For Class Discussion:
We all know social networks, such as Facebook are big and here. Tools for social networks network have a definite place for teaching and learning, but contexts play a bigger role, so you should have clear purposes and plans before integration into them into teaching and learning. Regardless of your opinion or preference, our students and learners use these tools very actively, so we must know what benefits and pitfalls they have to guide proper use in education.
We all know social networks, such as Facebook are big and here. Tools for social networks network have a definite place for teaching and learning, but contexts play a bigger role, so you should have clear purposes and plans before integration into them into teaching and learning. Regardless of your opinion or preference, our students and learners use these tools very actively, so we must know what benefits and pitfalls they have to guide proper use in education.
- Myths and Opportunities: Technology in the Classroom an Alan November video (13 minutes) - The concept of a student, learner, and contributor
- Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Personal Learning Environments
- Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Facebook
- Educause’s 7 Things You Should Know About Facebook II
- I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You by Clive Thompson, NYTimes
- Comparing Social Networking to Online Communities by Lee and Sachi Lever
- Spectacle at Web2.0 Expo… from my perspective by Danah Boyd
- Facebook (can sign in with yahoo account)
- Ning
- Orkut (can sign in with gmail account)
- Now, Google related Google Plus
Further Resources - These are for those who want to explore
further...
- Sharing: The Moral Imperative by Dean Shareski (26 minute video)
- My Personal Learning Network in Action by Karl Fisch
- Questioning the Future of the Open Student by Vicki Davis
- Kiva.org - Microloans for less fortunate
- TakingItGlobal.org - connects you to social issues that affect us all
- Mashable - latest news and trends on social media
You can comment on any of the
following:
- Which tool was your favorite? How did the tool compare to others introduced in this week? If you plan to adopt the tool, for what purposes will you use it, how, and why? If you don't plan to use, why not?
- Do you think a school or workplace must actively use tools introduced in this week? Anything to consider in adoption or implementation at school or work?
- Or your reflection on anything related to the course (material, assignment, clarity, usefulness, suggestion, reaction to others, etc.)
I am a minimal Facebook user. I use it to keep up with my family, and to make a post at times. I rarely ever use Facebook for school or for the workplace, so I don't think that it is a must to use this tool within the school and work environment. There are other tools available that can assist in both the school and workplace in a better manner than Facebook.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is an open source tool, that allows for any user to see anything that has been posted to Facebook. While needing to discuss information in regards to school or work, privacy is key, and most of the time with Facebook there is no privacy unless a separate group page is created.
Overall, I think that Facebook isn't the appropriate tool for school nor the workplace
I am not very familiar to any of the sites posted but Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say Facebook is my favorite. Facebook can be used for almost anything now a days. Personally, I think Facebook is better for just keeping in touch with old friends.
I've had a professor my freshman year who did everything through Facebook, handed out the homework assignments, posted discussions. Facebook was his email. It was an interesting time and it was hard to get use too because most professors would want you to email them, he wanted you to message him through Facebook. We didn't really have a choice but to be friends with him on Facebook. I know some people who made fake accounts so he couldn't see their personal life. His way was just different.
After that experience I had with Facebook being used in a class, I can honestly say I wouldn't want to use Facebook again for another class. I would rather stick to WesternOnline or something similar.
If you are going to use Facebook for school though, I think you should do it as a group setting. Using a group setting is an easier way to stay in touch with all those people and easier way to follow their post and see what they are posting within the group.
I've also used Facebook in a work setting. The camp that I work at over the summer uses Facebook and keeps their employees updated, it is nice once in a while but I think there are times were people need to learn to email people. Facebook is not for everything or everyone.
It can be helpful in some ways, other ways I just don't think Facebook is for school.
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ReplyDeleteFacebook is a social aid tool that most of this generation is familiar with. It is a way to connect to friends, relatives and now classmates. Since most everyone is familiar with schools or workplaces will not have to spend a lot of time teaching users the basics of this site, with that being said users can jump in to discussions and posts quite simply. We must realize though that Facebook use for a school or workplace is quite different from how someone use it socially. Groups are a good idea to keep contact and discussion professional and on topic. By inviting users to a professional group, everyone will have a topic that the group administers and it will not be used for social purposes because it is away from the constant posts that friends make daily. By keeping it separate from the norm of Facebook schools or workplaces will allow users to be engaged in discussion and open to express their view points and learn from other opinions or topics.
ReplyDeleteI am only familiar with Facebook on the list above. I love the Facebook network because I am to connect with my friends and family that I do not see everyday. Facebook is able to provided new information about technology. When someone has the latest new phone or tablet, they are posting the cool features and benefits on Facebook to inform everybody. This week I am going to learn more about Orkut. From reading the blogs and information I do understand that Orkut is very similar to Facebook. You are also able to connect with many people.
