Social Networking and its use in Education

Personally, I am a big fan of social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, etc. These sites are useful in personal lives because it is easy to communicate with friends and family members, but they can also be used in a professional setting. Education is a collaborative effort and facebook could be a way for teachers to keep in touch and work together. Instant messaging as well as e-mail and wall posts allow for numerous lines for communication. Also, a more controversial way it can be positively used in education is for students to communicate with teachers. Students could instant message teachers with homework questions or teachers could post assignments onto the page. This could also be negative, however, because it may make the teacher too available to the students. For example, using twitter as an education tool would be more suited for the college crowd more so than middle or high school aged students.  It crosses barriers in the student-teacher relationship because they are communicating outside of the classroom, and in my personal opinion it makes the students less responsible for themselves. If they can always get in contact with someone that can help them how will they learn to problem- solve and learn for themselves.

There is also the question of promoting student’s use of these technologies, because it could lead to problems with internet predators or students exploring technology could “stumble” upon unsavory topics. However, teenagers know about these technologies and they are going to use them regardless of any kind of risk, so I think it is important for teachers to educate students on how to use these mediums in productive ways.