Social Networking in High School
Mar
2
Written by:
3/2/2010 12:00 PM
Cross posted at ThumannResources.com
Is the average high school student able to define
social networking or give an example of it? I thought most would use
Facebook as an example, but during a recent visit to a local high school, one freshman student used e-mailing his teacher in
First Class
as an example. Many of his classmates were of the same opinion as he,
so it opened up a much-needed conversation during which this classroom
full of 20 students spoke about where they preferred to network with
each other.
Their preferred places to communicate with their friends:
As for social networking in schools, the students
felt that there were just too many places to have to check already (a
complaint that teachers share themselves). It was the one topic of
conversation that period that everyone in the room seemed to agree on.
The complaint was that in one subject area the teacher would use
Moodle, the next
Google Apps, the next
Diigo and that ultimately they forgot to check something and missed turning in an assignment.
- Image Credit: http://treatingyourself.com
When asked which network would be the preferred place to use for
school, students had a tough time coming to a consensus. We posed a
similar request as to which gaming system the majority of the class
would prefer to use (ie X-Box, Wii, Nintendo DSi) and they could not
make a decision either. We reasoned that teachers felt the same and
found it difficult to find a content management system or collaboration
tool that satisfied every staff member in a building which resulted in
all these different tools the students had to use.
The conversation ended with a link to a
Wallwisher
we had set up in the hopes that those that didn't particate in the
conversation might take a stab at it this way. They didn't really. The
comments left were from the same boys (the young ladies remained very
quiet during our session together) that shared their opinions during
class and the tool, in this case, didn't reveal anything that our talk
hadn't uncovered. But it did introduce the classroom teacher to an easy
way to post a question or topic and have students share answers.
Yet another place to have to check for information.
14 comment(s) so far...
Social Networking in High School
This is definitely a touch nut to crack. The problem seems to stem from their being too many options out their for teachers to use in creating a web space. But the fact that there are many options is also the beauty of the internet! It's the choices that give people the motivation to start a blog or class website. There are tools for teachers who want their page formatted for them, and tools out there for more experienced (or more ambitious) teachers who want more of a hands on site.
Perhaps the answer is this: Our school district has its own website with every teacher listed there. Perhaps the school can link to each teachers blog, thus becoming a portal for the students. They simply go onto their school site and click on each teacher they have, and they'll never have to remember which teacher uses which blog.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!
MB
By Megan Boyd on
3/3/2010 12:15 AM
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Social Networking in High School
Organizing a community on the base of school main website is a brilliant idea! I've seen several successful cases with implementation of similar systems. Not only teachers but also students should have an opportunity to create personal blogs. Developing the idea we can think about chat rooms, forums or smth like that.
By MBA Lady on
3/4/2010 4:48 AM
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Social Networking in High School
My students use NING and FACEBOOK. We have both set up as closed network groups so that we can work on assignments and so that we can keep in touch with our program alumni.
By Tammy Fry on
3/4/2010 7:34 AM
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Social Networking in High School
Hi Megan
I would like to introduce you to Symbaloo! I am not trying to sell you on our product. I actually just found out that a school was using our product in this exact way. Each student had a Symbaloo account and used it as a PLE (personal learning environment) that the teacher is able to check all of their work on. All of their assignments were in one place so they would not miss anything. If you are interested I wrote a blog about it on our blog site to better explain and it is accompanied with a video. The blog site is http://blog.symbaloo.com please let me know what you think and if this would be a solution to your problem.
Kimmie Chann
By Kimmie Chann on
3/4/2010 10:06 AM
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Social Networking in High School
Use the school website as the gateway. Each teacher has their own "website within a website" on the main school site and they can provide links there to any web 2.0 tools, including social networking sites, that they wish to use with their students.
By gyrhead on
3/4/2010 11:55 PM
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Social Networking in High School
I can't believe I mis-used the term 'there' TWICE! In the same sentence! I apologize and hang my head in shame.
By Megan Boyd on
3/3/2010 4:03 AM
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Social Networking in High School
I work in a district that provides a "one site" for the teachers. It opens to a page that lists all the classes a student is taking & links to the class sites. Although that does make it simple for the students and teachers (one spot to check), it is so limiting that some teachers still have their own sites. So, I love the idea of a district/school portal with links to the teachers' pages....wherever they might be. Unfortunately, our filter is so limiting that many of the most popular web hosting and/or blog sites are blocked.
By Diane on
3/4/2010 7:54 AM
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Social Networking in High School
I was at a 1:1 school last week and heard the same thing from a student panel.
By whitechrisf1 on
3/5/2010 4:43 AM
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Social Networking in High School
Organizing a community on the base of school main website is a brilliant idea! I've seen several successful cases with implementation of similar systems. Not only teachers but also students should have an opportunity to create personal blogs. Developing the idea we can think about chat rooms, forums or smth like that.
By MBA Lady on
3/4/2010 4:49 AM
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Social Networking in High School
It is easy to sympathize with this situation. I do think that you have hit on one good solution - using a portal. With an organization-wide portal with links to teachers' sites, students have a central starting point. But, perhaps it is even better for each student to have (construct) their own customized learning portal. Over the year, or years, this could provide a gateway to their own portfolio, and personal educational resources based on the classes they take. It's also a good exercise in organization. If not online, then at the very least, students can and should create an offline portal document (Word will do)with links to their current class/teacher sites that they can carry around on a flash drive. Don't overlook the potential of customizing home pages such as those at yahoo.com and google.com with the class links and using those as personal portals.
By Lynne M Bailey on
3/4/2010 8:10 AM
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Social Networking in High School
Is there a suitable social networking site that can be appropriately used for academic needs and be desirable for students to use outside of school? Our district is finally catching on to the need to blog!
By Librarlee on
3/4/2010 9:50 AM
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Social Networking in High School
I have several! Everyone has such good ideas!
Tammy - A closed network Facebook page for your students? That sounds pretty wonderful, as my high school students all absolutely love Facebook and are on it constantly. How do you set up a "student safe" closed network version of FB?
Diane - I too have restrictions / Firewall issues at my school. I have tried to show my students museum sites or wheel throwing techniques (I'm an Art Teacher) on youtube.com and the schools settings are such that I cannot. It would be nice if the teachers had different permissions than the students and were able to pull up sites that the students could not. I couldn't even show them paintings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art! But, I suppose in the world we live in wheren schools have to protect themselves from untrustworthy individuals and litigation, that is something we have to accept.
Lynne - A word document is a terrific idea, it can be emailed and kept and even printed out and can serve as a series of links. Great idea. A google home page with RSS feeds is also a terrific idea. Students can set up a Google Reader site at the beginning of the year and pipe the updates from all of their various teacher's sites right into one place! I almost wish I was in high school again to take advantage of all of these new technologies.
Kimmie- Symbaloo sounds pretty great. Thanks for the tip, I'm definately going to check it out. Isn't this great, this is how things grow and become common place. Not through Super Bowl commercials or billboards, but by people with like minds making connections. Thanks!
Thanks everyone for responding. Food for thought. Yum!
By Megan Boyd on
3/7/2010 9:37 AM
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Social Networking in High School
Great! Thanks for the great informative post and you effort.
I think the above article is valuable for all concerned people. For me the Informations are really really useful. I've Bookmarked this page for future reference.
Thank you
Robin Kukri
By Kukri on
3/4/2010 1:46 PM
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Social Networking in High School
In my school we just use e-mails...
By CIMA online student on
1/19/2011 1:26 AM
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