- What do you think about social networking overall?
- What characteristics of social networking work well with your professional development style or what would hinder you in your growth?
- How do you see social networking being applied in your specific library environment? If you do not see it being used in your environment, please describe in detail why not.
Please add your first name with your last initial to your blog post. Although a sign in is not required to post a comment, I need your name in order to grade the assignments.
Readings:
Social Networking Pros/Cons
Social Media as a Scapegoat
Social Media is for Dullards
22 comments:
Overall, I think social networking is fantastic! Sure, it has its downfalls, just like everything else, but overall I think it is a positive tool that can be used to get information and to communicate with others. I think it is important to educate people about the dangers of social networking but overall I think the pro's outweigh the con's.
What would work well with my professional development style is the fast pace of social networking, being able to communicate with others in similar professions as myself, and being able to find additional information or ask questions about various issues quickly. What may hinder my growth is believing incorrect information if I don't have the time to check for relevant sources and I might be distracted by Facebook or personal social networking and it may affect my productivity.
I think social networking can be applied in a ton of different ways in my library environment. A few of the big ones are Goodreads! I absolutely adore Goodreads and the sharing of book reviews. I am learning a lot in my childrens literature class about how important it is for kids to be able to choose their own books to read and with Goodreads they are able to read others reviews, make their own and make their own choices on books. Although I personally wouldn't use it, another really great one is Kickstart. I like the idea of people being able share ideas and others can help fund those ideas.
Sara Bowen
Patti Sobetski-Social Networking Response:
I have always liked social networking because I like to meet new people, share ideas, and interact with my friends on a regular basis. With social networking, all of this becomes very easy and I find that I use a social networking site every day. After reading the article, I was blown away by how fast social networking is advancing and I really do enjoy it. I think that social networking works well for my own professional development because I am going to be a new library teacher and sites like the one’s discussed make it really easy to get ideas for classroom units, “follow” teachers and educators that I admire, and even get some support from fellow library teachers like myself. I am one of those people who really want to try new things every year with my students and social sites help keep me updated with recent materials to use.
Currently, I work at the UNO Criss Library and social networking is not directly connected to my department every day, but we do have a “page” on Facebook and twitter for students to follow on their social sites. We use social networking to inform students of hour changes, upcoming events in the library, emergencies, and even the art gallery changes. It is a great way for students to find out what is currently happening in the library. We also host mini-contests on these sites to interact with the students and get them more involved on campus. When I am working in my own school library someday, I would definitely want to incorporate social networking into the library. My students are going to be middle-aged or high school-aged children and will, most likely, be a fan of social networking. I think it is a great way to get to know your students, form book clubs, post poll questions, and make the library a better place for the students to advance in their knowledge.
Lindsay Stier
Overall, social networking is a good thing if you are a digitally responsible citizen. I like that I am able to get updates on current events, as they are happening and I also like being able to share pictures and stories with my family and friends. It is also nice being able to keep in contact with people that I don’t live near or see very often. Social media means, I am able to stay in touch with people all over the United States and even in other countries. I think digital citizenship is essential to all social networking because you are creating a digital footprint that can’t be taken away. I think before every post I make, if it is a professional decision, even when I am posting on my personal private pages. If my grandma seeing it would embarrass me, I don’t post it.
Characteristics of social networking that work well with my professional development are podcast and blog sites of other education professionals. I enjoy being able to learn from other people and find some great ideas and resources. Budgets are tight and you are not always able to go to conferences so listening to podcasts and reading blogs are cheap ways to get some of the same ideas. I do think that social networking has a place in schools. Some of the cons of social networking in schools listed on ProCon.org were: preventing face-to-face communication; waste time on frivolous activity; alter children’s brains and behavior making them more prone to ADHD; expose users to predators like pedophiles and burglars; and spread false and potentially dangerous information. Regardless of the pros or cons listed on ProCon.org, social media is here to stay. As educators, we need to embrace it, teach students how to be digitally responsible citizens and also be digitally responsible citizens ourselves. If we truly want our students to be digitally literate, then we cannot teach some aspects of digital literacy and ignore others. By doing this, we are doing a disservice to our students and our communities.
One place where I can see using social networking in my library is having a Facebook or Twitter account for my school. This would be a great way to inform parents and students on events happening in the library, speakers we bring in and new resources we have available. Parents would be able to have access to that information in their newsfeeds, which I think is a great thing because I am pretty sure that no one reads the newsletters that go home!
