The Six
Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Recent advancements in social
networking sites have some recommending that the infamous Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game be shortened to five and even as
low as four. Social networking sites have become an important part of today’s
world and that impact should include the school’s media center. Using social
networks is outlined in AASL Standards
for the 21st-Century Learner
3.I.2: Participate and collaborate
as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
4.I.7.: Use social networks and
information tools to gather and share information (2007, 6-7)
The school’s social networking sites
should have a plan for their use. First, the sites reveal an excitement about
reading, learning, and etc. and not focus on a rigid formalistic outline.
Secondly, many monitors should be employed, not just the media center specialist,
but include parents and teachers. Next, the sites must be updated regularly and
have information/tutorials that would be beneficial to the user. Many social
networking sites should be used, for one site will not reach all users. The
sites being used should contain some features such as:
o
User
Profiles
o
Friending
o
Groups
o
Individual
Messaging
o
Announcements
o
Photos
o
Blogs
or Journals
o
Searching
o
Privacy
Controls (Courtney, 77 -78)
Social
networks sites can be used “…as a supplementary learning tool, social networking
holds promise for enhancing students’ sense of classroom community…” (Hung, 713)
Social networking sites would be a
great benefit not just to the media center, but also the school and the school
district. Our school district recently just announced it will be researching
and initiating a social network site in the near future. Currently, our school
system blocks all access to social networking sites. I believe as educators, we
should push the access to these sites and not only use them in the media center
but in the classroom as well. Parents/guardians of these students have access
to social networking sites also. The ability for students to upload pictures,
links, or examples of what they are learning in class is a powerful tool. A guardian/parent will become more involved
with the students education with these tools, instead of having to ask the
student what they did in class or wait for a newsletter 4 weeks later. A more
intellectual conversation can exist, like “what are the difference/similarities
between the hero and villain” or “tell me about the muscle in the animal you
dissected”.
American
Association of School Librarians, 2007. Standard
for the 21st-Century Learner.
Retrieved October 15, 2012 from http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards
Courtney,
Nancy Ed. (2007). Library 2.0 and Beyond:
Innovative Technologies and Tomorrow’s User. Westport , Connecticut
Gavigan, Karen.
(2012). Socially Connected School Library. Knowledge
Quest. 41 (1), 68 – 69. Retrieved
October 15, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1f204711-6918-4c81-9a07-d66dc2772b5c%40sessionmgr111&vid=10&hid=108
Hung,
Hsiu-Ting and Yuen, Steve Chi-Yin. (2010). Educational use of social networking
technology in higher education. Teaching
in Higher Education. 15 (6), 703 – 714.
Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteI had already posted my required 3 comments when I read your post, but i thought I would drop a comment anyway, because I think your comments were a little less "off-the-cuff" than some others out there, and introduced some how-to comments about moving forward with using social networking in schools and Media Centers.
Great title, and standards, reminding us that teaching students to use these resources responsibly is a must. I am reminded of that commercial, "They Can't Put Anything on the Internet That's not True" (I think it's a StateFarm commercial.) funny. We have a lot to do to prepare students to be discerning, so schools can't hide from these social networking sites forever.
Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteI found your advantages information interesting and useful. I am new to wikis and did not know that I had the ability to revert to a previous version; when students are given the ability to edit information, it’s good to know that pre-edited information can still be retrieved. Your last comment in this section refers to the concept of worldwide involvement; I think that for many teachers this is an untapped area that we could use more often to expose our students to larger cultures.
Your solution to the problem of inaccurate and unreliable information was good because having a manager would be too time consuming. I am grateful that you included the idea of disorganized content as more information is added. I think that the key to this is to take time when setting up the wiki to think about how additional information changes the original layout. Clear directions and easy navigation would also help to alleviate this problem.
Like you, I have not yet found too many useful applications to wikis in the media center. Many of our teachers use Moodle and find the need for a wiki to be redundant. I am currently using a wiki to interact with the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Team; it is easy to monitor this particular wiki because we only have fourteen members.
I like your catchy title-like golden rules to live by (smile). I like that you listed what we should do and how we should do it. Many times we like ideas and we want to get on board but we have no clue on how to get started. If we are to begin putting social media into the schools we do need to have those main rules taught to teachers as well as students as we do something such as copyrighting. Teachers make comments about not being able to watch students when they are all on the computers but I think it's the same as if they are taking a test and you're monitoring to make sure a student isn't cheating. You just do it! We are missing out on a great opportunity I think if we begin using social media in the classrooms and teaching proper etiquette, then we could even help some of the other issues that come with social media improper use like students bullying one another.
ReplyDelete