Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts: Chapter 9

     This chapter focused on social-networking sites. When I think of Facebook, I think of personal, at home, social-networking; I never really considered Facebook to be a tool that could be used in the classroom. I think that if appropriately set up and maintained, such as the account that Jim Meredith set up for his social studies class, Facebook could be a very valuable asset to a middle or high school classroom. I think that the whole idea of social-networking sites is very good, but I think that it must serve its place outside of school. I think that there may be too many capabilities on Facebook, too many games and activities, that you do not necessarily want students using in school. If Facebook were to be used in school, I think that you would have to do a lot of set-up work, to make sure that your students are protected to the fullest extent possible on the web, and that the site is set to more of a private setting. I think that if Facebook were used for educators or librarians to post and comment on educational topics, it could be a very powerful tool. I agree that Facebook has some powerful capabilities in connecting people, communicating, and sharing ideas, however, in regards to using Facebook in the classroom, I think that we really need to consider what grade level or age would be most appropriate to use Facebook with. The other social-networking site discussed in this chapter was Ning. I actually thought that Ning could possibly be a better, safer, more controlled site to use in the classroom than Facebook. Once again though, I think that Ning is most appropriate for use in the middle or high school grades (especially with an age requirement of 13). In both of these social-networking sites I liked the options of being able to make the site completely private or public. One recommended site that I really liked on Ning was ArtSnacks (tinyurl.com/yvmcjh); this site sounds extremely interesting and creative. I think that ArtSnacks could be really useful to use to get ideas for how to get students in the elementary grades to be creative and make art. (I really liked the idea of incorporating mini lesson videos on a social-networking site!)

     I think that this chapter is good for explaining how you can use Facebook on a more personal level, but I do not really forsee myself using Facebook or Ning in my classroom. I think that a blog or wiki would be more suited to my needs in my classroom. I think that if I taught in the secondary level, Facebook or Ning would be much more appropriate and would get the students excited to learn, but in the elementary schools, I don't think that Facebook would be very appropriate.