Week 11 – Social Networks and Learning

Imagine Alexander the Great and Mother Teresa collaborating on a project. They would have conquered nations without harming a soul, right? Strong personalities bring big ideas to the table, but diverse opinions help the team consider all the angles before choosing the best course of action. Social networks offer an informal space in which people can equally express strong personalities, be vulnerable, take risks, share unconventional ideas and receive feedback. The absence of discrimination and loyalty invites everyone to participate.

The informal and inviting nature of social networks relies heavily on one thing: the equality of all members.

In educational environments, instructors are perceived as authoritative, and it seems that social networks used for formal education are no different. The study, “Online Social Networks as Formal Learning Environments: Learner Experiences and Activities,” introduced an instructor into a social network. One conclusion they found was that “learners did not engage with one another in activities beyond what was required for course credit”, so they only used the space for formal reasons and did not take personal steps to interact.

Using social networks for formal education may not naturally uncover personalities, but some of the tools can be used to create moments of openness.

For example, in this class I experienced some anxiety using VoiceThread, because it felt like I was making statements on the record, spontaneously and vulnerably. But, listening to other people’s answers and personalities helped me to feel more comfortable sharing ideas with my classmates. In another instance, group 3 used twitter to collaborate on the tech tool project, and sharing our personal schedules with each other sometimes felt like I was exposing my secrets, but I really enjoyed hearing about other people’s busy lives just like mine.

Being open on social network tools initially caused some anxiety, but later lead to the strongest connections I’ve had with my classmates. It’s nice to have a mix of formal and informal experiences in a class. The informal social networking let me know others are out there working towards the same goals as me. It’s encouraging.

4 thoughts on “Week 11 – Social Networks and Learning

  1. Priya Sharma

    I thought your distinction between the strong voices and the diverse perspectives was a good one to make! It is true that groups can be dominated by the first and nurtured by the second, so it’s probably important for facilitators to watch out for the very strong voices in the group. I am somewhat wary of making a statement that there is no discrimination in social networks or that there is equality — I think that depends on the specific rules of the group and similar to f2f groups, I think there is variance in contexts. But I do see equality in their interest in the topic, so that is a big motivator. Good points!

  2. mld5204

    We have definitely used tools that have enhanced my understanding of concepts through out this class. I would never have thought that I would have anything to share in group discussions based on my little experience as a teacher and very small experience in my past using web 2.0 tools. I find it so amazing how we all come from different backgrounds, have different goals in careers, and bring different experiences to this class every week, but we all seem to have grown so comfortable and grown a liking to using these tools such as blogging. Reading the articles this week too, made me realize that learning with web-based technologies is engaging and has a huge impact on student achievement.

    What I liked a lot is that you suggested that it allows for every student to share. I love that, because every student doesn’t get a chance to share in a traditional classroom. We have students discuss concepts in class so that we can listen for accuracy and any misconceptions, but what about the kids who don’t share out? How do we know if they understand. That’s where social networks speak for these students. They are comfortable using these sources on a personal level, I feel that comfort will transfer in an educational setting as well! Thanks for the insight!

  3. Richard Adams

    First off let me say that when reading through our groups blog for this weeks summary I found your idea of equality of all members in the learning environment of social networking to be a key concept that persuaded me to change my stance on this concept. I would have to agree with you after much thought that if a social network could be used for learning because it makes all the students involved in that particular network to be on an even level with each other because it would take all the students the same amount of effort and reason to be involved in the network. I would have to agree with your idea that a sense of social anxitey can come from taking part of a social network but me personally have made great friends and connections from the social network facebook and I believe the same can be expected from networks used for learning not just for students but if you viewed my blog the site I referenced had allot of tools in social networks just for teachers to learn from. My question for you as you mentioned your group for the project utilized twitter was that your first experience in using twitter and if so did you find it easy to use and would you suggest it as a learning tool? The reason I am asking is because my group found twitter to be useful tool in the learning environment and I was curious to see if someone actually uses it in their teaching. I know from personal expereicences that if you put students in a group environment and only ask one thing of them then in most cases they only did what was asked but if you would assign some sense of extra credit for extra effor then the likelihood that the students do the bare minimum. An example of this practice that I have seen in the Navy is at the end of training sessions if the sailors can recite something that stood out from the days lessons then they are allowed to leave the schoolhouse early that day. Great job this week as usual.

  4. lev5000

    Hey Jessica! I am glad to hear that I wasn’t the only one that experienced a little bit of anxiety with the VoiceThread project! It was a little nerve-racking knowing that others would be listening to what I had to say. Any time that I said something not quite the way that I wanted to say it, I felt a little bit more anxious because I didn’t want to make my interviewee start over again. Thank goodness that I found the editing site that I did or I wouldn’t have felt too comfortable with my post!
    Not everyone feels comfortable with being an active member on social media sites. Personally I am more of an observer on Facebook. At the end of the year, I felt like everyone was using the “Year in Review” feature where the site creates a summary of your activity in the form of a video. I really wouldn’t have anything on my video because of my lack of posts!
    I do think that Facebook and Twitter can offer different kinds of information. People post links or pictures that might expose you to information that you did not have before. I just personally don’t think that these sites are ideal for the type of learning that we would be looking for in formal learning environments.

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