To Network or Not to Network, That is the Question...

Social networking is perhaps the biggest Web 2.0 trend amongst children and adults alike. Millions of users log onto social networking sites every single day to view their friends' updates or post what they are doing to their faithful followers. One study conducted in 2008 claimed that MySpace was the most visited site on the Internet, surpassing even Google! Yet social networking sites have been prohibited in 52% of school districts in the United States. This leads one to question: Should we be using social networking sites in educational settings?

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What is social networking?

Edublogger Steve Hargadon defines social networks as "collections of Web 2.0 technologies combined in a way that help to build online communities." When the term social network is mentioned, most people's minds immediately think of sites such as Facebook or MySpace. While these social networking sites are the most popular of their kind, there are other social networking sites on the Internet. For example, my 7 year old daughter social networks on children's sites such as Webkinz and Club Penguin. There are many social networks created for specific groups using Ning. One of particular interest for educators is Classroom 2.0. This social network is is designed for teachers who are interested in using Web 2.0 in their classroom and has nearly 5000 members.

Social Networking in Plain English offers further insight into the structure of social networks.


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Using social networks in education

One of the struggles that I have wrestled with is how to use social networks in an educational setting. Boyd (2007) shed some light on this predicament for me when she asserted that the value of social network sites is not is how they are used in the classroom but in how they create an environment for "informal social learning that is required for maturation, understanding your community, learning to communicate with others, working through status games, building and maintaining friendships, working through personal values, etc." Basically, social networking sites allow students an opportunity to build their personal social values and skills in a relatively "safe" environment. In particular, this may provide students who are not socially confident a forum for self-expression and friendship building (Thelwall, 2008).

A recent survey asked teens why they joined social networks. The top three reasons were:
1. To learn new things
2. To do homework together with friends
3. To play games
In fact, according to the National School Board Association, 59% of students talk about education related topics online and 50% of these students specifically talk about schoolwork. Boyd (2007) argues that "social networking sites do not make youth engage educationally, they provide educationally motivated youth with a structure to engage educationally." She suggests that students may use social networking sites to ask each other questions about homework, post links and resources to share with fellow students, or they may even engage with teachers outside of class. This type of Web 2.0 application appears to have a more informal, yet still important, role to play in education.

Should teachers be actively engaging with students via social networking sites? This question seems to be a grey area with supporters lined up on both sides of the fence. Boyd (2007) contends that all teachers should have a public profile on the popular social networking sites. If a child asks to be your friend, this should be seen as a sign of respect. Teachers should then talk to students if they notice any questionable content being posted. Teacher Randy Turner would agree as he uses MySpace as a way to be available to his students. Students can ask Turner questions that they may have about course content outside of the school day. However, this can be a slippery slope. Teachers and students need to maintain a certain line of distinction between them. Making students your Facebook or MySpace friends may blur this line and I personally would not engage in this activity.

A safer way to engage with students via social networking sites may be by creating a school or class Ning site. This would provide an environment for students or parents to interact with one another in a safe environment without worrying about personal information being shared. Nings are an excellent way to maintain parental contact easily and in a time efficient manner. Moorman (2009) used a class Ning with her education students to offer them a forum for reflection during their internship experiences. Our current school website is very restrictive in its design as it must adhere to a particular template. As a result, it is quite ineffective. I have created a school Ning that I plan on using as a forum for parent, student, and teacher communication beginning this fall.

Dalsgaard (2009) offers some thoughts on the pedagogical implications of students using social networks versus other communication tools. The four points that I found significant include:
1. Social networking sites facilitate transparency between students. They have "insight into each other's work, thoughts, and productions." This may not necessarily be the case with other more traditional forms of online education.

2. Social networking sites support weak social ties rather than strong ties. These weak ties, usually created by making someone your online "friend", create an awareness of other's thoughts and ideas with the group while you may not have a strong personal relationship with them.

3. The starting point within social networks sites is the individual. Each person signs up by themselves. In other online communities, the focus is the group as a whole.

4. Social networking sites are unique in that your homepage is a personalization of you. You are always "present". Whereas, in a discussion group, you are only present if you post.

Food for thought before students begin social networking
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So, with all of the positive implications surrounding the relationships students build with one another and the genuine learning communities that are created via these networks, why are so many school districts banning their use? Freedman (2007) raises concerns that young children don't have the ability to assess the safety of a site or person. This may not be a matter of training, but rather a result of their brain's development. For older students, who are able to think with a higher level of critical thinking, Boyd (2007) suggests that "conversation...is key and it needs to be clear that there are no correct answers; it's all a matter of choice and pros and cons."

Teachers and students also need to engage in conversation around using prudence when posting items on social networking sites. Many employers now look to these sites as a means of screening potential employees. Something posted on a whim may have unintentional consequences later on.

Cyberbullying is becoming cause for concern for educators. It is much easier to name call and say hurtful things to peers online rather than face to face. This issue is still so new that few schools have policies on how to deal with issues that occur online or with regards to items that are posted on social networking sites (Davis, 2008). The popularity of social networks will only continue to grow. With this growth, so will some of the issues associated with students using them. District policy makers need to establish clear guidelines for in-school administrators surrounding student behaviour on social networking sites complete with clearly laid out consequences.

Using Facebook--personal reflections

I am no stranger to social networking sites. I began using Facebook two years ago, primarily as a means to communicate with a friend who was moving to France for a year. I established a basic Facebook homepage and initially uploaded only a profile photo of myself. I searched for a few friends to begin "networking" with. At that time, I discovered that many of the people that I was searching for were not yet on Facebook. Throughout the first year of Facebook use, I began to find more people that I had lost contact with years before. Childhood friends popped up as well as all four of my closest university friends. Facebook enabled me to maintain contact with them when I would have otherwise let the friendships lapse. I began posting albums of photos of my family vacations and my friends did the same. It has been fantastic as I am able to see their families grow-up even though we are miles apart. I confess, that while I do check other's status updates often, I rarely post one of my own, making myself an information leech of sorts. I appreciate the messaging feature that allows me to send longer messages to my friends from time to time. One thing that I have learned over the past few years is to limit the number of applications you subscribe to. Each time you accept an invitation to a certain application, you are allowing the makers of the application access to your profile. They can then use this information however they want.

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To use or not to use Facebook in an educational setting? Personally, I would not use Facebook for educational purposes. Each time a student has requested to be my friend I have declined. I have talked with my students about my rule of not being their friends on Facebook as I feel it crosses a professional line. You could use Facebook without becoming friends by creating a Facebook group for your class. Students could post comments on a variety of discussion topics to the group. However, I do believe that using a Ning would be a better choice for a group forum as it is specifically designed to support a targeted group of people.

So, should we use social networking sites in an educational setting? It depends. Social networks are fantastic at creating student-led learning communities. They can also be useful in the form of a Ning where a site is created for a specific purpose. Should teachers and students network as friends? That choice is up to the individual teacher/student. If you do choose to go that route, be careful that the professional lines do not become blurred. At any rate, social networking sites are here to stay and schools need to discuss how to use them appropriately in an educational setting and design policy to support their decisions.