I think social networking is only as good as how people choose to use it. My view is different because I choose to use it responsibly and distance myself from those who do not. I enjoy social networking and all the opportunities it has to offer.
The sharing of information by people who I respect, admire, and collaborate with is the best part of social networking. I enjoy reading articles and blogs brought to my attention via different applications. My students benefit from my reading of things I never would have thought to search. Pinterest has been a great classroom tool in the last year. My class has enjoyed various activities, both educational and fun, due to my Pinterest relationships. I do wish I had someone to help me prepare the materials for all of the amazing things I find.
I work well with doing multiple tasks in small deliberate steps so it is helpful to have a constant flow of information and thought provoking discussions. My professional growth via social networking is really only hindered by time and my school’s complete opposition to allowing social networking to be used as a tool.
Social networking is not applied in my classroom or library environments at all due to my district’s opposition. Two years ago, I asked a principal for permission to have a class Facebook page and was denied. This week, I submitted another request to my current principals with a detailed outline of how it will be used, precedent provided by other teachers talking about their page on Facebook, and what the privacy settings will be. I am hoping for a positive response, but I will not be holding my breath. It has certainly prompted a good amount of discussion with my principals, our district technology expert, and I. Our school’s website is maintained by teachers, but the web traffic is ridiculously low and the blog feature is not ready to be used yet. Parents who have web access are not taking the time to visit the site due to the horrendous mobile version.
Again, social networks (SNs) are only as good as the people who use them are. The applications can be used for whatever purposes you intend. I believe schools need to believe in training their teachers to use SNs as tools and trust them to use SNs appropriately to connect with other professionals, parents, students, and the community.
I believe that Social Network Sites are good in moderation. My personal opinion of social networking is that overall it is a positive tool—it has connected people, places, and things like never before in history. However, I think that SNS have started to take over and control aspects of people’s lives, and there isn’t always sustenance involved. For me, if I am spending more time than I would like on a SNS, I make a conscious effort to evaluate if what I am doing on the site is going to help me in any way; if I am going to come away from it a better person or with newfound knowledge. If the answer is no, it is time to shut the computer down.
If used properly, Social Network Sites, as a part of Web 3.0, can be an effective tool for expanding resources and knowledge. It is a great way to connect businesses with consumers, teachers with students, and questions with answers. When I am researching organizations or businesses, the first thing I do is look for a website or a Facebook page. To me, if an organization or business does not have either of those tools, I subconsciously judge it unreliable and I am less likely to use their services. This includes libraries. I think libraries should be at the forefront of SNS and Web 3.0. People go to libraries for answers because they trust in what the library does. Therefore, in order to keep the confidence of the masses, libraries need to be trailblazers and not the ones constantly catching up.
While I am not in a current library setting, the libraries I do use do employ the use of SNS, and they do it well. Criss Library and Lincoln City Libraries are on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, YouTube, and LibraryThing. Lincoln City Libraries also offers blogs, podcasts, and email newsletters and Criss Library Is on FourSquare and has a mobile site. I think the biggest reason why libraries need to use SNS and other Web 2.0 and 3.0 tools is to help people become information literate. With so much information in the digital world, and not all of it accurate, libraries need to be there on the web guiding people to the truth. LAUREN KILMER
I think social networking was a frightening jump for me in the beginning. I’m a social person however; I am not comfortable with tone of voice through a keyboard. Therefore, it took a while before I got hooked however, now I have a Facebook account, as well as an Instagram account, and I love it. As a military spouse, we have friends and family, literally around the world and it has made it such a great way to keep up with everyone at once. I’ve had the opportunity to watch children grow up, celebrate retirements and birthdays, but also see marriages dissolve, and experience the loss of children, all things that wouldn’t compute the same through a letter or a phone call.
However, I must admit as much as I enjoy social networking I find myself watching my news feed, like it’s a daytime soap opera. I have to keep up on what’s going on in my friends’ lives regularly. Whereas, before social networking, I rarely thought about the day to day lives of friends that had moved far away, I truly never gave it a second thought.
Certain social networking sites have allowed me the opportunity to explore my creative side. Therefore, I have been able to visually improve my current library environment, with shelves, bookends, etc. I know I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish such a task without social networking. Ideas and creations passed from one person to the next have allowed me to not only create things but to do it in a financially responsible way.
