Social+Networks

Social Networks

Social Networking has become a way of life for users of all ages in the 21st century. Many people don’t see these sites as being instructional or educational tools, but with the amount of people using them maybe we should. In 2007 the United States National School Board Association found that 96 percent of children aged 9 to 17 use social networking tools an average of 9 hours a week. It is obvious that this is an area teacher’s can utilise to connect and engage their students.

Are popular social networking tools like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo safe for our students personal information? Would students be productive and use them appropriately as educational tools? These questions are all of concern for many educators against using social networking sites. In response there have been many educational-based websites created that allow teachers to host online classroom communities.

Below are some examples of these new sites that you can use to create an online classroom community for your students. Brief descriptions have been provided and links to the sites:

[|Edmodo]: This is a social networking site that is teacher controlled and moderated. It allows students the chance to share their ideas, publish work and learn the correct ways to communicate online.

[|NING]: This site has not been created for classroom use as its main purpose, but allows the teacher to create their own online community. Teachers can personally establish privacy settings and disable specific features, such as chat and messenger. This site allows for discussion forums, photo and video sharing, and can be linked to other popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter and You Tube.

[|Panwappa]: Made by the creators of Sesame Street, this interactive website allows children to explore the world and its cultures through lovable Sesame creatures and characters. This is an wonderful tool for building cultural diversity and enabling children to become global citizens. This website comes with a Teacher’s Guide, printable activities and online communities to help engage students as they learn about the world. This website is geared towards younger children and would be excellent in the early primary years.

[|Think Quest]: This is a free service designed to be a password-protected, teacher-monitored, safe web-space. The site is filled with project ideas and tools to help users create those projects, in an online space where students and teachers from all over the world can collaborate together. This site requires an application from the school to gain access, but could be a great tool to use across year levels or to collaborate with other schools within the area or around the world.