ReplyDeleteI do think that you are able to use Facebook for school and workplace. The professor is able to post information about the course on his Facebook page and even share videos with his students that is relate to the course. Facebook would be great for the workplace because it can help the business people learn more about their clients. For example if a business wanted to design new clothing line and they wanted to reach a younger crowd. They are able to interact with certain Facebook account to see what that age group like. Then they are able to share their information with their co-workers right on Facebook.
Facebook is a great network that helps people stay in touch with family and friends. I do believe that sometimes people may abuse Facebook by putting inappropriate things on the site but they have people monitoring those types of things and they are removed right away. I am glad that Facebook was invented because it helps me with family and friends and even my schoolwork.
Facebook is the only tool I have used that was introduced this week. I really enjoy the user interface aspect of this popular social network. The simplicity allows for the most productivity.
ReplyDeleteI can't compare Facebook to the other tools introduced because I have yet to sign up an account.
I plan on using Facebook for sharing purposes. I mostly use my Facebook for my fraternity in sharing photos, events, ideas, or links to other websites. I plan on integrating the tools embedded in the Facebook itself and simply uploading my files via the friendly user interface.
The reason why I would use it for my fraternity is because everyone else is on Facebook and it is the fastest way to connect multimedia to my other chapter members. The post will always be there for their eyes to see and the posts will be timestamped and a member can easily search for the post at anytime at any place via the internet or on their mobile device.
After researching the social media/networking tools listed for this week’s blog post I believe that the ever-popular facebook is my favorite and probably the best for educational use.
ReplyDeleteThe Ning site allowed users to create their own social networking site and allowed increased customization. The benefit of this network is that users can layout their site with much more freedom than the traditional networking site such as facebook. It also allows users to embed advertisements that are related to the content on the site. According to Wikipedia, “The service allows customers to charge for membership directly within their Ning Network. Customers can also monetize by using services provided through partnerships established by Ning, and adding display advertisements, such as Google AdSense, to their Ning Network.”
I have a little bit of experience using LinkedIn. The thing that I appreciate about LinkedIn is that it is for business/professional networking only. It is not really a site dedicated to social networks but rather professional networks. I like the fact that it allows users to keep their business and social lives separate.
While reviewing the site Orkut, I was surprised to find out that I am already a member! This is because it is a Google product. Orkut was launched in 2004 and was a predecessor to Google’s “Google plus” social networking site. After doing a little research on Wikipedia I found that while not popular in America, Orkut is quite popular in the country of Brazil. Quite frankly I was not impressed by the UI of Orkut and did not spend too much time exploring it.
So this leads us to Facebook. I’ve been a Facebook user since probably around 2004. Initially I used it a lot, but for the last five years or so I only log on every month or so to make sure that I haven’t missed anything important. That being said, the real advantage of Facebook is its ubiquity. Facebook is by far the most used social networking site in the Western Hemisphere at least. Because it is so widely adopted it means that more people are familiar and comfortable with it’s features. Facebook is great for educational purposes because instructors can set up course pages and post the content to those pages. Features such as being able to post video, chat clients, video-chat, etc. encourage communication. Because of these features and the wide spread adoption of Facebook I feel that it is the best tool for educational use.
I am not familiar with most of these but I am most familiar with facebook. Because I am a facebook user I think facebook will be the one I like the most. I think the others are kind of confusing and some dont look as interesting, but thats how I felt about facebook when I first started using them. In my opinion, I have to really use a social network a lot in order for me to completely understand and become interested in them. Also, i think another reason is that they are not as popular as facebook and that could be a reason why I like facebook more.
ReplyDeleteEven though I do love using facebook I would not recommend using it for professional usage. I just feel like there are too many people on there that can turn something professional into something not too professional. I think facebook is something that should be used on someones spare time and not for a learning environment.
While I may use Facebook the most out of any social networking sites, I decided to take a look at others. One I found very unique and interesting was Orkut. This social networking site is unique because you can use different applications while you are on the site. For example you can pull out a small YouTube window that appears at the bottom of the screen so you can play music or watch videos while you are talking to friends. This greatly accommodates for multitasking. It also allows file sharing and chat which are pretty useful features to have in a social network. You can also change your layout which makes this a unique site. Another thing I found interesting was that Orkut is not popularized in the United States so it does not have to compete with the other social networks like Facebook. Since a lot of people have a Gmail account, Orkut allows you to sign in using your Gmail account. Overall Orkut is a pretty useful and unique social networking site.
ReplyDeleteOut of all the tools listed, Facebook was my favorite tool overall. Compared to the other tools Facebook is just way more entertaining and has way more things to do opposed to the other tools. The rest of the tools seem pretty boring but LinkedIn is on the rise and is a good tool to find a job and link you with different companies but i couldn't see myself logging into it everyday opposed to Facebook. I already have a Facebook and i use it to talk to different family members and friends from high school, watch funny videos, and watch news clips to see what’s going on locally and around the world.
ReplyDelete