social networking in schools

I believe that social networking sites are tools best limited to out of school hours. They are too difficult to supervise. Now, there may be some way to restrict access to members only and in the case they would be okay. The main reason for not allowing them is to prevent predators and bullies from entering our schools via the internet. My school filters out sites such as MySpace and YouTube. Students are able to access their e-mail on Yahoo and Google but this is only a recent change to our internet policy. I searched for examples of sites that are geared to improving reading skills. I found a good article at http://www.ll4schools.co.uk/ that talks about a safe social networking site designed specifically for schools. It’s worth taking a peak at. Paul

November 9, 2008

Social Networking

Social networking sites are a place where individuals can meet together online to have conversation about everyday issues. Many social networking sites, such as Myspace, allow individuals to set up a profile and select the individuals who are allowed to visit their site. They can also open it up to anyone who wants to view the material. In my opinion this type of networking site should not be allowed in a school setting. These kind of sites could open students up to individuals who may not have their best interest in mind. In addition, students may use this tool to bully or harass other students.

I do believe that when social networking sites are properly used they are beneficial to a school setting. The idea situation for students is to set up class social networking sites. On this website students could post projects and also pose questions to other students concerning assignments. In addition, information could be posted on the website concerning what the class is presently doing. There could be an area where parents could also pose question or comments to the teacher. The Blogmeister website (http://classblogmeister.com/) is an excellent tool that teachers could use to set up a class website. This site allows teachers to view students comments before they are posted on the website, therefore issues with students posting inappropriate material will be taken care of.

Social networking websites could also help teachers collaborate. The website could be set up by grade levels and teachers could give ideas on ways to teach assignments. The media specialist could use social networking website to inform teachers of the different uses of technology. The media specialist could create a blog on the media center’s website, on this page a separate area could be created for each idea and linked to a useful website. Teachers could leave comments on how this tool helped them or suggestion on other tools they want to learn about.
Social networking tools have gotten a bad rap. However if they are used properly they can be effective in a school setting. My only concern is that teachers have busy schedules and this is an addition thing that they would have to do. It takes times to keep a web site up to date and also interact with students and parents on the social networking site.

What is Social Networking?

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.

MCS web page

My system’s web page includes a school calendar, quick links to events, newcomer info, school locator, i-parent, performance tracker, and a host of others. There are links to parent and student resource pages, and the cover page contains articles pertaining to system news. It is a very nice site. Additionally, it contains links to all of the school’s individual pages. Our school’s web site has less stuff but is still pretty. The page links are well defined and easy to follow. Maintenance must be done regularly because the page is kept current. I am not sure who has the responsibility of maintaining it. It includes links to the media center, teacher classrooms, academics and athletics, clubs and organizations and happenings on campus. The media center’s page is real basic, providing info on staff, hours and procedures. I believe it would be improved by adding some color and some images. It wouldn’t be too busy because it needs to easy to navigate in. I would include a list of new acquisitions, tips for parents to help improve their kids’ reading skills, book lists such as “If you enjoyed this title you may want to read…..” Cobb County Public Library has a good web page. I would definitely check out theirs and other web pages for juicy ideas. Paul

Websites...filling in the deficient

Websites are awesome tools to reach out to parents. They can be in place to detail upcoming local events; provide resources for research projects; serve as an interactive, extensive learning tool; communications method; a source of fun learning activities; showcase for student talents, etc...
However, they are only and valuable if the site has users.
I am currently in a school with 80 -90% of the population coming from economically disadvantaged households. Many of these households don't have personal computers. So how do you make this a beneficial tool for them?

One idea that could hopefully get the word out more about a school’s website is to include it as a session during Open House. The media center at our school is often left out of this rotation. Parents get no information about the media center at all. This would be a wonderful time to showcase, showcase, showcase! Another way would be to extend the hours of the media center at least one night per week. We have media centers at the public libraries, but often the wait to use those computers range from 1-2 hours! It would benefit our low income communities in a great way if we would extend the media center hours at least once per week. Having the school/media center's website as the default page would increase the usability of the site(s) as well.

I also agree with another posting on feeling ill-equipped and prepared to build a productive school website. I do know that the media specialist at my school is responsible for doing so. But my question, what about when I am in my own media center. I would like to go in with a rich bank of knowledge of how to get started with building a dynamic website.

Websites

Websites

A media center’s Website should be a place where patrons can come and find valuable information pertaining to their school and the media center. The site should contain information that is valuable to students, teachers, and parents. The website should contain links, to valuable websites by grade level, that align to curriculum standards and this should be changed with each grading period. In addition the sites should have a listing of the Media center’s AR books. This will help parents who may want to supplement their child’s reading with books from a public library. One website that I visited recently contained a link to the cataloging system for the media center. This is a valuable resource because teachers could find books from home that they may want to use to teach their lessons. I also believe that the policy and procedure manual for the media center should be posted on this site. The hours for the media center should be posted in plan site for everyone to see. A calendar with all of the important events taken place in the school should also be provided, this will lead teachers to reference the site more often.

The Media Center’s website should appeal to all audiences. The site should be easy to navigate and always have an icon so patrons can go back to the home page. In addition, the site should be well organized and the information should be properly labeled. The sites should be checked regularly, I hate it when I go to a website and click on the links only to find that they are inoperable. A Media Center's website should also contain valuable information. The media center website for one school I visited recently only had a current calendar with no important dates listed.

As a graduate student in the Library media program, I believe that training on building and maintaining a website should be a part of our program. I have no idea how to build a website for the media center; however, I love the idea of having a website that would be a valuable resource for patrons. I feel ill-equipped to really make this happen. I realize that I will have to take the initiative and take classes to learn how to built and maintain a website. I feel that a media center website which contains valuable information is an asset to a school.

Why a Wiki? Wikis can be utilized to perform many functions that enhance our students’ abilities to share in the larger community of learners. An advantage is that a wiki allows students to participate in the collaborative creation of on-line content. A wiki provides a venue for students to share their writings, artwork, and thoughts. Teachers can use wikis to provide information on upcoming assignments and homework. Wikis are not perfect; they can be manipulated by anyone who has well-intentioned or malicious intent. Wikis can be written and edited by anyone with access to them. They must be monitored regularly which can add extra work for the mediator. This drawback is overshadowed by the educational value and experiences that students can gain. Wikis give students the opportunity to publish their works for an authentic audience. Students may have more motivation to produce quality work when they understand that their work is out there for everyone to see. Teachers can give immediate feedback and students are able to go back to earlier versions so that edits retain continuity. The use of wikis can be used to extend lessons outside of the classroom and provide valuable practice utilizing technology. Wikis can facilitate conversation for authentic purposes. Students who are part of a group responsible for developing a project can collaborate from their homes. Teachers can monitor and facilitate by offering suggestions and asking questions. Overall it may be argued that the pros of wikis outweigh the cons. Paul