Social Networking in the Classroom - Nakeya

Social Networks are very popular in our world today. They are used so we can communicate with our friends, family and people all over the world. They have grown dramatically. Today some students use social-networking sites for educational use; such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Students have such a wide variety to present their ideas, projects and writings to the world. Creations would be more creative because students know their projects will be seen worldwide.  If we allow social networking in our school we can educate students to use it for educational use. Students can get their work done all on the computer. And do not have to worry about losing papers or forgetting their homework at home. It will all be saved on the computer.

Social networking can sure help out schools all over the world. When students take online classes, they usually connect the teacher on websites such as Facebook. They can connect with the teacher to help them out on questions they have. Another way for students and teachers to connect is from video chatting. Skype is a popular vide chatting site, and teachers can set up a date to have all their students join in on the vide call. Such a simple way to work on online classes.

There are so many ways to have social networks work for the school. If students can prove we should be allowed to have social networks then that can change the whole idea of learning for some students. We can have a more modern teaching on subjects that are hard and have more experience to create something new for easy subjects. But can we really get schools to allow social networking in the school? I

Social Networking will defiantly help students to be encouraged to do their homework and get better grades.

Integrating new technologies into the curriculum might be a more effective way to monitor students’ online behavior and to insure that all teenagers are proficient and responsible Internet users. From working together on science to editing video, students should be encouraged by their teachers to utilize new media to advance students’ knowledge and retain oversight. (“Benefits”.)

Giving students an opportunity to engage on what is happening online; such as social games, blogs, or fan sites. Teachers can connect with students with literacy practices that can be interesting to their lives. Students can understand how it is affecting their lives and the world (“New Media” pg.63.) 

We can accomplish so many things such as connecting to other people in the world. Before we didn’t have that kind of technology. Now we can connect and stay in touch with each. Facebook has allowed people to stay connect and still be in touch. We all have those days when we miss our friends and social networks have helped us to keep in touch. We can share videos and they can connect to YouTube and if we don’t understand something that happened in school we can look at a video. YouTube allows you to view a lot of educational videos such as science, English, and math videos. The great thing about them to is that you can re-watch them over and over. Where a teacher only teaches it once and if you don’t get it you have to learn it yourself. So that’s where YouTube is the most helpful social networking site. Because there are so many videos that will get you caught up and teach you with your work.

Many schools have blocked social networking sites in an attempt to curb cyberbullying and the dissemination of risky pictures or student videos.  In a school near Washington D.C., they have a popular teacher (“Benefits”). Because some students posted a video on YouTube of the teacher doing a dance of “Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em”. Another Teacher from the same school Googled the school’s name and she found some videos that student posted on websites and found students fighting each other. Also found girls in school filming themselves dancing in stairwells. (“Benefits”).

These videos are very disturbing and inappropriate. But with these videos they were well produced. Administrators block access to these sites because they think it’s important to keep classrooms free from the perceived harms associated with social networks. (“Benefits”)

            The main reason why we don’t have social networks in school is because of fear. A 13-year-old girl who went to school in Missouri commented suicide. Her ex-friend’s mother created a fake Myspace profile and humiliated her (“Benefits”).  In response to cyber-stalking and online solicitation of minors, the House of Representatives passed a bill in 2006. The bill was called Deleting Online Predators Act. It states that it would require all schools to block students from accessing sites like Facebook, Myspace and also YouTube. Even without Congressional mandate. Many schools have already taken the initiative to ban students and teachers from using these sites (“Benefits”).

Teens growing up with these sites may not be aware that the information they post is public and that photos and text can be retrieved even after deletion. Consequences from over-sharing personal information include vulnerability to sexual or financial predators and lost job opportunities from employers finding embarrassing photos or comments (“ProCon”)

Social Networking sites can be dangerous because you may think that you are talking to some person but it can be totally different. People such as “predators” can mask there true identities and try to get information out of you. 

Social networks have become popular and more than quadrupled from 2005 to 2009. Many users who use social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube say that these sites are good for society, but others contend that the dangers of social media outweigh the benefits (“Social Networking”).   Today teens have loved their home computer. Right when they get up in the morning to when they get off school. It is the first thing they got to. Teens have been addicted to checking their messages or to seeing what their friends have posted. The way young people communicate with each other have changed (“Teens”). 

If teachers can post a status and have the students comment on it, the teachers can grantee that they will have a comment from each student in their class. Because the students are always on their social network sites and will see the teacher’s status. What has changed is the way young people communicate. We do not always talk face-to-face with someone we talk to on the computer or with our cellphones. So young people have lost or weakened their social skills. 