SNS have also allowed me to make connections that otherwise would not have been possible. I have been able to find volunteer opportunities in organizations where I can read to children and/or help organize and catalog book/video collections. Therefore, these opportunities help to grow my professional network as well as my professional skills and abilities.
Social networking is great, as long as it is handled correctly. Many within my school district have lost not only their jobs but creditability due to social networking. Unfortunately, you can try your best to stay on top of things, but you can never be absolutely certain of what someone you have friended may do, therefore the actions of another can easily hinder your professional and personal life.
Applying social networking in my current environment would take a little finesse, but since being in this class I think I know how to approach it. I would like to implement a goodreads.com group amongst the staff in my library as well as in my building. We have tried several times to put together a book club and as the school year gets into full swing we never have the time to meet, much less discuss what each has read. I think it would be a perfect solution to our problem, I’ve decided to suggest it at our back to school meeting. Wish me luck.
I also would like to propose a Twitter feed for “Operation Read”. For those of you who don’t know what “Operation Read” is; in the Bellevue District it’s a competition made up of 4th-6th grade students from all of our elementary schools over the Intermediate Golden Sower books. I would like to be able to keep parents, teachers, and students up to date on things such as: the titles of the books, the number of copies in our library, the number of copies in the public library, when and where the competition will be held, etc. However, to do this I must first get better at my Twitter skills.
SLPutney
Jami Spaulding-Social Networking Response
Social networking is a revolution I was slow to join. The truth is it took a friend physically sitting down with me to get me on facebook. I think my hesitation was fueled by both an apprehension toward the technology required to use it and the unknowns regarding its security. I was surprised at how quickly it became a natural part of life and a quick and convenient way to both communicate and stay connected. I have learned to enjoy the benefits of social media and use it to my personal and professional advantage while being wise about its safety concerns. Overall it is a fantastic communication tool with a plethora of opportunities. However, it is a tool that needs to be used with good judgment and with consideration for others. I think that it is really important that we help kids understand the need for safety measures and the need to think critically about how they use these tools.
I think the organization and visual structure of pinterest make it my favorite social networking for professional development tool. I like that I can control both the number and titles of boards and who can see them. I also like that I can physically see that great idea and a quick description of it. The temptation for me personally is to get distracted and enjoy it only for personal use so I have learned to limit my searches to either professional things or personal ones, not both at the same time. Facebook is my favorite social media for professional communication. I love that I can create a group and quickly communicate with them as well as add links with important information I need to share. It is quick and efficient to both post and check. Again, the need arises to stay focused on using it for professional purposes and setting apart a different time for personal use so that I don’t end up wasting time. Twitter is brand new to me, but I like how concise it is and how the tweet deck can organize it according to the criteria I set up. This is the form of social networking I would like to try to develop for professional purposes this year.
Facebook is one social media I have seen applied to the current teaching environment I find myself in. I like that as teachers we can communicate needs and have them quickly addressed. I also appreciate that notices about schedule changes or important announcements can be posted and distributed quickly. It helps me as the teacher connect quickly and purposefully with parents and it helps me as a parent know right away what is happening in my kids’ classes. The other social media I have seen applied in my current teaching situation is Pinterest. In this realm it is purely the sharing of ideas. I love that I can quickly follow a fellow teacher’s specific board and get great ideas and that I can refer parents to my board to get directions for projects or even additional ideas without having to type and print things out or even send them as emails. In both cases, these are professional pages only and I like that these two medias feature setting controls that allow me to decide who sees what.
It seems to me that social media is here to stay and that as educators we are wise to become comfortable using it and then figure out ways to allow it to work for us so that our communication and idea sharing can be streamlined.
Social networking can be both beneficial and detrimental. If used correctly, it can help a person in many avenues in their life. It is a handy tool that can be used to inform and keep the world up to date on recent events. On the other hand, there are always people who are not going to use social networking correctly. These people will use it to cheat, steal, or commit other crimes that can impact victims in a big way. Though this is always a chance, I think that social networking remains a beneficial way of life. News travels quickly, people stay in touch, criminals are caught, and people are more informed. Therefore, I believe that social networking as a whole is a great thing and can impact society in a good way.
