It’s so challenging to be in the education space and not have students fit the profiles we create for them. I often lament that just because students use a certain tool, doesn’t mean that they want it used for learning in formal settings. Students tell universities: Get out of MySpace! (a better title would be “get out of my Face(book)): “Online spaces are blurring, as universities that podcast and text their students have shown. The Jisc project manager, Lawrie Phipps, explains how the battle lines are being drawn: “Students really do want to keep their lives separate. They don’t want to be always available to their lecturers or bombarded with academic information.”"
Educators need to be aware of and use participative web technologies in their instruction. But, the manner, extent, and process of use needs to include learner feedback. The whole point of democratic social tools is to level the field of communication and democratize individual voices. Don’t do it for them…do it with them.
11 Comments
I think them problem lies in the not fully evolved identity management system. It seems that facebook is in the process of developing some new feature so that we could group our friends or tag them, and present different profile to them. Just like in a real world, we are totally different person towards our parents and our friends.
I am sure the future of social networks would allow users more freedom to control when/how/who to distribute any information that published by him, including private information. Let’s pray that we wouldn’t get used to explosure before that.
This was the topic of the first blog post I ever wrote — you could say it inspired me to start fighting the horrible and deceptive advice being given to universities by consultants and organizations. Read that original post here.
Using Facebook as a recruiting tool or thinking it’s an appropriate venue for instruction is bogus. There area a lot of charlatans advising colleges & universities. I know, because I’m one of them
It could also be the opposite way: Quite a few of my students have requested to be included in my facebook. They actually have me using FB more frequently.
One reason is that they seem to be keen to replace email with facebook – it is more appealing, exactly the way LMS’s should be of course – and it is where they spend most of their online time. Facebook also seems to be a convenient space to distribute some informal materials, such as pictures from students’ concerts etc. It actually can enhance a sense of community within an institution – depending on the culture of practice of course. However, I think in many ways a dedicated network in Ning would work better – or an institution intranet with FB like qualities.
For some teachers this could be a problem (like rate my professors..). Students could easily get wrong ideas. I do have to keep this in mind, and not to fool around too much in FB
Not sure I agree with this – sure students will say ‘we don’t want you monitoring us in here’, but that doesn’t mean universities should ignore social networks (as some people have interpreted this report to say). We’re developing some FB apps for Open University students, the key is to give them applications that help them connect with each other and facilitate their own learning, not ones that direct or monitor their behaviour. I think going out to where the students are and adding convenience to their life is a good thing to do – I worry that this report provides justification to all the people who wish all this horrible web 2.0 stuff would just go away (more thoughtful post here http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2007/11/in-yer-facebook.html)
Martin
The most important thing is to allow students maintain the ownership of the environment. So, institution-wide intervention in to social network sites may not be a good thing, but on individual (course, teacher etc.) level it may well be.
Tools like Elgg – although not really a social network system – give users the power to choose what to publish and to whom. We really need institution wide intranet systems that grant students their own (closed?) space, which can be used as an affordance to attract them to use also the so called formal side of the comprehensive system – with open borders of course.
Hi Francis – yes, we are different people in different spaces. My concern rests with how technologies remove the “silos of ourselves”. The identity shift of who we are in different environments seems to be disappearing. As you stated – there may be movement in addressing this through identity systems. But technology – especially of a social nature – seems to veer toward open flow. The solution (if we can call it that) rests in developing an understanding with the web users themselves.
George
Hi Dan – thanks for sharing the article!
George
Hi Joe – not sure about the charlatan aspect
, but I do think social network services have some potential for education. The challenge is in involving the students. We need to include their opinions, interests, needs, and wants. I’ve seen students use facebook for learning (and it seems to have worked well). But it was at their own initiative, not mandated by faculty. As educators, we run the risk of trying to be cool, but we end up showing up at the Rave wearing disco clothes.
George
Hi Mikka – good point about ning. I see the blend of personal and professional identities in FB and myspace as uncomfortable. Ning allows a bit more task-focused interaction. While I’m usually not the first to say good things about LMS, I do see some vendors incorporating the social tools (blogs, wikis, social bookmarking) into their suites. Many other issues exist with this, but it does prevent the identity blending of FB.
George
Hi Martin – good point. I fully agree that we should not abandon social networking tools. Instead, we should experiment with them and find best models of incorporation. Simply because a problem exists (in this case, the line between personal and professional identities being blurred) does not mean we abandon it. It means that we need to carefully consider how we can best move forward. Obviously there is some value in social networks – their sheer popularity says something about our desire to stay in touch/be connected with friends and family. Academic considerations of these tools is important. But, as always, we need to hear the voice of the student.
George