October 2, 2007

Too Much Social Networks?



Ryan provides a little pushback on the use of Facebook for high school students. His comments...
... it’s bothersome to think of avoiding human interaction with the teacher as
being a solution. It seems like that would harm social skills and the
developing personalities of young minds. While I’m sure everyone
has neglected a question due to fear of how other students might react,
a habitual “always ask online” method may prove to be even
worse.
to some extent he has a point. If you push the model to extremes and all your interactions go online then it would certainly be a problem. However, I was thinking that if the students aren't asking at all in the classroom, then maybe facilitating a discussion online might be a powerful tool. Then of course a really skilled teacher (unlike the ones I was refering to in my high school experience) would tackfully work online conversations into classroom conversations and encourage participation and collaboration. Clarifying assignments, individualizing and adapting instruction, and providing alternative views, ideas, and approaches seem like good activities to do in a digital, collaborative environment. Facebook, MySpace, and SecondLife seem like popular platforms already being used for collaboration so it sounds like a good idea to offer these extensions.

The point that

... high school students spending 3-6 hours on MySpace as it is, promoting even more of this stuff just may be a little too much.
might also be looked at from a different perspective. If it is that motivating, then there maybe some way that it can support the learning process. Maybe part of that 3-6 hours could be spent solving problems, engaged in learning new ideas, or doing collabortive projects as homework assignments. I am sure a response to that is that they are making mix tapes and posting pictures of themselves during obscene things, but hey I like to think positive.




5 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:49 AM

    I think converting the online discussions into classroom discussions is a good idea. It helps to get people talking initially, since that seems to always be the issue with classroom discussion (it was for me anyway).

    Yeah, it would be better if 3-6 of those hours were spent doing something educational or the like. And you're right, that may be a good way to adopt an existing pattern. But I think about having kids, and if my kids were coming home from school and sitting on the computer for 6 hours a night, educational or not, I don't think I'd like it. But I don't have kids and I definitely don't have the background to even make a point about what should and shouldn't be a part of future education. But you make a good argument for the case, and I think it could work.

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  2. Well, as a parent I can tell you it is never easy. The best you can do is offer structure and positive feedback for your kids and hope they turn out half-way OK.

    From my experience, our kids (although really too young to compate to our discussion) don't watch much TV and aren't on the computer a lot. Alex spends most of his "plugged-in" time on xBox or Wii. But also plays outside, helps Grandad on the farm, and starts as an offensive lineman on the football team, so balance and structure is the key.

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  3. Interesting take.I think that any time that we can increase communication among our students and teachers, the better off we all will be.

    When I was in high school especially, I spent a lot of time writing letters to friends that I had met in camps and events across the state, country, and world. I'd often get letters from friends in college, international pen pals (one of whom I'd never met, but who was a friend of a friend in Mexico). I guess you could call it "Social Networking 0.1." Yes, I spent a lot of time in my room by myself. No, I didn't get along that well socially in high school. Was it the fault of the social networking?

    No, I think that it was more a result of the writing and friendships. That reminded me that the world was not like my little tiny town, and that there were bigger and better things out there...I just had to grab them. That gave me a lot of hope. It also allowed me to refine my social skills in a safer environment than face to face in high school. Now I may not be the world's biggest social butterfly, but I don't think I'm socially retarded.

    If I were a teenager now, I'm sure I'd be doing lots of social networking and emailing. I"m also sure that my parents would know my passwords and how to get onto my accounts, just as they knew where I kept my letters. I think that the social networking can do the same kind of function that my letters did for me so long ago.

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  4. Great points. I think that might be a real rural perspective that I might share with you. I often was anxious to engage communities outside my own, although interestingly, I never left.

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