In this day and age we are all so busy all the time. Social networking is a way that allows us to complete more tasks in a faster way. If we have a question, we can send a quick message to find the answer while continuing to work on other things. We can receive immediate, effective answers that will help us to complete our work in a more efficient manner. In a world that is constantly changing, and that seems to be speeding up every day, this efficiency is what is really needed. As a professional, I will always be looking to advance my skills in the area of social networking. The fast pace works great with my professional development style, however, I can also see how this could be a hindrance since it is, in fact, changing so much. It may be hard to keep up with updates and acquiring additional skills that are needed.
In a public library, patrons are going to have many questions regarding social networking. Depending on your patrons, it may be beneficial it offer classes for the most popular types of social networking – for both patrons and staff. It is important that we know and understand these skills so we can help our patrons with any questions they may have about a certain aspect of social networking.
That anonymous comment at 10:59 was me :)
Kellie Seiber
Erica Karas
As Charles Darwin once said ““In the long history of humankind those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” Though there are always two sides to any argument, the fact that we need to face, for better or worse, is that social media is here to stay and has already been embedded in our society. It seems as if everyone and their dog (sometimes literally) have a facebook or twitter page whether you are 12 or 72. However, the issues that arise in association with social media seem to come not from the technology itself, but from the people who abuse this freedom such as cyber bullies, identity thieves, online predators, and so forth. These abusers are responsible for some of the negative stigma that social media gets pinned for. Also, it is important that people who choose to use social media are critical thinkers about the things they post, the things they view, and the people they choose to “friend” or share personal information or pictures with. This ability to think about ones own social networking implications is not something that always comes naturally for everyone, particularly for our youth. This is why it is important that we teach these 21st century skills to our students as part of the school curriculum.
According to the AASL learning standards for the 21st century, learners should “use skills, resources and tools to share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.” This important skill goes hand in hand with social media because in today’s world, social networking is one of the most effective ways of communicating knowledge to a vast audience. In order to instill in our students the importance of personal accountability and ethical participation in social media, these skills need to be fostered in their classroom and in their school library.
Social media, however, is often frowned upon in schools. Lincoln Public Schools for example has band access to almost all social media sites in every grade level. Their decision to bane these sites has some legitimacy to it. If it were not band, Facebook and other such sites would quite frequently be used by students for personal entertainment during school hours and not for academic purposes. On the other hand, though, how can we ever teach social networking responsibility in school if it is not accessible for our students? As an LPS employee, I know that I will have more of a challenge in teaching social networking accountability without the access to these websites in my school. I will need to take a different approach in helping my students. I want to specifically focus my attention on my forth and fifth grade students because they are at that critical age where they are beginning to create their own digital self. There are some really great resources on the web such as stopbullying.gov, aacap.org, and many others that give great advice for kids on how to stay safe using social media. In the library, I would use these resources to help students understand the pros and cons of social media while facilitating a class discussion on online accountability. As much as I wish that LPS could use social media as a learning device within the schools, I do not see it happening within the near future. Therefore, I will try to do what I can to teach the skills needed to be critical thinkers of online materials and social networking through other means because it is still our duty as educators to encourage critical thinking skills in the real life as well as in digital environments.
Bibliography:
Science in School | Science in School. (n.d.). Retrieved July 12, 2013, from
http://scienceinschool.org
Standards for the 21st-Century Learner | American Association of School Librarians (AASL). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards- guidelines/learning-standards
Social Networking is a great tool to use, personally or professionally. I think it’s a great way to get in touch with people who we haven’t seen in a while or to get a message out to a variety of people or just one single person. But I think it’s very important to understand the responsibility of using social networking and how to use it in an appropriate manner; especially if you are using social networking for business purposes.
Using a social networking tool for professional development is a great idea, as long as it’s kept away from your personal one. The author of the socialnetworking.procon.org talks about how the state of Maryland passed a law banning employers and universities to ask for their personal username and/or password, which I highly support. As long as you are an individual who is professional, responsible, and a hard worker, it shouldn’t matter what is on your profile or who you might be friends with in your free time.
Using social networking and having it applied to a public library setting is a wonderful idea. I like having it used as a way to get news out to patrons of the library. I think that people would be more apt to checking their Facebook page or Twitter and going through their news feed instead of checking a library website day to day or once a week. I also like the idea of using it as a way to promote new books the library as obtained or other resources/tools that can be valuable to the patron and/or community.
Danielle Drummond
Dana S.
