Roadblocks to Social Networking in Classrooms

Comment by Durff on February 24, 2008 at 12:22pm

Fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the undesirable, fear of change, fears of which i have not thought. These fears are shared by teachers, administrators, school boards, & parents.

Comment by Meg Ormiston on February 24, 2008 at 3:08pm

I agree there is so much fear, but how can we get the message out that there is such power in networking. There are so many positive apects, this "closed mindiness" is nothing short of amazing. I taught my grad classes last summer using NING, LOVED the experience totally changed the way I think about teaching and learning.
I posted this question for a group I will have on Tuesday about social networking in education. A whole day focused on the positive aspects of social networking. If I can "hook" everyone I wonder what they will face as they return to their districts? Probably more fear! I was a school board member for years, I would have welcomed such a great resource. But he others I served with would stick their heads in the sand and create a problem!

Comment by Christopher Marchetti on February 25, 2008 at 7:19pm

I think the biggest roadblock is buy in. We often think that just because students use these tools in their social lives that it will automatically transfer in to their learning lives. I think we have to be able to push students to use social networking in a positive, professional way, and get them excited about using them.

Comment by Hilary Greenebaum on February 28, 2008 at 8:33pm

People tell me they didn't even know that social networking software could be used for anything BUT myspace etc.! I hear fear sure, but I hear ignorance too. When do the folks in power have oppotunity to use and play with new technology so they can experience how powerful it can be?

Comment by Meg Ormiston on March 3, 2008 at 7:59am

Hilary and Michael make excellent points both pointing to leadership and buy in. Hilary's point about the time can't be over looked because I do agree that we need to introduce the power of the network and immerse leaders getting them to use the tools.
Social networking is so much more powerful than my space. We can bring together experts and really create a problem solving communities.

Comment by Scott McDaniel on January 6, 2009 at 9:01am

I think fear is a major roadblock, but it might not be fear of the unknown, it might be fear of losing control, which we "may" not have had anyway. Students are using these tools anyway, why not make them our own and reap the positive benefits? I think the same fear was common when the Internet first came into classrooms. Do the benefits outweigh the risk of abuse? I would contend the positive effects are worth it.

Comment by Joel Green on January 17, 2009 at 11:01am

The biggest difficulty I find with use of social networking in classrroms is the archaic rules disrticts impose on use of, and access to, Internet. Have any of you found work-arounds on district restrictions or blocking?

Do you have any examples of how use of social networks have added value to a classroom?
Thanks!

Comment by Shamini Dias on November 2, 2009 at 1:42pm

I've used social networking with students - and the biggest barrier is getting them to use it outside of the classroom. BUT ... I found that if we use it in class to do stuff like take photos or video group work and post them right away to share with other groups, or groups put their dicussion notes and source images on their group wiki and then in the whole class discussion we look through the wikis together - it gets students interacting with the site. And I also find it's important to have assignments on the site - making one blog entry a day, visiting two classmates per week and commenting on their blogs. It's the constant moving from the site into the classroom and back again that helps integrate social networking sites with teaching and learning.

Comment by rmhagan22 on November 2, 2009 at 1:46pm

I agree with Shamini! I have also used social networking with students in the middle school. Students appear to transition seamlessly between the virtual world and the classroom.

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