Social+Networking

Social Networking: Building a Classroom Community
Social networking is a social web of individuals who are tied together for common values, friendship, knowledge or visions. Information is shared, collaborated and discussed. Examples of this tool are: [|NING], [|FaceBook], [|MySpace] and [|BuzzNet] (for music enthusiasts).

media type="youtube" key="6a_KF7TYKVc" height="260" width="320" by [|Common Craft]
 * __Social Networking in Plain English__**


 * MY RECOMMENDATIONS**: This is a new tool for me. I mean I have been around it for years with my teenager daughter. She has used MySpace and, now, FaceBook. I have worked with her to establish safe practices in using the site. Upon occastion, I have also had to patrol her sight for inappropriate material. It is my belief that social networking sites are useful tools in collaborating, information gathering and, in general, keeping in touch with others. NING is the first site that I have had an account with. I use it for collaborating in the ISTE community. However, I have not been very active of late.


 * CLASSROOM POSSIBILITIES**: Though I realize that most of our students have an account in one or more of the above social networks, I am not sure of the relevance to the classroom. In a brick and mortar classroom, this may be a distracting tool to use during the day. I would imagine that this tool maybe an asset to a classroom that is more of a non-traditional format (i.e. online). However, there are more tools better suited for the digital classroom, like Moodle.