I believe social networking is a must in today's society. I believe that it changed how we market, how we socialize, how we love, and how we see people. I believe it changed how we view the world today. I love how easy it makes some things, but in another light, I do not like how many options it gives people. I believe it has created problems such as commitment issues, adultery, and just plain having "too many options." I believe there is something such as too many options. People go into sensory overload, over analyzing if they are actually making and choosing the right option or choice. I think social networking is a good way to have market things, and it also improves connections around the world. I just think that some times things are made too available, that make people lose focus on things.
In my library environment I would definitely use it. I would incorporate www.goodreads.com into my classroom. On goodreads one can set goals on how many books they read/want to read/etc. throughout the year. This will excite the students, especially if one makes it into a school wide, or classroom, competition. I think that Flckr and Tumblr and especially Twitter can be a positive edition to any library. I also wish to add Kidblog into my library. I believe my students would love it.
Dana Schipporeit
I really like social networking. When used right I think it is a wonderful tool that brings people closer together without having to live in the same state or even country. We have the potential to meet more people today than we ever have in the past and that’s pretty amazing.
I think social networking will help me with my professional career by being able to see what other librarians are doing in with their professional careers. I know a lot of librarian’s blog about their experiences in their profession and other profession related things. I could stand to learn a lot this way that I may not be able to any other way. The dangers of social networking and how it can affect my professional career is pretty simple. Putting out a lot of personal information out there can hurt your career so we must always watch what we post because you never know who could be reading.
As an aspiring public librarian I see social networking being used as a source of information to the patrons about the public library. A lot of libraries today have Facebook or Twitter to pass on information to patrons about upcoming events, post things about the library, and to promote the library.
-Antigone Jackson
I have mixed emotions towards social networking. I see potential but am weary of using it. There is a big part of me that finds much value in physical, personal interaction. I am afraid we are losing sight of that skill. Many things cannot be conveyed over a computer screen - like tone and body language.
Thinking of it as a professional development opportunity, I am more open to it. I feel fortunate, however, that I have a close-knit group of teachers in my building and district that I am able to collaborate with on a regular basis. The biggest thing I enjoy about social networking sites are the ideas– like Sara finding the VHS cases on Pinterest. I am not the best idea creator so I use social networking as an idea generator.
Since I am not currently in a library environment, so I can only imagine what it would look like. I can see having a library blog where we can post book reviews, book trailers, and reading comprehension ideas. Depending on the grade level of school kids, I could have students help update material on the blog so they would feel more involved with the library.
Jeanette B.
Michele Tilson
Summer TLDE
Social networking response in blog
After reading the articles and gaining experience through my classes at UNO, my attitude towards social networking has shifted and grown. I have to admit that several years ago my thought patterns were more in sync with the narrow-minded views discussed in the article written by Lauren Fisher . That argument expresses concern, indeed panic, that we are ‘creating a vain generation of self-obsessed people with child-like need for Facebook’. (Baroness Greenfield) These views are one-sided and often offered by persons who have never even used social networking. (AHH, was that ME once upon a time?)
The ‘pros’ of social networking were not factored into the views of the Baroness and that omission is just plain scary. There are obvious benefits elaborated on in the article titled ‘Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?’ The ones that stay uppermost in my mind include how social networking has strengthened our economy, created new jobs (whole new career paths), enabled citizens to find jobs, and made it possible to relay emergency information quickly in a crisis.
From the standpoint of a classroom teacher or a librarian, social networking is obviously a good medium and a fantastic motivator for our students. Young people want very much to use computers and networking, but must be taught multiple research skills and avenues to become well-rounded and information literate citizens. It’s a given that social networking promotes social interaction, but it shouldn’t be the main vehicle for socializing! It’s a convenient supplement to the conventional face-to-face method of making connections with others. I have used many of the social networks in my job as an educator and will continue to do so. For instance, I recently used Facebook to share a book promotion I created on Animoto. I utilized Pinterest numerous times to supplement reading strategies and activities for my skills groups in class. Teachers in my building use Twitter to exchange quick ideas with one another. LinkedIn has served to draw my attention to certain job prospects. In conclusion, we are definitely teaching a diverse group of learners in public schools today. We are preparing them for jobs that don’t even exist yet. That’s a thought that makes it clear to me that we must embrace new modes of learning and communicating and combine them with what we learned in ‘old school’ format in order to be successful educators. I will practice and promote public displays of connection!
