News and Trends

New research on school principals and social networking

10/1/2010 By:

A new research report summarizes the results of an extended look at school principals’ use of social networking. The underlying research for the report, “School Principals and Social Networking in Education: Practices, Policies, and Realities in 2010,” was conducted by edWeb.net; IESD, Inc.; MMS Education; and MCH Strategic Data. Among the key findings:

¦  Most principals who responded to the survey believe that socialnetworking sites can provide value in education.

¦  About half the surveyed principals felt that social networking is very valuable for these purposes.

¦  Most of the responding principals thought that social networking and online collaboration tools would make a substantive change in students’ educational experience. Specific changes mentioned included:
   • Development of a more social/ collaborative view of learning
   • Improved motivation, engagement, and/or active involvement
   • Creation of a connection to real-life learning

¦  None of the responding principals in the discussion group had in place school or district policies on social networking that were deemed adequate.

Download the report at www.edweb.net, www.mmseducation.com, or www.mchdata.com.