Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts Reflection Chapter 9

Some new thinking I took about technology in education after reading this chapter on social networking was that I was surprised to see the encouragement of using Facebook in the classroom setting. The author made several good points as to why it could be affective that I agreed with. One point I thought was not completely obvious before reading was that students seem to like to use Facebook in the classroom, I would think that most would not like to mix school with their social lives in anyway, but the students from the catholic school example really got into using it. I guess that may be a difference in frame of mind that I may have compared to my future students. One thing that I do like about the idea of using Facebook is the ease of sharing with people outside the classroom. I know for example that the school district that I grew up with has a district wide Facebook page to share with community things that have been happening in the school. I myself have joined that group and occasionally join in discussions when they ask for community and alumni input on issues facing the school. I can see many of the concerns of using Facebook in schools though. As a first year teacher I think that it may be hard to convince administrators to allow the site to be unblocked unless a completely solid plan was laid out that covered why it will be useful and how to address student safety. Another thing that I agree with the chapter that using social networks would be good for is teaching internet safety and etiquette to students. This could be done by example in how you present yourself and by having lessons and having students actively police each other after a group has been created. I think that Ning may be a better option to try out at first due to the fact it could be policed a bit better than Facebook. Again it was neat to see a tool that can connect students with experts and community members together to bring the classroom into the real world.

Though I am not sure I would use Facebook starting out right away as new teacher, I may experiment with the idea of using Ning. I would want to try it out more and maybe do an experimental group with peers before implementing it into the classroom. I may integrate Facebook later, but would want to do a lot of research into other teachers’ use of it before trying it myself. I think it would be great to hear firsthand from a teacher that has used it successfully and could explain some of the finer points of its use and struggles to get clearance to use it.