Reference links:
http://socialnetworking.procon.org/
http://www.simplyzesty.com/Blog/Article/July-2011/Professor-claims-social-media-has-turned-us-into-vain,-self-obsessed-children
Jennifer Jones
Social Network Blog Post
Truthfully, I can’t imagine my life without social networking. My husband is retired military and we have spent 25 years traveling the world. In that time, we have met many people around the world and we have friends from Italy to Alaska. Social networking has made it so easy for us to stay in touch with our friends and our families everywhere. When we lived in Italy 15 years ago, we didn’t even have a phone in our home. We had to walk down the street to a pay phone to call our families once a month. Now, we say connected with even our older Italian friends by using Facebook. In my opinion, that is some amazing progress!
As for my professional development, I can honestly say I am addicted to different teacher blogs, Facebook status updates, and shopping tweets. Every year I run around to all the stores to buy the supplies I need for my new classroom. As a teacher, I am always trying to get the best deals! I cannot believe how amazing it is to have Facebook and Twitter “friends” constantly posting great deals and other amazing finds they have found.
Next, I have to say I am naturally a creative person so I really love Pinterest! I love the ideas that I see, but what makes it even better for me is that it sparks an idea of how I can change it or add to it with my own teaching style. I don’t ever see social networking hindering my growth, only the possibility that I have too many ideas. Could that possibly be bad? At any rate, I think one day for that “one” student I will have the perfect tool that I need because of all of my ‘social networking” friends and their great ideas!
I would love to have a Facebook page for my elementary library one day. I think it would be immensely effective as a way to update families of library events, schedules, new bestsellers, new reading ideas, reading projects, and just about anything else that has to do with books. Currently, social networking sites are an extremely efficient way to communicate with so many parents. I don’t know if our district would be completely on board, yet! However, I think as a district we are really close and honestly we are going to have to get there because social networking is here to stay.
I find the statistic in the Social Networking Pros/Cons post that social media is the main source of news to 27.8% of Americans to be slightly unsettling. One of the problems I've noticed with news and politics in social media is that you can often get the opinion vacuum where people just hear what they like and things can be misrepresented. Of course, I can say the same thing about talk radio and cable news.
I like how that article tended to pair the pros with the cons, especially the point on greater voter turnout. Overall, I think the positive uses of social media make it to important to ignore, but we have to remember that the democratic nature of it can also be dangerous. It was the democracy that executed Socrates.
Social media is a great way to share resources in the field. This is especially important as I aspire to bridge the gap some between public, academic, and school libraries. The obvious hindrance is that I'm going to have to turn up the privacy settings for what I want to be personal. This could also make using social media to promote my band dangerous for my library/school career, seeing as we primarily play loud and aggressive music at bars.
The Omaha Public Library uses Skype for in office fast communication. One way it has worked is the circulation desk as messaged me in the back when they have a long line and need additional assistance with patrons. We also have a Socialcast site set up for OPL which we use to exchange ideas and information between branches. I can see this kind of thing being very handy for multiple schools within a school district who may need to coordinate.
David Dick
Social Networking Sites
post by Kari Mansour
Overall, I find the social networking sites to be a positive tool for people to communicate. It allows people to exchange information quickly and easily. However, since social networking did not really become popular until after I graduated college, I believe that it does not affect me in the same way that it is influencing children and teens today. I loved the article and facts presented by the procon.org website. As a parent and a teacher, I have to pay attention to many of the cons that were listed. For example, cyberbullying, sexting, and cheating on assignments are all issues that we must be aware of while teaching our kids about safe internet use. However, I do believe that social networking is here to stay. For this reason I will always teach my own kids and my students about how to use social networking in a positive way.
With regard to professional development, I do think there are many positives that can come from social networking. I do tend to agree with the blog by Lauren Fisher about how we can use social media as a scapegoat. As Fisher stated, society has often blamed the latest technology advancement for many of the world’s problems, whether it be TV, video games, or now social media. I think that many discussions of social media tend to forget about the positive aspects it can lend to people, especially in professional development. Lately I have seen how much my husband and other teachers get ideas from other educators on Twitter. After our most recent Tuesday class I decided to sign up for a Twitter account. My hope is to check Twitter feeds in order to find new and great resources for school librarians or teachers. Since I am a pretty private person, I don’t see myself “tweeting” much about my personal life. However, I do love the idea of sharing a new idea for the classroom with fellow educators. As with all social media sites, Twitter could easily become a distraction to my daily routine or commitments. I will be careful to make sure that Twitter can only be an “extra” in my day . . . and only as time allows.
