Journal #8

Tapping the Wealth of Social Networks for Professional Development

Greenhow, Christine. (2009, June/July). Tappping the wealth of social networks for professional development. Learning and Leading with Technology, 36(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3620082009/JuneJulyNo8/36810g.pdf

In this article the author writes about the advantages and the importance of social network websites such as Tweeter, Facebook, My Space. Millions of people communicate through these sites worldwide. The form of communication, way of thinking, spreading news is being revolutionized through this tool.
Research by Harvard law professor Yochal Benkler in The Wealth of Networks examines how such technologies available on the internet allows extensive collaboration that may have transformative consequences for the economy and society. He argues that through online participation we can not only publicize our opinion, but also become more critical, self-reflective, and collectively intelligent.
So, how can teachers become collectively intelligent and tap the resources available into the curriculum? There are social bookmarking sites, such as Delicious, Diigo, CiteULike, where professionals recommend books, journals, websites.
In the social networking tools, such as Tweeter, Facebook, Classroom 2.0, Ning, educators can collaborate, pose questions, display, share their work. Teaching can be a lonely profession, and such social networking services allow teachers to come out behind their closed doors. Teachers can learn from other teachers what works in the classroom, and they can share things they’ve been successful in. Students also love these sites and it’s a place where they can display their creative work such as, a video, creative writing in their blog, photos they took, etc…In turn, students receive recognition, appreciation from their friends. This peer validation encourage students to be even more creative, clever, articulate in their online presentation. Teenagers also turn to their social network site to get emotional support or school-related help from their online friends.

What do you think of social websites for educators?

Social websites can be a way for teachers to connect with other professionals. For example,classroom 2.0 teachers can get ideas and collaborate with other professionals in the field. It's a great resource to get ideas and specially for beginning teachers to learn from veteran teachers about strategies that work in the classroom. However, there are other websites such as Facebook, and My Space that seems to be more difficult to connect with other educators, it's more difficult to navigate the site and find information relevant to your search.

How could you implement a social website in your classroom?
The most feasible way would be to keep a blog for the class, where students and teachers can exchange information, post work,comments, interesting links, share knowledge.