“If you can’t beat em’, join em’”
Uncategorized October 15th, 2007It’s become rather difficult to pick an article when I roam through Google Reader. There are simply too many to choose from, so what does that tell us? Facebook and Myspace are taking over schools; oh who am I kidding, the world!
A recent article that I found discussed the steps that the Darlington School District (South Carolina) is taking to bring Facebook, Myspace, and YouTube into the classrooms. Their goal is to enhance learning in and out of the building. I have become rather torn over the issue of Facebook and Myspace in the classrooms. There are advantages and disadvantages as I have pointed out both, but I understand that as educators we need to be realistic about this situation, and realistically, Facebook and Myspace are only going to get bigger and better.
So, as the old saying says, “if you can’t beat em’, join em’.” Darlington has decided to join them, and students will interact with their teachers and fellow classmates right along side of posting on walls, listing their favorite movies, and changing their profile song. The site will allow for students to ask their teachers questions from home, interact with classmates from home, and accomplish assignments from home. Notice how all of this is done from home, which reminds me of that dreaded, dirty work. You know it, “homework.” Every student hates homework, but I truly believe it is crucial to a student’s learning experience. The challenge is to get students to complete it, and if it is on Facebook or Myspace, chances are the students are too. That means they just might get their homework done, and maybe even enjoy it. This all means that the learning won’t stop when the bell rings, which can only be a good thing from an academic perspective.
The district claims that subjects like history will now be able to be brought to life. I can see this being done through interactive web pages, discussion boards, and pictures and videos. This sounds a little bit more interesting than the old globe and pull down map. So what can be done with English? The obvious options come to mind. Discussion board, posting stories and essays would all be good uses of the web. What about something a little more creative? How about something all students love, music, or even movies (Dan Modderman)! Students could post their own lyrics, write a scene from a movie script, whatever it may be, and share it online. It doesn’t really matter what the students are posting, that isn’t the point right now. The subject matter is the fact that students will feel more comfortable posting their work rather than standing in front of a class of their peers and reading it aloud. It seems that the student would produce a more personal, better piece of work this way. I know when I was in high school I would regulate what I wrote so that it didn’t get too personal if I had to read it in front of class. Students will feel more comfortable writing responses as well, meaning students would be, you better believe it, interacting, the “holy grail” of most educators.
Back to the article now. Darlington would be preparing their students for the world that is rapidly becoming more technologically based by the day. This is good. Their students will likely be spending more time on school related subjects after school hours, another plus. And finally, students might feel free to express themselves on a more personal, meaningful level and then interact because of this. I’m speechless. School districts have to learn to harness the power of online social networking in their classrooms, and if done successful, great things can happen.
Source: Google News: News Channel 15: Myrtle Beach
Author: News Channel 15 Satff
Title: Schools Look to Social-Networking Websites
Link:http://www.wpde.com/news/viewarticle.asp?view=7170
October 17th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
I know, it’s crazy how MySpace and FaceBook appear to be dominating the entire globe. Every where you look people are checking there facebook and updating there myspace. It’s interesting to me as well, that when facebook first came unto the seen, it was only for studetns who were in colleges,as a way of communicating and connection with people from your school now everybody can have one! So, obviously it’s growing, right? I torn as well; I think that since technology is such a part of our civilization, then facebook and myspace be apart of the classroom? The problem is shifting the attention from wall posts and uploading pictures to knowledge and learning through facebook and mysapce.
October 20th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Bring Facebook, Myspace, and YouTube into the classrooms…hmm. Personally, I like the thought of doing that. When it comes to youtube, the videos can be very helpful. Like for instance I went on there and found videos of Harry Wong. At GRCC one of my professors used youtube videos of Harry Wong and Stand & Deliver. Another example is MC Nuts the Wordsworth rapping squirrle. I think hs students would laugh if they were learning about Wordsworth and saw this. Just like in a previous article I think that we both wrote on was the myspace fake persona that someone made for a fictional character. There are medias out there that can be used but just aren’t.
October 21st, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Whenever I hear “Facebook” or “Myspace,” my inner self groans a weary, tired groan. I don’t know why exactly. Using these social networking sites as ready-made virtual “front of the class” spaces, though, is something I could get behind. As a socializing tool and a means to disinhibit people in relation to their schoolwork, I think you hit the nail on the head. With wireless connections moving toward ubiquity, it even becomes a very practical way of doing things; that is, if the costs come down for service and material.
I’m not sure, though, if the internet will be able to make education come alive, as the Darlington School District thinks/hopes it will for history. As someone who was, like, totally jazzed as a kid when my area cable provider decided to add The History Channel to the lineup, I never felt that history was nothing less than utterly fascinating. Math and chemistry, on the other hand, totally different experience. I guess I’m worried that the Internet, and all its accoutrements, might be seen as the “magic bullet.” I remember reading something about how television was supposed to revolutionize education. I’m sure TV helped it along. But revolutionize it? I’m not so sure. Actually, the article might have been about another piece of technology; it’s been a while.
Like you, I believe Myspace and the like are here to stay, and that they could be utilized to great effect in the theater of education. But if Myspace takes over the world, I hope they (whoever “they” may be) take Sir Elton John’s advice and just shut the whole Internet down. Again, I don’t know why.
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:47 am
I also find the idea of incorporating web spaces such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube into the classroom a good one. And when I first thought about this idea and read this article I wondered…How do you change something that is so social like MySpace and Facebook into something educational. YouTube I can understand. It would be an easy tool to use in the classroom or at home for students. I just wonder how seriously students would use Facebook and MySpace to do homework or communicate with classmates about assignments and classwork. But I read the previous comment on your blog by ideamen and realized that it would be a very interesting take to make a MySpace or Facebook blog about a fictional character, whether from a novel, short story, or from the student’s own imagination. I obviously had never thought about that before.
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