Besides using Twitter for new professional articles and ideas, I can see myself setting up a private book discussion group on goodreads for my students. Since the group for my students would be private and monitored by me, I know it would be different from traditional social networking sites. However, I think that providing older students the opportunity to participate in a controlled environment online (and with parent permission) can be a safe way to practice interacting with others online. I know it can also be a great way to discuss and practice good digital citizenship. Even though the thought of young people on social media is scary, I hope that we as teachers can guide our students to use social media in a positive and safe way.
As I have gotten older, I seem to have a more discerning look at what is going on in today’s society. I no longer take a story, in whatever medium it is presented, and believe it as the truth. I think as information continues to move at an ever increasing rate, the more discerning we must become with the information presented to us. Social networking is no different. My belief is that social networking/social media is no different than a book, or a song, or a movie, or a video game. Any form of media can be entertaining, or thought-provoking, or deceitful, or harmful. Social media will take the form of the user’s knowledge of how to discern the information the social media is providing.
Professional development has been, for the most part, positively influenced by social networking/social media. There are many social network/social media choices. Whether it is through Facebook, or Wikis, or Skype, there are countless social mediums available to connect. Once a social network/social media is selected, there are many ways to customize it to meet a person’s personal or professional development needs. For example, the ability to limit and select who enters a person’s social network/social media world ensures a unique experience powered by the user.
For me, the only issue making a significant amount of noise for the social networking/social media is privacy. While personally, I do not have a problem (at least not a big one) knowing that “the Library of Congress has been archiving all public tweets from Twitter’s March 2006 inception forward,” I am sure there are others that cringe at the thought of one of their tweets being harvested by the government. For me, social networks/social media is just that….social and therefore not necessarily private. If I want to state something in private, I should do it in a less social medium. But, I know not all people are of my thinking. Similar to the guns issue, where people flock to the 2nd amendment to defend their beliefs, social network/social media privacy advocates congregate around the 4th amendment for their justification. Unfortunately, I agree with M.J. Hodge and his assessment that “the fourth amendment to the U.S. Constitution and legal decisions concerning privacy are not equipped to address social network sites.”
At an elementary level, I am not certain how I am going to apply social networking/social media. I do believe it is extremely important to teach students about digital citizenship and to do it early. Common Sense Media curriculum starts with a series of units for K-2, but I don’t see myself introducing social networking/social media until 3rd-5th grade. Once students are in 3rd grade, I would expect to continue their work in digital citizenship, but would expand their practices in exploring controlled social networking. Edmodo or Fakebook are two social media applications that would allow students to practice their social networking skills without in a controlled social media environment. I am all for students learning social networking/social media skills as it relates to digital citizenship and if the social media application is a means to an end in the mastery of content or other curriculum goals.
Kristin J --The middle school/high school building I work in has Facebook blocked from
anyone’s access, students and teachers.(Although students seem to find ways to get
around the blocks.) While I tend to think of Facebook as a personal social
networking sit, I have heard of teachers using it in their classrooms. In our
classroom discussion the other day, someone mentioned a teacher who “friends” the
current parents of students and has students share things on their class’s page. I
think this is an interesting way to connect with parents, and I will look into this use
more. Linked In is another social networking site (SNS), but this one is not blocked,
probably since it is professional in nature and is sent to teachers.Students have no
interest and teachers won’t spend an inordinate amount of time on it either.Twitter
is popular with my high school students too, and to be honest, I’m not sure if it is
blocked or not; I need to check on that.I have heard of some problems with bullying
behavior on there (as well as Facebook), so that would be a concern for teachers and
administration.But as with Facebook, using Twitter in the educational setting could
be useful by using a tool that students are familiar with and would give students a
new view of the site with a more critical eye for what they read and write.
