I believe social networking is a great way to communicate and collaborate across the board with other educators and the public. As a student in the media program I had the chance to experience Librarything and Flicker through social networking. This was a great adventure because I had the privilege to post most opinion on specific book review, tag photo, group photos, select genres, download photos, rate books, and give them group names. This was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed using Flicker and Librarything. Educators and students should be exposed to this type of networking. Teachers as well as media specialists could integrate them both in their daily lessons. Students could be allowed to post personal book reviews, create picture projects in science or social studies in Flicker.
However, there are some disadvantages to social networking. The use of MySpace is used by many teens and adults. Most teens have met predators online through a chat room which have caused them to become sexually involved with them. Also Cyber-bullying is another social network teens and adults need to be watchful for. There have been anonymous individuals using this website to harass, annoy, and threaten people. Definitely social networking has its pros and cons. As adults, it is our responsibility to monitor students use when using social networking web sites.
Social networking provides new and exciting opportunities for the media center. It breads away from traditional practices. It makes visiting the library more interesting because students and teachers are being exposed to modern day technology.
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Lahama,
I also believe that social networking could be a great way to network with teachers across the board. I believe that they can also be useful to students. I do not think that it is appropriate to use public web sites such as my space in a school setting; I think the sites should be set up for use by each individual classroom. Students could respond to other students work and also post their question to students and instructors. Seeing that the site is self contained the teacher would be able to monitor what the students are saying to each other. Students would also realize that they are being observed so they would watch what they post online.
I have not used either of the social networks you noted here--Flicker or Librarything. I love the idea of having students post book reviews and create picture projects using Flicker. Social networking is not a technology I have explored, and I definitely need to take more time to do so. Your post provided some ideas I had not considered for using social networking in our schools.
Like you, though, I have serious concerns regarding the dangers posed by making our students accessible via such resources. As you noted, students would need to be closely monitored for their own protection, and teachers, parents, and media specialists need to continue to educate young people regarding the invisible dangers that lurk in the cyber world.
I used LibraryThing and Flickr in the cataloging class this summer as well. I think they are great sites to use.I really liked using it for book reviews also. I even used them in a project for teaching educators how to use these sites in their classrooms. However, I agree with you in that they need to be monitored. I do not think there is a place in school for other social networking sites. I think these sites need to be more safe before they can be accessed in schools. I know our school has a filter that does not even allow most of the social networking sites.
The entire myspace and tagged "thing" has gotten out of control in my opinion. Everyone has a page; even those who are too young to actually have one. And its so commercialized! I would love to see the creation and application of more online programs that promote academics.
I wish I knew more about Flicker and Librarything, however. They sound like great programs. Are they free? Maybe we could get together online and discuss how these programs work.
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