There are several keys aspects to understanding social networking. The first priority is to understand today’s learner and grasp what is really significant to them. This is followed very closely by understanding where and how our learners are networking. The following resources are not meant to be an exhaustive list, but should serve as a starting point.
Who is
For example, in the book Online Social Networking on Campus: Understanding What Matters in Student Culture authors Ana M. Martínez Alemán, chair of educational administration and higher education at Boston College, and Katherine Lynk Wartman, resident director at Simmons College and a Ph.D. candidate at Boston College offer advice on how to use Facebook and other social networking tools in academia.
In an InsideHigherEd interview about the book the authors provide insight into:
- What higher education professional should know about Facebook,
- Understanding what students practices on Facebook are worrisome;
- The issues of looking at Facebook profiles as part of the application process;
- Whether administration and faculty should “Friend” student and the need for a code of Facebook ethics.
The following statement emphasizes the need to be proactive with respect to social networking systems in academia:
Computer mediated communication technologies have already made it necessary for academic faculty to modify or simply transfer traditional modes and norms of real-life academic and pedagogical communication online. It’s just a matter of time before we see a SNS as a classroom experience.
“Kids’ Informal Learning with Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures”
http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/report
From Knowledgable to Knowledge-able: Learning in New Media Environments
http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/knowledgable-knowledge-able
Michael Wesch, “Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance”
http://www.cea-ace.ca/media/en/AntiTeaching_Spring08.pdf
The above article followed this video:
The 21st-Century Digital Learner
http://www.edutopia.org/ikid-digital-learner-technology-2008
The author of the above article is Mark Prensky and you may find his writings useful. You can access the above article and many more from:
http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/
Educational Benefits Of Social Networking Sites Uncovered
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080620133907.htm