As for professional use, I think teachers could and would use these social
networking sites if they are shown the educational and professional capabilities. (I
know that teachers can be distracted by the fun element of these sites, but I believe
most, if not all, would love to have another medium for doing their work.) I think
these sites could be fantastic collaborative tools. Since MS/HS teachers have
different prep times, it’s often difficult to meet regularly with other teachers. I use
email regularly to contact colleagues, but I like the idea of using the more dynamic
SNS that make sharing photos and videos easy. I would love to share links and
videos and photos with the other English teachers. I would also like to share ideas
for cross-curricular projects with teachers in other disciplines. The Spanish teacher
and I work together for our 9th graders to write a research paper, and each year we
tweak and discuss other possible projects that meet our goals. Using SNS would
help us collect and share ideas in the summer and during the school year.
As a school librarian, I will find what the latest research has to say about the
use of SNS in education, and I will be a proponent of such tools before our school’s
administration.
This is M Palmer. Although I use very little social media, I recognize the usefulness of it. Social media is here to stay. The Genie is out of the lamp; similar to when we learned how to split an atom. There is no going back; it becomes how people manage this awesome power in a useful way. It is like any tool, a person needs to use it responsibly.
One good example of its usefulness was last fall when storms were devastating parts of the East Coast; People used it as an early warning system to describe the damage and destruction to those friends and family members who were still in the storm’s path. The message was able to reach even more people with their smart phones, iPads, and tablets than just T.V. and radio. One way social media may hinder me at work is it takes me a little longer to compose and respond to a message. As with anything, the more familiar you become with a tool, the easier it becomes to use.
Social Media would benefit me in a school library setting immensely. Right now I network with many teachers within my building. I would not have that luxury as a school librarian because I would be the only one in my building that does what I do. I would need that connection with other librarians as a great resource. It would not have to be just locally, but could be nationally. That opens a far greater capacity for knowledge and experience.
Elizabeth Wysong Hoffart
1. What do you think about social networking overall?
If it wasn’t for social networking I would not be married, be as creative as I am in the classroom/library or be able to feed my family foods beyond spaghetti and pizza. I have been using social networking websites for at least 14 years in some capacity. My husband and I met on a website called personals 1000. I would consider dating websites a form of social media using the definition “We deinfe social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to 1. Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system...” (BOYD, SOCIAL NETWORK SITES: DEFINITION, HISTORY, AND SCHOLARSHIP, 2007). His profile aloud him to post a public plea for a women, and it aloud myself to answer it. I think in a lot of ways we are creating our own universe with social media websites. I agree with the article by Lauren Fisher that some people use it in a narcissistic way. For example, prior to my twenty-year class reunion you wouldn’t believe how many people wanted to be my friend on facebook from our high school class, that I wouldn’t have been friends with in high school. Right after our reunion I “unfriended” a lot of people that I didn’t want to have a face-to-face discussion with in person.
I believe students as well as adults have to control the amount of time and energy spent on social networking sites. According to the article on procon.org the “2013 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is evaluating internet addiction disorder for inclusion.” I know that I often times have this kneejerk reaction when I don’t have my phone with me, and I haven’t checked my regular blog posts, message boards, facebook, or pinterest accounts in a few hours. I feel like I am out of the loop. The other day when I wanted to find out about the Glee star that was found dead I immediately went to facebook and my internet newsfeeds for the information rather then the television. This is a complete change in my information gathering from ten years ago. I would have gone to the television immediately to find out this information.
2. What characteristics of social networking work well with your professional development style or what would hinder you in your growth?
I have been using proteacher.com, which is a teacher message board for 10 years. This is a great way to get new ideas, as well as create a community of teachers that share similar professional grade levels or subject matter. In the last five years I have relied on teacher blogs for ideas and a way to see how other people are creating their own learning environment. And in the last two years I have mainly used pinterest as an idea generator and motivator. The characteristics that work well for professional development are the same characteristics that a professional development class might give you, and opportunity to “be with” like-minded people. It also allows you to not have to “recreate the wheel from scratch”. There are so many people that enjoy posting their lesson ideas, graphics, worksheets, etc. on line and often times the layouts are more time-consuming to create myself.
3. How do you see social networking being applied in my specific library environment?
I think social networking will be very limited for my students since I am in a public elementary school environment. For one thing, my district highly discourages facebook type of programs with their filtering programs. Most of them require an e-mail address and to be 13 years old. I will continue to use lots of social networking sites to generate ideas and to continue growing as a professional. On a side note, as a new librarian I am learning a lot about the physical environment of a library and how to make it more inviting for my students as well as make it more interesting to learn in.
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