                Teachers can teach students to be more social, they can have students make a video on how to communicate to other people without using the computer. And they can post it on their social network and get credit for it.

            Social Networking sites allow for creative expression in a new medium (“ProCon”). That is exactly what teachers try to find in their students. Their creativity. So why not use social networking for assignments? Students can put their perspective on other student’s status and their ideas on school projects. Students do not have to see if their ideas and perspectives do not matter.    

The breaking of barriers and the convergence of multiple forms of literacy and discourses that have affected the social and cultures have also affected another area when knowledge and power is restricted, namely within the four walls of institutionalized education (“New Media 161”). The perception of the Web as a “fun place for learning about the whole world,” has not provided not only the space for learning, creating and sharing entertaining discourses but also a great source for enhancing the learning done in school (“New Media 161”).

There was a guy named Partik, he had a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Journalism. He made a popular blog that has a significant number of subscribers where he writes about poetry, multimodal stories, and love letters to his girlfriend.

As our younger generation exercise amount of freedom as well as radically redefines social and cultural values, highly advanced technologies have exploded onto the scene before even the basic technologies became available. These developments are still limited to small segments of society, they have already shown signs, of transforming local cultures, education and social lives.(“New Media” 162). 

Technology today can teach so many students on how to do amazing things. Social networking sites bring people together, offer exposure to new ideas from around the world (“ProCon”).

Before technology students has to use the old fashion way to learn. Such as making posters, doing presentations, and just anything that you have to present. But today we can use what technology has presented to us. Now we can make a boring poster into a more interesting one by using a site called Prezi. Which allows you to view other peoples’ boards. Such a good tool to use. We can use Microsoft PowerPoint to make those speeches and presentations much easier. 

Many students have a hard time communicating with teachers and students because they are very shy. Social networking sites can defiantly help students who are shy to really get their ideas out there without speaking to someone directly. This will lower inhibitions to overcome social anxiety. People who have difficulty communicating in person are more comfortable if they can write down their ideas instead of saying them out loud. Social media can be a powerful tool for social change and an alternative to more traditional methods of communication. (“ProCon”)

Students have been lucky to be born where we can have technology to make schoolwork so much easier. It is much easier but also makes students enjoy doing homework. All we have to do is encourage ourselves to get the school to allow social networking to be used in school. We live in an era where technology is everything. We use it in everyday life. Perhaps the most basic lesson of media history is that transitions in media technology do not take place simply because one new technology inevitably leads to another (“Revolutions” 331) If we use it all the time why not have school assignments also involved?

Allowing social networks will help out a lot of schools. We should at least give it a try, and see how it works. Because in our world today we need to still allow old technology but really learn how use new technology. Kids in this new technology era will know how to work new creations into their classroom work, to not make it exciting, but to teach the students and the teacher how new technology can make a difference.

Students in classrooms will have more options on learning. And will get a lot out of their learning. It would help a lot of them getting their work done.

Social networks will some day be used for schools but I guess that right now we have to deal with the schools blocking the social networking sites. I hope that day will come soon because it would make everybody’s life so much faster and easier.

Work Cited

Bazalgette, Petter. “Teen Privacy Is Threatened by Social Networking.” Teens and Privacy. Ed. Noel Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Current Controversies. Rpt. From “Your Honour, It’s About Those Facebook Photos of You at 20…” Observer 20

Bramble, Nicholas. “The Benefits of Using Social Networking Sites in Class Outweighing the Risks.” Cyberpredators. Ed. Stefan Kiesbye. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from “Fifth Period is Facebook.” Slate.com. 2009. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web.27. Nov. 2012.

Fleming, Nora. "Schools Are Using Social Networking to Involve Parents." Education Week 7 Nov. 2012: 1. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Kendall, Peggy. “Teens Value Technology” America’s Youth. Ed. Jamuna Carroll. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008, Opposing Veiwpoints, Rpt. from “Help! My Kid’s Best Friend Is a Computer,” Bethel Focus (Fall 2006), Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context, Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Kovarik, Bill. Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age. New York: Continuum, 2011. Print.  Williams, Bronwyn T., and Amy A. Zenger. New Media Literacies and Participatory Popular Culture across Borders. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012. Print.

May 2007. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 27 Nov.2012

 “Social Networking.” ProCon.org. n.d. Web.19 Nov. 2012