. There are a couple different variations of these sites. Mainly they're friendship based and/or interest based. I normally use Facebook for its friendship based appeal. I am literate with Facebook, so it would be familiar if I wanted to give it a try with an educational application.

Facebook and Ning are potentially useful to educators because they allow the teacher to personalize information to fit a student’s specific interest using a tool that students are already generally interested in.

Whether I use these tools or not in the classroom, I need to understand them. Even if I don't use them in the classroom, understanding how to use these social tools can help me to better mentor my students. I think that young teachers will generally have no problem with being able to relate to the students uses of facebook. The older teachers who do not explore facebook may not be able to.

If educational social pages are done appropriately, students can become very interested in them. Most students use, like, know, and are comfortable with these tools.

Ning is a site that I have not used. It offers opportunities that are a little bit more school friendly. The book gives many examples of how it has been successful in the classroom. Ning users are able to create their own networks either publically or completely private. It is important for me to get used to it before inviting people to my network. Along with educational assets it can be part of a good way to show an example of responsible use of social sites.
The BWP book warns to NEVER ADD APPS because then your site becomes more cluttered with outside garbage and is less school friendly.