My 3 Comments
Uncategorized September 23rd, 2007Eric: http://ideamen.edublogs.org/
Eli: http://ebarsy.uniblogs.org/
Hilary: http://hpiette.uniblogs.org/
Eric: http://ideamen.edublogs.org/
Eli: http://ebarsy.uniblogs.org/
Hilary: http://hpiette.uniblogs.org/
October 21st, 2007 at 12:42 pm
This is a very interesting article. I can’t say I’m surprised that Facebook and Myspace are making their entrance into the classroom. I’ve seen it happen here at Grand Valley. I had a friend who was required to post Facebook notes about whatever the class was discussing. It kind of sounds exciting, since he was writing for a “real audience,” but he hated it. He made sure to let everyone know that he was dreadfully doing this for a class. I believe one of the titles in his notes was “I’m only doing this because I have to for academic purposes.”
I agree with the point you make when you say that perhaps this kind of learning will take place far beyond the hours of the classroom – and that is pretty much what any educator could ask for. But I have to say, I think that teachers getting involved in the Facebook world is only going to push students to find another means of social networking and private communication. Students don’t WANT their teachers to see their wall posts, they don’t want to have to censor all of their tagged photos for fear of their teachers passing judgment on them. I think part of Facebook’s popularity is the world away from adults. But as parents and teachers start creating accounts, the groans from the students start – they thought they had a creative outlet and a place where they could present themselves however they wanted (perhaps to escape the realities of everyday life)- but now they don’t.
It’s great that teachers want to become a part of their students lives and get involved in whatever the “kids are doing these days,” but isn’t it an educator’s job to make learning fun and interesting? I don’t think it’s the job of the teacher to intrude on the personal lives of their students – it pushes them away. A good educator can make the regular classroom fun and get students excited about learning. A good educator knows that students need a balance between their academic and their social life – I don’t think that combining the two is always such a great idea.