On the Classroom 2.0 website, I chose Social Networking because I have used such websites before, and I wanted to see how they were used by educators.
The teachers were discussing how to attract staff and faculty to a social networking page for their school. One tech-savvy teacher said that you must have content on there that teachers can only get if they join the website. He also said it's hard to keep them interested once they've joined.
Another teacher was interested in what people were saying once they joined - were they social, were they teasing each other, were they doing anything constructive - and they answer was yes, all of the above. One guy said he tried posting a question-of-the-week, to get discussion fired up among teachers.
It seemed to me that it is usually one person who bears the responsibility for generating interest, keeping teachers involved, and supplying a constant flow of discussion topics. As the dicussion board mentioned, the number of people involved in the network must reach a "critical mass" to be able to sustain itself. Otherwise, teachers' interest wanes and these websites die as quickly as they were born. There must be a good reason for contructing a network for teachers, because they already have plenty of venues for discussion - conferences, staff meetings, email, flyers, and the break room. A social networking website is one more thing to add to their plate of things to do, so it might not be a priority.
The teachers also must be fairly comfortable with technology and have the right attitude. They may consider blogs and social networking to be wastes of time, or think it's too impersonal or a trend of younger generations. Plus, many teachers also use other educational websites such as EdLine and don't see a need for yet another network.
In short, there are certain factors that determine the success of eduational social networking. With the right leadership and the right participants, I think they could be very beneficial. They have the potential to be great resources for the exchange of ideas and projects, and they will probably continue to gain popularity.
NOTE:
I commented on the following blogs:
Mary - http://mkrescanko.blogspot.com/2007/11/journal-article-9-virtual-worlds.html
Grant - http://gtay422.blogspot.com/2007/11/journal-9-classroom-20.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
I think social networking sites will succeed or fail depending on the needs or motivation of the potential customers(so to speak). One of the problems with technology and information is that we have way to much thrown at us that it is sometimes hard to evaluate what one needs and what one can do without. When it comes to teachers i think they are overloaded with info. What one person thinks is great may or maynot interest others.
You did a good job of sumarizing the challenge of retaining interest in these types of sites. I, for one, have never been one to go to chat rooms and discussion groups because it seems too time consuming and I just don't have the time. But I think there's alot you can learn from a good site. I found all the sites we viewed with our delicious assignment to be excellent sites. A good moderator is critical. I also think the time factor is going to be the biggest drawback for most.
I think it can be a hit or miss situation regarding social networking. It takes a dedicated individual who as always willing to get better and listen to new and inovating ideas. Speaking as a young educator, I will be looking for as much help as possible from this point until I am working as a teacher. Maybe that will wear out after time. Or maybe it will encoutage me to continue in order to help other educators who will be starting after me.
Social networking can be a very useful tool, but the topics need to be something of use in order for the site to succeed. I have little time and it would seem time consuming to be part of a network. So I can see how they would be hit or miss. I am sure there are great ones out there that can be very helpful, especially for new teachers.
Social networking sites have to be continually generating interest in order for them to attract comments and more mentally stimulating topics are needed. It really is up to the teachers to show an interest and if they already have a heavy workload, this may not be on their list of priorities. It's good for those who can find the time and who enjoy this type of socializing.
I think everyone has hit on the key point, that the technology must serve a specific purpose or it is just one more thing you need to do. If the social networking sites for educators meet a need that cannot be met anywhere else, they will survive; if not, they'll just die out.
The next generation of educators may be so familiar with social networking sites that they will find them as indispensible as we find our telephones. It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out.
Post a Comment