Social Networking for the K-12 Set
by Jim Klein
Klein’s article discusses the social networking in the school environment through the use of open source code to create a platform that enables the entire learning community (students, teachers, and parents) to gather information as well as share information. It appears that this form of accessing information has many positive effects and doesn’t appear to cost anything but investing some personal time in creating the sites that will be used for learning and collaborating. Klein states that this technology already exists and some educators do use some of it, but not on the scale that can have positive, maximum effect on a learning community. This form of communication, Klein claims, is also helping students excel in school.
Question #1: Why don’t more schools adopt this new technology?
I believe there are many factors that may contribute to limiting this kind of communication. There may be misinformation about the costs imposed on a school district, but according to Jim Klein, there is no cost to implementing such a communication system. The only cost will be to the administrators of the sites. For example, blogs will incur no cost except for the time that goes into creating and managing the site. I also believe that there is a phobia about using technology in this way. I have a very difficult time trying to figure out how to post blogs, or any other technologically advanced system involving computers, and as a result I shy away from these opportunities. It takes only a bit of time and patience to incorporate this type of social networking.
Question #2: What are some of the positive effects that may result from adapting this type of social networking?
I feel there are numerous amounts of positive effects and benefits that will result from adapting this type of social networking. For instance, blogging could greatly enhance the writing workshop process that is traditionally bound by the confines of a classroom. With blogging, students and teachers can post work on the blog and students from the class can comment and offer feedback on stories, essays, or other class projects. Also, classroom information can be readily accessible by both students and parents. The blog offers another form of communication with the teacher and other students. Parents can track the child’s progress by verifying information on the blog. These are only a few of the positive effects that may result from adapting this technology.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment