FIT Project - Social Networking

Discussion board - reflection

Q. Do you have an unpleasant experience related to a networking site?
A. I personally have no interest in actively using such sites. However, some of my students do. My students are 20 to 26 with cognitive impairments. I have visited several of my students sites that I could access after hearing my students talk about it last year. One young lady had not made good choices in how she presented herself and went for sex appeal to put it politely. My concern with this was she also included her home address on her my space account. In my opinion she made herself an easy target for sexual predators and needless to say I spoke to her mother about my concern. My other students my space accounts were I guess you could say innocent.

Q How would you use these sites to educate students? Is it possible?

A. I don't think I would use the actual sites themselves, but instead teach and review safety skills. My students especially would benefit from using protective skills when creating and actively utilizing such sites. I think it is important that students recongize using caution when networking.
I feel that if special education students are going to use these web site then as special educate teachers we need to develop some type of educational use that is appropriate in teaching these students consequences that could arise from presenting something on there page that is inappropriate or could put them in harms way.

Anon

FIT Project Reflection 4

You have raised genuine concerns about social networking - from legal to misapplication, acceptability, potential use in educational setting, etc. - as with any "new" tech. Social networking is organic and self-organizing, supported by the dynamics that parallel natural processes. It has tremendous use and impact on education and learning. It is not only about MySpace and Facebook; though Facebook is a potential open source for learning and course management system. Just focus a bit on the potentials, because you will agree with me that there are negative and positive sides to every technology - social networking inclusive.

There is documented evidence of significant application of social networking technologies in e-commerce/business, education, and as forum for consumers. Again, it is not only about "kids"; it is about using new technology to reach out to people on the global market. Think about it, are scientific breakthroughs the preserve of journals and conferences currently? What about social journals such as PLoS One and JIME? Do they have a place in this process. What of Digg? Breaking news is no longer the preserve of the established press. Digg is counted as one of the relevant and responsive news media today. What are the first point of call for those seeking understanding of specific and unfamiliar topics? Google? Wikipedia?

This topic is "huge", but I do not want to be carried away. Please find below what the American Library Association, the University of Brighton, UK, and many others are using social networking for. You may copy the links to your browser, or right click, and open the hyperlinks.

Good job, Maia and Janice for opening the dialogue.

jal