Beyond Social Networking: Building Toward Learning Communities

Reynard, R. (2009). Beyond Social Networking: Building Toward Learning Communities. Retrieved from http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/07/22/Beyond-Social-Networking-Building-Toward-Learning-Communities.aspx.

This article talks about how using social networks in instruction can be helpful for students. Since students spend so much time on social networks, it is an opportunity for us as teachers to use that to our advantage. The author suggests teachers should create a social network presence and use it to communicate with students about assignments, group work, what to bring for the following day of class, etc. Some tips Reynard gives for making this work are a- maintain a constant presence because students use the internet any time of day, b- use a variety of supporting tools to process information, c- actively synthesize broadly scoped ideas into workable focus areas, and d- continue to engage students because they benefit from customized and focused attention.

I think these tips are good things to keep in mind. The teacher I will be doing my student teaching with has a Facebook account, which he uses to send friend requests to all his students at the beginning of the year. Then he creates a Facebook Group and sends out messages about upcoming assignments, or information about assignments, etc. Students can also use the Group Wall to talk to each other and set up study sessions or answer questions about when something is due. It seems to be working well, and I'm curious about doing something similar when I'm a teacher.