(Are they really?)Following up my previous post on Social Networking - The Good, I need to look at the other side of social networking, "the bad", as it relates to education. All to often teachers are hesitant to use technologies like social media in fear that they are not appropriate or educational enough for the classroom.
Here are some of the challenges faced with using social networking. (I posted some possible solutions to these challenges as well.)
- Students might not be making the best choices on what they are choosing to do and say. (Teach responsibility and rules and monitor student use with consequences as needed.)
- Students may be accidentally exposed to things that are inappropriate. (Teach students what to do when something inappropriate does pop up, close the window and report it to a teacher, etc.)
- Resistance from administration, parents and colleagues. (Have a clear plan of action and be an advocate by clearly explaining how it can be used and its benefits, throw in some research and examples as needed.)
- Difficulty choosing and implementing social networking in the classroom. (Start out small and use educational versions of social networking sites, take one small step at a time.)
Now that you have the good and the bad will you or will you not use social networking in your classroom?
Great posts! The affordances of social networking outweighs the cons, as long as its use in education is monitored and digital citizenship is taught and reviewed. In a well managed environment I think social media is a wonderful authentic learning environment!
ReplyDeleteI love that you compared the "good" and the "bad" of Social Networking. It is so important to teach our students how to become good information users of the internet. If we teach them how to search, sort, and communicate the information properly we will have a positive influence on our students. I would love to start incorporating more social media into my classroom as well as my colleagues classrooms. It truly engages the students and helps them with their 21st century learning!
ReplyDelete